The Civics Education Initiative is a project of the Joe Foss Institute, an organization dedicated to shaping "young Americans for civic engagement as voters and informed members of their community." The initiative, which launched in 2015, has three goals: (1) To ensure students graduate with the tools they need to become informed and…

Findings from prior research in various content domains have indicated that Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) attendees earned higher final grades than non-attendees. However, what makes PASS effective remains unknown; for example, PASS could improve short-term retention but hinder long-term maintenance of course content given that some methods…

Many of the policies that fall under the school accountability umbrella are designed to incentivize students. Prominent among these are high school exit exams, standardized tests that, in some states, students must pass to earn a high school diploma. Proponents of these tests argue that by incentivizing students, they induce them to work harder…

To become a registered nurse in the United States, one must pass the National Council License Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). To address the growing national nursing shortage, nurse preparation programs must better prepare students to pass this national licensure examination. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a new…

In an October 22, 2010, speech to teacher educators at Columbia University's Teachers College, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proclaimed that revolutionary change in the education of teachers is essential if the problems facing U.S. society and U.S. schools are to be solved. Toward the end of his speech, he declared that a standardized…

High school exit exams are affecting a growing majority of high school students. Although exit testing polices were enacted with the goal of improving student achievement as well as postsecondary outcomes, they also have the potential for negative effects. To better understand the effects of exit testing policies, in this article the authors…

To ensure that all high school graduates are prepared for the opportunities and challenges that await them, states have increasingly been focused on aligning their end-of-high school expectations with the demands of the real world. In 2005, no state had aligned their expectations with real world demands; now 29 states have adopted college- and…

This article evaluated the impact of a group counseling intervention on African-American students' achievement rates during the spring administration of high-stakes testing at a rural high school in Georgia. Eighty percent of eligible students who participated in the intervention received passing scores on the four sections tested during the…

This technical brief examines the current alignment between the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) and Graduation Exit Examination (GEE) mathematics assessment standards and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics framework. It looks at the extent to which current state assessment standards cover the…

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, recent guidance on access arrangements for students with special educational needs taking public examinations such as the end-of-school General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) has signalled a commitment to the development of access arrangements in line with "best practice". In this…

Improving teacher effectiveness is high on the list of most education reformers in Colorado, as it is nationally. Effective teaching in the elementary years is of vital importance to ensure not only that children master fundamental skills, but that performance gaps narrow rather than widen beyond repair. Disadvantaged students can catch up…

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted of Gordon, Kane, and Staiger's (2006) proposal to raise student achievement by identifying and replacing the bottom quartile of novice teachers, using value-added assessment of teacher performance. The cost effectiveness of this proposal was compared to the cost effectiveness of voucher programs, charter…

Compared with minimum competency tests, curriculum-based external exit exams provide better measures of students' achievement levels. Analysis of Third Mathematics and Science Study data shows that 13 year-olds from exit-exam countries are ahead of nonparticipating countries. Effects on college enrollment, job success, and test scores are…

At the request of the Hawaii Department of Education, Achieve conducted a study of Hawaii's 2005 grade 10 State Assessment in reading and mathematics. The study compared the content, rigor and passing (meets proficiency) scores on Hawaii's assessment with those of the six states that participated in Achieve's earlier study, "Do Graduation…

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has been studying state high school exit examinations since 2002. This is the sixth annual report on our comprehensive study of exit exams. The information comes from several sources: our survey of states that have mandatory exit exams, interviews with state officials, media reports, state Web sites, and case…