The use of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to improve early childhood education program quality is based in part on assumptions that the quality of programs can be measured and that quality ratings are associated with meaningful differences in learning outcomes for children. This report reviews all of the state QRIS validation…

This evaluation study provides information about the implementation and outcomes of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program in West Virginia, from September 2014 through May 2015. The report draws on information from online surveys of 23 directors of 21st CCLC programs and from school teachers for 929 of the 11,299…

The administrators' and teachers' manual for the New York State Preliminary Competency Test in Reading provides information on the student population to be tested; the degrees of reading power (DRP) methodology to measure students' reading comprehension; the test content; and the state reference point, a cutoff score expressed in terms of…

The Governor's Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) program was federally- and state-funded and provided three-year grants to schools to design and implement performance pay plans from the 2005-06 to 2007-08 school years. GEEG was implemented in 99 high poverty, high performing Texas public schools. This report builds on the previous GEEG evaluation…

This report presents findings from the third and final year of the Reading First Impact Study (RFIS), a congressionally mandated evaluation of the federal government's initiative to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established Reading First (RF) and mandated its…

Kansas law requires setting passing scores for the reading and mathematics competency test for 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 11th grade students, administered annually since April of 1980. New objective-referenced tests are prepared each year. Both judgmental (Angoff, Ebel, and Nedelsky) methods and empirical (contrasting groups and borderline) methods…

This paper explores the functioning of the low-inference observation system used as part of the Tennessee Career Ladder evaluation system, which provides teachers with the opportunity to qualify for additional pay on the basis of outstanding performance. The analysis of the functioning of this form is intended to provide the basis for the ongoing…

This digest is designed to provide information to Texas testing coordinators, other educators, and interested citizens about the development procedures and technical attributes of the state-mandated criterion-referenced assessment program. The chapters are: (1) "Background"; (2) "Test Development"; (3) "Test…

To compile information on state and school district standardized testing programs, a survey instrument was designed and sent to 135 members of the National Association of Test Directors (NATD). Seventy responses (52%) were received in time to be included in the compilation. Most participating school districts (n=61, 87%) had a program mandated by…

A statewide sample testing of writing skills in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grades was conducted by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program in the fall of 1982. This report, which shares the writing assessment information (historical, descriptive, and interpretive) for educational decision-making, was prepared in the hope of increasing…

Background information is provided about the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) reading test, a test developed to meet the objectives specified by the State Board of Education in 1986. The revised test measures reading in a more interactive manner than did previous tests. The rationale of the test is presented, the revised reading…

This guide describes the background of the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) program, objectives, and tests. It is designed to assist school personnel in reading and comprehending the student information contained in student performance data included in TABS reports. TABS is a criterion-referenced measure for assessment of student…

Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) of 1994 provides funds for schools with large concentrations of children from low-income families. A fundamental requirement is that children served by Title I funds must be educated according to the same academic standards as all other students. This handbook focuses on methods for developing…

The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress (CAEP) is a continuing program designed to measure the efficiency of educational programs offered by public schools. During 1979-80, grades 4, 8, 11 were tested in science. The assessment goals were: to provide information on the quality of education in Connecticut; to collect and compare data…

The first of three self-contained studies in this report characterizes those who chose to take the California High School Proficiency Examination and those who passed. Characteristics of examinees' families, schools, and communities were also identified. In the second report, a school financial simulation model calculated district revenues which…