Considering the heritage Americans been given, they have both the resources and the responsibility to meet the challenges faced as the United States struggles to regain--or sustain--its world leadership in postsecondary education. The growing importance of education has led to a lot of public attention and churning, almost chaotic policy…

Well before the examinations grade crisis of 2012, Michael Gove had set out clear intentions for reforming public examinations. Though he claimed to be improving examinations and assessment by replicating practices that took place in high-performing countries and thus improving the ability of the UK economy to "compete", this…

Recently, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a study to connect the scale of the North Carolina State End of Grade (EOG) Testing Program used for North Carolina's mathematics and reading assessments with NWEA's Rausch Interval Unit (RIT) scale. Information from the state assessments was used in a study to establish…

Standards-based science education, with its emphasis on monitoring and accountability, is rapidly becoming a key part of the globalization of science education. Standards-based testing within countries is increasingly being used to determine the effectiveness of a country's educational system, and international testing programs such as Programme…

This paper is part of a series investigating the implementation of competency education. The purpose of the paper is to explore how districts and schools can redesign grading systems to best help students to excel in academics and to gain the skills that are needed to be successful in college, the community, and the workplace. In order to make the…

The purpose of this study was to explore how high school social studies teachers made sense of curriculum work. The setting was a large, urban area in Texas with high percentages of students who were considered economically disadvantaged. The context of the study was important because these teachers were implementing revised standards and new…

Nearly every state is engaged in what is generally being called standards-based reform, the development of statewide academic goals and guidelines in core subjects, with new state tests that will measure students progress toward these goals. The first chapter of this report describes how the Study Group on Statewide Assessment of the National…

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education in the United States issued a report called "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform." This report and other policy initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Legislation recommended that the individual states institute assessments to hold schools accountable.…

Argues that high-stakes testing is inconsistent with the National Science Education Standards' goals regarding what students are taught about the nature and purposes of science. (Contains 23 references.) (Author)

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is a damaging and dangerous "reform" with fundamental flaws: assumptions that all children undergo the same developmental process and that everyone requires the same knowledge to be successful; the fact that the guide and exams cover irrelevant material; and the idea that testing is…

This book offers parents and community members a clear picture of the Kentucky school improvement design through a solid and user-friendly explanation of the basics of the plan. The chapters are: (1) "What Is This Book For?"; (2) "What Is Our School System Working To Achieve?"; (3) "What Do Our Students Need To Know and Be…

Argues against large-scale, federally funded, census approaches to measuring higher education outcomes, outlining specific problems. Discusses the effects of tests as instruments of educational reform, the cross-discipline transfer of higher-order skills, and the technology of setting performance standards. Places measurement within the broader…

The Chicago (Illinois) School Reform Act of 1988 (Public Act 85-1418) established the performance of students on a nationally normed, standardized test as a key measure of success. In the Chicago Public Schools, the tests used are the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) in the elementary grades and the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP) in…

This report is part of a multi-year project to examine the effects of standards-based assessment reform on schools and classrooms. During the past year, the project investigated school and classroom effects of assessment reforms in the state of Kentucky, a state that has been at the forefront of the standards-based assessment movement. This report…

From 1946 to 1976, the field of higher education operated in a growth-based mode, encouraged by government decisions and financed by government funds. During the massive recession and exploding federal deficits of the early seventies, however, legislators began examining the real value of higher education, and asking whether higher education was…