Early literacy is the foundation of academic success and predicts outcomes far beyond elementary school. So when only 30% of 3rd graders in New York City public schools scored proficient on the state test in 2014, district leaders began targeting improvements in literacy instruction in grades K-2. In 2016, the New York City Department of Education…

Monitoring educational development in the early years of schooling is vital if practitioners, and policy makers, are to support students' learning, but the assessment of student achievement in developing countries can be a logistical headache. Maurice Walker reports on an innovative approach to assessment using tablets that is addressing that.

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what the nation's students know and can do in subjects such as civics, geography, mathematics, reading, U.S. history, and writing. The results of NAEP are released as The Nation's Report Card. NAEP is a congressionally…

An estimated 274 million primary school children in low and middle income countries are not learning the basic foundational skills necessary to lead productive and healthy lives. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is committed to improved and more equitable student outcomes, and has framed this as goal 1 of its strategic plan for…

This article offers an overview of the framework that Sampson County Public Schools (North Carolina) used to critically reflect on the current state of their middle grades schools. The article also highlights the changes that resulted from the district-wide analysis and the ways in which these changes led to a significant increase in the academic…

In addition to collecting achievement data, international large-scale assessment programmes gather auxiliary information from students and schools regarding the context of teaching and learning. In an effort to clarify some of the opacity surrounding international large-scale assessment programmes and the potential problems associated with less…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Integrated Data Systems Link Schools and Communities: Researchers Combine School and Non-School Data to Inform Interventions and Policy (Patti Hartigan);…

Schools and communities across Montana are working hard to ensure that students receive the best education and graduate ready for college and careers. One of the most important components in this effort involves understanding where students are and how schools and communities can best help them achieve at the highest levels. Data is an invaluable…

When attempting to determine if an intervention has a causal impact, the "gold standard" of program evaluation is the randomized controlled trial (RCT). In education studies random assignment is rarely feasible at the student level, making RCTs harder to conduct. School-level assignment is more common but this often requires considerable resources…

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys, which take place every three years, have been designed to collect information about 15-year-old students in participating countries. PISA examines how well students are prepared to meet the challenges of the future,…

As a special education teacher, locating effective techniques for improving and tracking her students' reading progress became an ongoing task. During the author's first year in that role, she realized immediately that finding an effective approach for improving reading was crucial for her students. A professor introduced her peers and her to…

This report presents the deliberations of the Northwest Regional Advisory Committee (NW RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 to assess the educational needs of the region. The Northwest RAC accepted its charge to identify educational needs and to make recommendations, working collaboratively as…

This article describes the use of curriculum-based measurement, specifically oral reading fluency, as a tool for monitoring students' overall reading achievement. A brief overview of curriculum-based measurement is provided as well as a description of procedures for collecting and graphing data. A case study illustrates the application of…

A reading program evaluation was conducted by the school district of Eugene, Oregon, during the 1976-1977 school year. Three major questions were to be answered: (1) Are the district's elementary reading programs effective according to the district's reading scope and sequence? (2) What makes effective programs effective? (3) If programs are not…

This article discusses walk-throughs as a valuable source of instructional data for teachers and administrators. Data gathering and analysis can be a dynamic and exciting process when walk-throughs are incorporated into a school's improvement plan as an instructional snapshot. At Norris High School in Firth, Nebraska, the principal uses…