In May 2013, the governor of Florida signed into law Senate Bill 1720, which fundamentally changed how institutions of higher education manage remedial programs. Institutions seemed to be responding to the high demand for education by channeling large percentages of incoming first-year students to remedial classes based on assessment test scores,…

"Making Career Readiness Count 3.0" provides an analysis of how the 50 states and the District of Columbia are including and incentivizing measures of career readiness in their new accountability systems under ESSA, as well as an analysis of state-level accountability systems in states with dual systems. This report is the result of a…

In the context of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021, 'academic integrity' describes a provider's responsibility to ensure its staff and students act with honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility as they engage in learning and teaching in courses and units of study. (See TEQSA's resources on academic…

The purpose of this directory was to identify and describe education practices to take federally-funded GEAR UP and TRIO programs online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs improve academic performance, close the achievement gap, and improve persistence towards graduation for low-income, first-generation, and…

This report synthesizes findings from extant empirical research to identify nine key policy areas that state policymakers and stakeholders in California can leverage to improve English learners' (ELs') opportunities and outcomes across the state. Importantly, the report situates these policy areas within the current framework of California state…

After passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, states assumed greater responsibility for designing their own accountability and assessment systems. ESSA requires states to measure "higher order thinking skills and understanding" and encourages the use of open-ended performance assessments, which are essential for…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opened up new possibilities for how student and school success are defined and supported in American public education. States have greater responsibility for designing and building their assessment and accountability systems. These new opportunities to develop performance assessments are critically important…

Response to intervention (RTI) was included in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically as part of an assessment process to determine if a child has a disability. Although IDEA's focus is on students with disabilities, 10 states have developed policies that attend to students with gifts and…

Teacher work sample methodology is a form of performance assessment that requires the teacher to describe, analyze, and reflect on student assessment data to improve both instruction and student learning. Some teacher preparation programs have adopted teacher work sample methodology as a means of teaching teacher candidates to gather and analyze…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on the Promise of Public Schooling and includes: (1) America Does Not Have to Stay Stuck at Losing One in Four High Schoolers (María…

Active service members and veterans are pursuing postsecondary degrees in record numbers today, due in large part to the GI Bill education benefits that can cover much or all of the cost. An important tool for helping service members and veterans succeed in postsecondary education is prior learning assessment (PLA). PLA is a process that includes…

Bearing in mind the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, Louisiana's Steering Committee projected performance targets through the year 2014 for the important areas of: (1) Graduation with a Diploma; (2) Dropout Rate; (3) Placement, ages 6-21 and ages 3-5; (4) Achievement Performance Levels, and (5) Discipline. Annual gains were…

Universities put considerable resources into developing learning and teaching plans. In this paper, we examine the purpose of these plans in the context of legislative requirements, public accountability and the quality agenda. We analyse a sample of Australian university learning and teaching plans using a framework we have developed based on…

At the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, governors from 45 states joined with business leaders and education officials to address a critical problem in American education: Too few students graduate from high school prepared for the demands of college and careers in an increasingly competitive global economy. To monitor state progress…

Results from national reading assessments reveal that millions of young people leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success. Young adults who lack reading and writing proficiency will likely be relegated to the ranks of unskilled workers in a world where literacy is an absolute…