Given the dramatic risks and rewards to different graduate pathways, it is imperative to understand disparities in access to the highest levels of education. This paper responds to a tension between the traditional understanding that parents' education ceases to influence children's educational trajectories after college and the more recent…

We examined how ACT® Aspire® (from grades 8 to 10), PreACT® (from grade 10), and ACT® test scores (from grades 10 and 11) relate to students' chances of scoring a 3 or higher as well as 4 or higher on selected Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Data for the study was available for 49,220 students from 318 high schools who had taken at least one AP…

This paper presents the results of a national validity study examining relationships between new SAT Essay scores and first semester grades in English and writing courses, as well as first-year grade point average (FYGPA) in college. The sample includes more than 180,000 first-year students across 171 four-year institutions. Results show that…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was marked by a transition to remote learning in Illinois schools and nationwide. The following school year, schools and families faced difficult decisions about how and when to return to in-person learning. School leaders, parents and caregivers, and students considered how to balance…

Knowledge about preschool predictors of later reading comprehension is valuable for several reasons. On a general level, longitudinal studies can aid in generating understanding and causal hypotheses about language and literacy development, both of which are crucial processes in child development. A better understanding of these developmental…

The 2016 ICARS survey reports on data collected September 2015 to November 2015 in the International CASE Alumni Relations Survey. The findings are drawn from 84 responding institutions across 12 European countries. 76 percent of respondents are from the UK and 24 percent are from other European countries. ICARS emphasises the link between alumni…

This report highlights several trends in Oregon that show the correlation between chronic absenteeism and various academic outcomes. Oregon student patterns follow the national trend in that students with better attendance have better outcomes. Fifth-grade chronic absenteeism is a moderately strong predictor of chronic absenteeism in subsequent…

AP Potential™ is an educational guidance tool that uses PSAT/NMSQT® scores to identify students who have the potential to do well on one or more Advanced Placement® (AP®) Exams. Students identified as having AP potential, perhaps students who would not have been otherwise identified, should consider enrolling in the corresponding AP course if they…

Achieve3000®, a web-based differentiated reading program based on the Lexile® Framework and designed to improve student reading ability and comprehension of increasingly complex texts, was made available to approximately 100,000 secondary students across 98 HISD schools during the 2017-2018 academic year. The present evaluation, using a select…

This report describes statistical analyses performed on data collected in the Spring of 2015 from the pilot study of proposed revised and new items in the IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) system. Described are the methods employed, results obtained, and decisions made in selecting items for the updated instruments. The procedures occurred…

The continued accumulation of validity evidence for the intended uses of educational assessment scores is critical to ensure that inferences made using the scores are sound. To that end, the College Board has continued to collect college outcome data to evaluate the relationship between SAT® scores and college success. This report provides updated…

The College Board formed a research consortium with four-year colleges and universities to build a national higher education database with the primary goal of validating the revised SAT®, which consists of three sections: critical reading (SAT-CR), mathematics (SAT-M), and writing (SAT-W), for use in college admission. A study by Mattern and…

Data from the ALEKS-based placement program at the University of Illinois is presented visually in several ways. The placement exam (an ALEKS assessment) contains precise item-specific information and the data show many interesting properties of the student populations of the placement courses, which include Precalculus, Calculus, and Business…

The Research Alliance for New York City Schools examined Department of Education (DOE) School Survey data from 2008-2010 to better understand the richness and complexities of the information elicited by the Survey from parents, students, and teachers. This document provides the appendices to the technical report "New York City School Survey…

The number of English language learners has grown in the Northeast & Islands Region over the past decade. While the total student population shrank 3.5 percent between 2001/02 and 2009/10, the population of English language learner students grew 7.6 percent and now constitutes 6.1 percent of students in the region, up from 5.5 percent in…