This article explores Kettle Moraine High School's experience of participating in the PISA-based test, known in the U.S. as the OECD Test for Schools. The high school is located on the western edge of Milwaukee. Starting with a trial run in 2012 that involved more than 100 U.S. schools, the OECD Test for Schools has been offered to individual…

The 2014 Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card is the Mackinac Center's second effort to measure high school performance. The first high school assessment was published in 2012, followed by the Center's 2013 elementary and middle school report card, which used a similar methodology to evaluate school performance. The…

This study followed the comparative research mode of description, interpretation, juxtaposition and comparison. Based on the literatures and data collected on the topic, the paper compared and analyzed the past, present and future of APTHS (academic proficiency test for high schools) in the two countries. Some contemplations on the common issues…

On assessments such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999) and Program for International Assessment (PISA) ("PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World", 2007) students in the United States have not been performing as well in mathematics as students in other countries. In…

The authors report on an exploratory pilot project implemented in a large city on the U.S.-Mexico border. The project focuses on a curricular design in a secondary school where beginning-level English as a second language students are taught English language arts in Spanish. The researchers sought to determine whether these students made greater…

This study explores the differences between traditional and alternate route certification by focusing on the achievement of students who have been instructed by teachers from each program. In addition, this study identifies the strengths and weaknesses of teachers from each certification route through surveys and interviews with principals in the…

Assessing a high school's effectiveness is not straightforward. Comparing a school's standardized test scores to those of other schools is one approach to measuring effectiveness, but a major objection to this method is that students' test scores tend to be related to students' "socioeconomic" status--family household income, for…

Consolidated Regional High Schools (RHSs) have replaced traditional Community High Schools (CHSs) in many nonmetropolitan communities. Consolidation purports to offer cost savings that, in theory, enable nonmetropolitan districts to provide a wider array of instructional opportunities to their students. Nonetheless, critics argue that the benefits…

Use of item response theory (IRT), the delta plot method, and Mantel-Haenszel techniques to assess differential item functioning (DIF) across racial and gender groups associated with the Maryland Test of Citizenship Skills (MTCS) is described. The objective of this research was to determine the: effect of sample size on results from these three…

It is often proposed that high schools are partly to blame for the decline in achievement test scores. Critics of current practices in education cite the decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score averages that has occurred each year since 1963 as evidence. The College Entrance Examination Board Advisory Panel on SAT Score Decline has…