Descriptive analyses of socially important or theoretically interesting phenomena and trends are a vital component of research in the behavioral, social, economic, and health sciences. Such analyses yield reliable results when using representative individual participant data (IPD) from studies with complex survey designs, including educational…

This manual contains information about the American College Test (ACT) Plan® program. The principal focus of this manual is to document the Plan program's technical adequacy in light of its intended purposes. This manual supersedes the 2011 edition. The content of this manual responds to requirements of the testing industry as established in the…

The purpose of this document is to recommend practices that will help education agencies collect, report, and use attendance data to improve student and school outcomes. This publication substantively revises and expands the information included in "Every School Day Counts: The Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data,"…

The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Reading Assessment (FRA) consists of computer-adaptive reading comprehension and oral language screening tasks that provide measures to track growth over time, as well as a Probability of Literacy Success (PLS) linked to grade-level performance (i.e., the 50th percentile) on the reading comprehension…

Results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress tell that more than one-third of 4th graders (and an even higher number of at-risk students) read so poorly they cannot complete their schoolwork successfully. It is critical to start early if children are to develop the skills they need to be successful. Research evidence confirms…

In his new book, author and international keynoter Douglas Reeves addresses a major challenge faced by today's school leaders: an ever-growing load of programs and initiatives. Reeves contends that program overload not only taxes leadership resources, but actually hurts rather than improves student performance. Drawing on recent research findings,…

In this article, the author discusses self-perceptions and the difference between self-esteem and self concept. Promoting high self-concept in students is important because it relates to academic and life success, but before investing significant time, money, and effort on packaged programs, it is important to understand why such endeavors have…

What can school leaders really do to increase student achievement, and which leadership practices have the biggest impact on school effectiveness? For the first time in the history of leadership research in the United States, here's a book that answers these questions definitively and gives you a list of leadership competencies that are…

This article provides the equations necessary to derive a single composite score based on two achievement scores measuring the same discrepancy area in students with learning disabilities. Also provided are the equations necessary to determine the composite score's reliability and its correlation with an IQ score. (CR)

The problem associated with validating an admissions test when such validation is based solely on the scores of the accepted, and therefore, restricted, group of applicants is demonstrated. A correction formula that estimates the correlation between admission test scores and a subsequent measure of performance for the entire group of applicants is…

Educators designing procedures for identifying students as learning disabled are faced with serious technical difficulties. A student with a learning disability is one who "has a severe discrepancey between achievement and intellectual ability" in one or more designated areas. The methods of quantifying achievement, intellectual ability,…