In this article, the change in examinee effort during an assessment, which we will refer to as persistence, is modeled as an effect of item position. A multilevel extension is proposed to analyze hierarchically structured data and decompose the individual differences in persistence. Data from the 2009 Program of International Student Achievement…

Many Pennsylvania colleges and universities require that teacher candidates pass a standardized assessment in order to gain formal entry in to their education programs. Standardized tests are also required for Level I teacher certification within Pennsylvania. The initial assessment required of all Pennsylvania preservice teachers for…

In "Beyond Test Scores: Leading Indicators for Education," Foley and colleagues (2008) define leading indicators as those that "provide early signals of progress toward academic achievement" (p. 1) and stress that educators "need leading indicators to help them see the direction their efforts are going in and to take…

This technical report presents results from a cross-validation study designed to identify optimal cut scores when using easyCBM[R] reading tests in Oregon. The cross-validation study analyzes data from the 2009-2010 academic year for easyCBM[R] reading measures. A sample of approximately 2,000 students per grade, randomly split into two groups of…

In recent years, scores on the annual state reading and mathematics tests used for accountability have gone up in most states. These trends in state test scores do not always coincide, however, with trends on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federally sponsored assessment that is administered periodically to…

This report compares state math and reading proficiency scores in grades 4 and 8 to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) basic scores for the period of 2005 to 2009. The study found that scores on state tests and NAEP have increased in most states with sufficient data. Also included with the report are profiles for the 23 states that…

The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) holds schools, districts, and states accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, including the nearly 14% of public school students who receive special education services because they have an identified disability. By 2014, 100% of students with disabilities are expected to…

This report is the first in a series of reports describing results from the Center on Education Policy's (CEP's) third annual analysis of state testing data. The report provides an update on student performance at the proficient level of achievement, and for the first time, includes data about student performance at the advanced and basic levels.…

Many in the research and policy worlds have taken for granted the existence of a phenomenon known as the "plateau effect," wherein test scores rise in the early years of a test-based accountability system and then level off. Drawing from our database of reading and math test results from all 50 states going back as far as 1999, the…

Title I provides extra instructional services designed to raise achievement for low-performing students in schools with relatively high poverty rates, and for all students in many of the nation's highest-poverty schools. To learn more about how well Title I students are performing academically, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) compared…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the achievement gap between minority and white students by analyzing 1996 and 2000 reading and mathematics scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) at grades 5, 8, and 10. The focus was on score increases, the achievement gap between white and minority students, and whether or not a…

Project Basic is a program developed by the Maryland State Department of Education to assure that students attain basic skills in a variety of areas. Two levels of tests are given in grade 7 to monitor progress, and in grades 9 to 12 to determine whether each student has met the state minimum competency level. Students must pass the higher level…

The results in this report, from the fifth administration of the grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 reading, mathematics, and writing portions of the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP), represent an important step in Delawares efforts to educate all students to a higher level. Reading, mathematics, and writing data for grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 are…

Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) students in grades 3 through 8 took the North Carolina End-of-Grade (EOG) multiple-choice tests during the months of May and June of 2002. These tests are the basis of the accountability program referred to as ABCs, Accountability, Basics, and Control. WCPSS EOG multiple-choice results for 2001-2002 show…

Students in grades 3 through 8 of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) took the North Carolina End-of-Grade (EOG) multiple choice tests during May and June 1999. All EOG tests are designed to measure student achievement of knowledge and skills of the North Carolina standard course of study. The multiple choice tests are required in reading…