For more than half a century, the honors community has debated the role of standards. This comprehensive overview of those discussions--the first ever--traces the evolution of how honors education has defined itself from its early years right up until the 2022 adoption of the National Collegiate Honors Council's new "NCHC Shared Principles…

IFT Approval of undergraduate food science and technology programs has continued to evolve since its inception in the 1960s. This report provides rationale and outlines key changes in the latest revisions of the IFT Approval Guidelines that were approved by the IFT Board of Directors in 2018. The 2018 Guidelines retained the previously established…

In 2021, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) made a monumental move to require postsecondary institutions to evaluate and document their actions to ensure fairness in admissions, an inclusive learning environment, and equitable student outcomes. Around the same time, a team comprising educational measurement experts, diversity…

This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

This report presents the findings of a survey of states that examined the policies, practices, and procedures State Education Agencies (SEAs) used to monitor IEPs for participation decision making in alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). It is imperative that only students with the most significant…

In March 2019, The New Mexico Public Education Department (NM PED) convened thirteen statewide community engagements to gather public input to reimagine the state assessment system. Following these community input meetings, the NM PED convened the New Mexico Task Force for Student Success (Task Force), which was comprised of key education…

In this study, the outcomes of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as implemented in Illinois, are evaluated in terms of high school standards testing results between 2003-2013. NCLB was a policy dedicated to closing the gap in schooling outcomes nationally in the space of a decade. There have been few systematic examinations of its macro-level results…

Data-based instructional programs have proliferated in American schools despite limited evidence of their effectiveness in improving educator practice and raising student achievement. We report results from a two-year school-randomized evaluation of the Achievement Network (ANet), a program providing schools with standards-aligned interim…

This paper is the first issue of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Symposium Collective Works publication, devoted to summaries of the presentations that took place at the 2018 symposium. The guiding topic of the symposium, assessment of student learning, was interwoven in breakout sessions with a great variety of topics such as equity,…

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? The country reports in this series provide, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing evaluation and assessment policy to identify improvements that can be made to enhance…

Washington is building a comprehensive learning system that emphasizes quality from birth to 18 years. With $1 million in funding from the Early Start Act, and matching funds from the Raikes Foundation, the Department of Early Learning (DEL) and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) have completed an Expanded Learning…

This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study investigated and interpreted the Common Core State Standards program (the phenomenon) that has been the dominating topic of discussions amongst educators all across the country since the inauguration of the program in 2014/2015 school session. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was a…

Educational policies such as Race to the Top in the USA affirm a central role for testing systems in government-driven reform efforts. Such reform policies are often referred to as the global education reform movement (GERM). Changes observed with the GERM style of testing demand socially engaged validity theories that include consequential…

The use of technology in the evaluation of higher education programs is a mainstay. Physical evidence rooms, face-to-face interviews, and reviewing of documentation on site have become obsolete. Relying on the heavy use of technology in the evaluation process has allowed what some believe to be a more cohesive, streamlined approach to the…

Deciding whether and how to use assessments to evaluate students' social and emotional (SE) knowledge, attitudes, and skills requires the development and critical appraisal of an assessment plan. At the state, district, and school levels, education leaders and staff can benefit from reviewing best practices and using a structured format to arrive…