The 2012 presidential election and many state and local races are only a few weeks away, but schools are not doing much to promote student interest in the elections or provide civic education more broadly, new research suggests. A report last week from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), at Tufts…

Prior to the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the public was expressing discontent about the declining of students' test scores and the quality of public schooling. The federal government eventually began discussing and debating for education reform and the No Child Left Behind of 2001 was finally passed and signed by President…

In 1988, U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett proclaimed Chicago's public schools to be the worst in the nation. Since that time, Chicago has been at the forefront of urban school reform. Beginning with a dramatic move in 1990 to shift power away from the central office, through CEO Paul Vallas's use of standardized testing to hold schools…

Chapter 1 examines the effects of college quality on students' learning, employment and earnings in Colombia. Scores on a national college "entry" test solely determine admission to many selective Colombian universities, creating exogenous peer and resource quality variation near admission cutoffs. In one regression discontinuity (RD)…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides several funding opportunities that can assist states in designing, developing, and implementing statewide education longitudinal data systems. These new and enhanced information systems will enable states to track student progress within and across the secondary and postsecondary education…

State exit exams, also known as graduation tests, are tests that student must pass to graduate from high school. These tests are more influential than ever. Accordingly, in 2004, 20 states required students to pass an exit exam to graduate from high school, and six additional states will implement an exit exam by 2009. This affects more than half…

States have made tremendous progress in developing longitudinal data systems that can track student progress and answer critical policy questions. However, more work is needed, particularly on certain elements. Data on course-taking and grades (element 6), college readiness test scores (element 7), and other feedback from post-secondary…

The Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center (AMEPAC) is a policy center of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education. AMEPAC's mission is to stimulate, through studies, statewide discussion, and debate, constructive improvement of Arizona minority students' early awareness, access, and achievement throughout the educational…

Now that all 50 states and the District of Columbia are building statewide longitudinal data systems, the next step is to ensure that the information in these systems is used to improve student learning. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has identified 10 actions that states can take to ensure that the right data are available and accessible and…

The most important issue facing the people of the United States is education. National reports have defined the problem. The need for reform can no longer be questioned. A solution must be devised and New Jersey is reqdy to act. As Governor, the author offers several proposals for restoring the vigor of the state's schools. Each district will…

Remedial or developmental courses are the most common policy instruments used to assist underprepared postsecondary students who are not ready for college-level coursework. However, despite its important role in higher education and its substantial costs, there is little rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of college remediation on the outcomes…

Characteristics related to the potential strength of state curriculum control policies in California, Florida, New York, and Texas are described in this report. Each of these states has recently strengthened its influence over the high school curriculum. This report examines the strength of the state policies that: (1) define the high school…

High stakes testing has been in place in North Carolina since the late 1970s with highly visible, nationally norm-referenced tests administered to all students in several grades, as well as minimum competency testing as part of high school graduation requirements. A current back-to-basics movement has resulted in cuts to the testing program. A new…

Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center (AMEPAC) is a policy center of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education. AMEPAC's mission is to stimulate, through studies, statewide discussion, and debate, constructive improvement of Arizona minority students' early awareness, access, and achievement throughout all sectors of…

Uses of assessment in postsecondary education and policy issues are considered. In higher education, assessment is used to refer to at least six separate but overlapping activities: (1) multiple measures to track students' intellectual and personal growth over an extended period of time; (2) state-mandated requirements for evaluating students…