An administrative rule allowed students who failed an exam to retake it shortly after, triggering strong `teach to the test' incentives to raise these students' test scores for the retake. We develop a model that accounts for truncation and find that these students score 0.14 standard deviations higher on the retest. Using a regression…

Despite common conceptions, evidence on whether No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has had adverse effects for low achieving students is mixed. We hypothesize that the incentive to shift attention away from the lowest achieving students increases with the rigor of state standards. Using panel data from students in North Carolina, we exploit two natural…

This study takes a novel approach toward understanding success in a math course by examining the linguistic features and affect of students' language production within a blended (with both on-line and traditional face to face instruction) undergraduate course (n=158) on discrete mathematics. Three linear effects models were compared: (a) a…

North Carolina has increased the math course requirements for graduation and the rigor of standards students are expected to master at each grade level. Richmond County School students have consistently lagged behind the state average on the North Carolina End-of-Grade assessment in grades three through eight, an assessment used to determine grade…

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive…

In this study, we examined how the relationships between one observation protocol, the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO), and value-added measures shift when different tests are used to assess student achievement. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project, we found that PLATO was more strongly related to the…

(Purpose) The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of math teacher program on students' performances in math teacher training programs in five selected colleges in North Carolina. (Methodology) This study collected 300 data (150 pre-tests and 150 post-tests) data of college students enrolled in the five selected colleges. The ANOVA and…

In recent decades, much attention has been focused on student achievement in the United States. Many policy initiatives have been attempted in an effort to bolster achievement, including increasing school revenue, decreasing class size, expanding early childhood programs, and introducing vouchers and charter schools, to name a few, but not all of…

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…

Nationally, Hispanic achievement lags behind non-Hispanic peers in reading proficiency scores. The gap in achievement persists through subsequent grade levels for Black, Hispanic, and poor students of all races. Current school environments present evidence of dissimilar levels of minority and poverty in schools. Identifiable differences in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student reading achievement and the organizational health of five middle grades schools in North Carolina. The theoretical framework was based upon Hoy and Feldman's definition of organizational health, which links healthy school climates to improved learning environments and…

Assessments are not ends in themselves as Suskie (2002) noted. Their purpose is to indicate how effectively educational programs are meeting their goals for student learning. This paper reviews assessment data from the North Carolina Vocational Competency Achievement Tracking System (VoCATS) for business and marketing education to examine student…