Propelled by accountability policies, leaders have touted data-driven decision making as a means to improve K-12 student outcomes and drive equity, as teachers analyze data to change instruction. However, many data-driven decision-making reforms have failed to challenge inequity. Melanie Bertrand and Julie Marsh's study of six middle schools shows…

Responding to an earlier "Phi Delta Kappan" article, the author rejects the argument that East Asian students' high scores on international educational assessments come at the expense of learning to be creative and entrepreneurial. According to survey research, people in Japan, Korea, and other East Asian nations perceive themselves to…

The Civil Rights Project was hired to identify barriers to equitable access in Buffalo (New York) Public Schools' criteria schools and propose solutions, which, if accepted by both parties, could resolve the civil rights violations and create more equitable access to those schools. The researchers found that students of color, low-income students,…

Assessments were an important tool recommended by "A Nation at Risk;" however, a generation after that report, many of the problems with student assessment still remain. This article offers brief reflections on three somewhat overlapping but enduring issues in educational assessment: validity, construct underrepresentation in outcome measures in…

In this article, the author discusses the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS). He compares and contrasts his ideas with another professional named Haggai Kupermintz of the University of Haifa. Kupermintz asks his questions in the Fall 2003 issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. As for the circularity, Kupermintz notes…

When test data from different sources conflict, the truth is often found somewhere in the middle. As this article shows, reports of achievement trends can be heavily influenced by the particular definition of achievement represented and by testing conditions. Recent progress in science and mathematics must be carefully nurtured in the nineties.…

Today's educators live in fear of the draconian consequences of failing to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. In this article, the author offers sage advice on how to "comply" with the law and not get hurt. In this analysis, the author also offers guidance to his public school colleagues who, yearning to…

By creating science achievement tests that satisfy cognitive fidelity and process relevance criteria, educators will produce achievement indicators that serve a reporting function and still benefit the educational system. The true test of students' understanding is hands-on assessment in a laboratory situation. Includes eight references. (MLH)

As one of the nation's first school effectiveness programs, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Schools' Project RISE received national attention during the 1980s for efforts to improve elementary students' achievement test scores. The program failed because of inadequate funding, lack of specificity, and failure to translate the RISE philosophy and the five…

From the halls of Congress to the local elementary school, conversations on education reform have tossed around the term "achievement gap" as though people all know precisely what that means. As it's commonly used, "achievement gap" refers to the differences in scores on state or national achievement tests between various…

Reviews the 25-year record of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), highlighting criticisms of test design and validity, sampling techniques, standards, and usefulness of results. Provides the newly organized NAEP with guidelines for selecting input variables and specifies nine variables to be studied. A sidebar describes NAEP's…

Discusses possible reasons for U.S. gifted students' underachievement on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Homework, class time, and television viewing are similar elsewhere. Previous learning, negative reform effects, middle-school practices, nonrigorous coursework, curriculum deficiencies, and stress on potential over…

Examines tracking's effects on end-of-year 10th-grade mathematics achievement for a sample of over 3,900 public school students, using 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study data. Although there is clearly a case for detracking on equity grounds, students currently in uppertrack classes may suffer major losses in achievement test scores. (26…

Test-based accountability systems aim to direct the behavior of educators toward the improvement of student achievement. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act codified accountability as the national educational blueprint, requiring schools to increase test scores incrementally so that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Yet,…

According to 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress science results, there is no difference between private and public school performance by the time one reaches the 75th percentile of grade 12. Recent SAT scores for the top 20% of students indicate teachers are not inflating grades. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing…