Nearly two dozen states now administer online exams. These tests have real consequences: their results feed into accountability systems, which have been used for more than a decade to hold schools and districts accountable for their students' learning. We examine the rollout of computer-based testing in Massachusetts over 2 years to investigate…

This study focused on the use of a standardized reading assessment to examine reading comprehension among English language learners (ELLs) and English fluent middle school students, focusing on two text genres: informational and narrative. The Common Core State Standards require students to develop skills in both genres. However, ELLs may not…

The "TOEFL"® family of assessments includes the "TOEFL"® Primary"™, "TOEFL Junior"®, and "TOEFL iBT"® tests. The linguistic complexity of stimulus passages in the reading sections of the TOEFL family of assessments is expected to differ across the test levels. This study evaluates the linguistic…

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) commissioned a multi-part study to determine the viability of using the drawing response interaction on the PARCC Mathematics Assessment. This study in particular focused on students with disabilities. PARCC has over 40 interaction types on the summative assessments. Why…

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS/ELA) focus on building student capacity to read complex texts. The Standards provide an explicit text complexity staircase that maps text levels to grade levels. Furthermore, the Standards articulate a rationale to accelerate text levels across grades to ensure students are able to…