Accountability policies assume that educators will use student data to improve student learning, but data use in practice has turned out to be harder than theorized. The purpose of this article was to examine how science teachers in Grades 5 to 8 used data in their classrooms. Utilizing sensemaking theory, we found that teachers decided how to use…

Each year the National Reference Test (NRT) reports the proportions of students achieving at or above three key GCSE grades in English and mathematics. The NRT is therefore uniquely placed as a Key Stage 4 assessment which compares performance directly at ability level, to contribute to the evidence on the impact of disruption to education due to…

In "How Is Testing Supposed to Improve Schooling?" Edward Haertel has proposed a framework for thinking about the mechanisms by which testing might improve the various educational processes undertaken in schools. The framework seems to the author to be quite general (he uses the word "general" here in its mathematical sense of including all cases)…

Data-driven instruction began its spread across the country about a decade ago, in the footsteps of the No Child Left Behind requirement that schools administer yearly achievement tests. Those tests didn't help teachers spot and backfill learning gaps, though. Scores came back after everyone had moved on to the next grade, and anyway, the tests…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact (positive, negative, or neutral) of Accelerated Readers (AR), a standard based intervention, on the academic achievement of English Language Learners at Carolina Herrera Elementary School. Carolina Herrera Elementary School, was analyzed using these specific lenses: (1) curriculum and…

This report is a description of the instrumentation, methodology, and sample obtained for the final phase of the study concerned with the Occupational Inventory Management Specialist. Inventory managers were asked to keep a Daily Activity Log for five days and to record the range of activities and interaction with others in the process of…

The problem lies more in the proper use of standardized tests in decision-making than in the tests themselves. (Author)

Considers four major decisions to illustrate the complexity of decision making about pretesting as part of the instructional process: whether a pretest should be administered; the behaviors that should be pretested; how pretesting should be accomplished; and how teaching strategies should be adjusted to pretest results. (MBR)

Much of the intrinsic wealth of planning and instructional information available from achievement testing programs goes untapped in typical reporting procedures. Large-scale programs reporting only pupil scores and the results of aggregating those scores stop far short of the purposes intended and fail to realize the potential of such information.…

Consider Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) a misnomer, or least an understatement; satisfying its mandates demands a far greater than adequate effort. Established in the No Child Left Behind Act, AYP requires that districts and schools show a minimum, prescribed level of growth in student achievement, until the year 2013-2014, when every eligible…

A major purpose of this study was to measure and compare the effectiveness of office procedures, model office, and cooperative office education courses in developing 12th grade students' office decision-making abilities as well as to compare their decision-making abilities with those of office supervisors and office workers. Two other purposes of…

The visible claims of the current accountability movement are examined critically, and an alternative philosophy and a developing system are offered. Areas examined include the psychological implications of accountability philosophies for teaching staff, certain educational measurement problems, and the availability or adequacy of operating…

The New Jersey Educational Assessment Program (EAP) is a statewide testing program used to assess reading and mathematics achievement, and to provide useful information to educational decision makers at the state and local levels. In May 1976, the State Department of Education conducted a survey of all local school superintendents regarding their…

The study presents the results of testing an original obersvation instrument designed to identify a power elite in multiple sessions of two eight-member adult discussion groups. Two questions guided the development of the study: (1) Can a power elite be identified in participation training groups? (2) Can an effective observation instrument with…

Comprehensive Achievement Monitoring (CAM) is a systematic procedure of constructing and administering longitudinal, criterion-referenced tests. CAM has advantages over typical classroom testing of having well-organized tests, providing course evaluation through pretesting, posttesting, and retention measurement; producing data for continuous…