In 2016 the state of Massachusetts began a process to end the confusing series of alterations to education by revising and aligning the state's academic standards and tests. In March 2017 the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approved revisions to the state English language arts (ELA) and math standards. The purpose of this report…

Visual-spatial ability is a multifaceted component of intelligence that has predictive validity for future achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations. Although identification and development of STEM talent is a national priority, visual-spatial ability is rarely measured and relatively neglected in gifted…

As the ACT has become part of North Carolina's mandatory testing program, SAT participation in Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and North Carolina has declined in recent years. However, SAT performance in WCPSS remains high compared to state and national averages. In 2012-13, students in WCPSS continued to score 50-60 points higher on the…

Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG) provides critical support to schools, students, and borrowers at every stage of the federal student aid process--from providing information on how to pay for a higher education including financial aid options, to facilitating successful loan repayment after graduation. This 2016 issue of "State…

African American women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields (Catsambis, 1994). The socialization and "under-education" of African American female students engenders ideas of inferiority, while the presence of an inferior race, sex and class, in one body, may produce an ideology of mediocrity.…

As school districts face declining enrollment and stable or reduced funding they look for ways to contain costs and continue to provide a quality educational experience. In many states "a new wave of consolidation...may be at hand" (Kysilko, 2003). The research cites advantage for both consolidation and for maintaining small schools. The…

The Annual Condition of Education Report provides a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results, and school financial information. The report provides important metrics to the education community about the status of the education system.…

Outlines statistical data on national curriculum patterns. Fewer than two percent of all graduating seniors meet or exceed the standards for college-bound students. Includes statistical data on courses students study, number of students per computer, dropout rates, activities of graduates, and test score averages.(MD)

Richard Rothstein's booklet "What Do We Know About Declining (Or Rising) Student Achievement?" claims that anecdotes about past educational practices are unreliable and difficult to relate to today's schools. Curricula and tests change; so do student populations. There are no solid historical measures, including three well-known…

A sample of 22,923 students who had taken the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test in the academic years 1983-84 and 1984-85, and who had also taken the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) 4 or 5 years earlier was identified and classified by undergraduate field of study (four major curriculum categories) and sex. Several analyses were…

Since the 1980s, "Rethinking Schools" magazine has been renowned for its commitment to racial equality in education. Now, "Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice" has collected the best Rethinking Schools articles that deal with race and culture. "Rethinking Multicultural…

In their effort to provide quality programing for their diverse student body, the Des Moines Public Schools continually evaluate their teaching and student outcomes. This report presents results about student performance on the following tests: (1) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS); (2) Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED); (3) American…

The current paper presents the results of a large-scale, national, reading and writing curriculum survey and evaluates the alignment of the survey results to the reading and writing skills measured by the new SAT®. It was hypothesized that the skills measured by the writing and critical reading sections of the new SAT would be aligned to the…