Students in the United States are struggling to show proficient comprehension in reading, with only 35% of the nation's fourth graders scoring proficient or higher on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2019. Since the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices &…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the interface between high-stakes testing, disciplinary knowledge and teachers' pedagogy in English. The most prevalent standardized assessment form in the current Australian context is the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) undertaken each year by students in Years 3, 5,…

This article reports on the effectiveness of an intervention using conceptual change approaches within challenging tasks, on the mathematics gains for low-performing year 3-6 students in in six primary schools. Quantitative data from PAT-Maths testing for each year showed a consistently large effect size of 0.7 compared to expected gain data from…

The goal of the present article is to synthesize findings to date from the Delaware Longitudinal Study of Fraction Learning. The study followed a large cohort of children (N = 536) between Grades 3 and 6. The findings showed that many students, especially those with diagnosed learning disabilities, made minimal growth in fraction knowledge and…

Research has focused predominantly on how teachers affect students' achievement on standardized tests despite evidence that a broad range of attitudes and behaviors are equally important to their long-term success. We find that upper-elementary teachers have large effects on self-reported measures of students' self-efficacy in math, and happiness…

In this article, Kathryn Roberts & Kristy Brugar discuss their assessment of third-, fourth- and fifth-grade children's understandings of the types of maps commonly found in their social studies text and trade books, and the knowledge and misconceptions it revealed. They then discuss how teachers might begin to address those issues with…

On the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, one-third of U.S. 4th graders performed at or above the proficient level in reading. That's the good news. But what about the two-thirds of students who "didn't" read proficiently in 4th grade? For students who enter school with below-average language development, a one-year gain…

Students' academic success in science is widely seen by political and business leaders as key to the nation's economic rebirth and future competitiveness. President Obama has made clear his belief in the importance of scientific literacy by stating that "our nation's long-term economic prosperity depends on providing a world-class education…

This report presents results from a new quantitative synthesis of research on the effectiveness and validity of test accommodations for English language learners (ELLs) taking large-scale assessments. In 2006, the Center on Instruction published a review of the literature on test accommodations for ELLs titled "Practical Guidelines for the…

Schools have become more diverse; the number of English Language Learners has increased from two million in 1993-94 to over four million in 2006 (Echevarria, Vogt, and Short, 2001). Most English Language Learners in U.S. schools are of Latino descent. Recent national tests of reading and writing (i.e., the National Assessment of Educational…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

The mission of this review is to appraise the new draft NAEP science framework and to determine whether it is up to snuff. This is an evaluation of the September 30, 2005, draft document, Science Framework for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Framework), developed for the National Assessment Governing Board. The criteria is…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…