A fundamental premise in assessment is that the underlying construct is equivalent across different groups of students and that this structure does not vary over years. The pandemic has potentially impacted opportunity to learn and disrupted the internal structure of assessments in various ways. Past research has suggested that students tended to…

We explore possibilities for placing community college students in math using non-cognitive measures, such as indicators of motivation or students' educational plans. First, we use supplemental administrative data gathered during routine placement testing in a large urban community college district in California to conduct predictive exercises…

Researchers from the Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce, Anthony Carnevale and Nicole Smith, examine the challenges working students face and the impacts of these challenges on completion and debt. Working and paying tuition and fees "as you go" is no longer an option for the majority of America's college students;…

This study was designed for two major goals, which are to describe students' mental models about atom concept from 6th to 8th grade and to compare students' mental models with visual representations of atom in textbooks. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected with 4 open-ended questions including drawings which were quantified using the…

During the past 25 years, the country witnessed a dramatic transformation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Actions by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Congress, and the National Assessment Governing Board fundamentally changed NAEP's role in federal educational policy and the nation's schools. Developed in the 1960s…

This paper presents data derived from the mandatory follow-up evaluation of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participants for the 13-week period following termination. Data cover the first three quarters of Program Year 89, that is, persons who terminated their involvement with JTPA between July 1, 1989 and April 30, 1990. It focuses on the…

The purpose of this ex post facto study was to explore the interactive relationship among grade level of transition to high school, gender, and grade level of dropping out of high school as factors associated with high school dropout rates. Fifteen schools at each of the most common high school grade spans were studied, for a total of 45 schools.…

This study compared Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-9) academic subtest scores by students' grade, gender, and ethnicity and across different educational programs (e.g., Title I and special education). The study sample consisted of 144,701 students from public schools in a large city in the Southwest United States (grades 1-11). Raw data were taken…

Until the 1970s, there were few signs of change in the historic difference of one standard deviation between average ability or achievement test scores of black and white students. From 1970 to the mid-to-late 1980s, there was a substantial convergence of the average achievement test scores of blacks and whites. From the mid-to-late 1980s to 1992,…

Noting that when adolescents select friends, they are creating a relationship context that will be an important source of influence, this study examined the criteria adolescents use when choosing friends. Adolescents in grades 7 and 10 were interviewed about the criteria they used when selecting friends, particularly the importance they placed…

Since the 1996/97 school year, the state of North Carolina has awarded bonuses of up to $1,500 to teachers in schools that exhibit test score gains above certain thresholds. This article reviews the details of the bonus program, describes patterns of differences between schools that qualify for bonuses of differing amounts, and presents basic data…

As the American population increases, the health problems of older women will be of greater concern to health planners, because it is the elderly woman who most often survives to old age and has greater need of services. Data from the National Health Survey was used to determine characteristics, conditions, management, and outcomes of patients at…

Nonverbal communication skill, decoding and encoding nonverbal cues effectively, is an important part of social competence. Merely experience in receiving and sending nonverbal cues, however, is not sufficient to improve nonverbal skill. Consequently, a training program was designed to develop nonverbal sensitivity of school administrators and…

To understand the achievement gap between Black and White students, test performance on Delaware statewide assessments was studied. The study focused on Black-White test score gaps in reading, mathematics, and writing across grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 by achievement level, item format, and gender within each racial/ethnic group over time. The…

A survey of health risk behaviors was administered to a representative sample of 7,776 Idaho students in grades 8-12. Respondents were 86% White, 6% Hispanic, 4% American Indian, 3% Asian, and 2% Black. These rural adolescents reported that they had engaged in some health risk behaviors at rates comparable to those of other U.S. adolescents: 57%…