Research is needed to understand the impact of high-stakes testing on teachers' practices and consequently on their students, particularly at schools that serve large numbers of low-income students and students of color. In this research study, we examined how a state's annual high-stakes test and administrative mandates influenced the assessment…

This paper offers an overview of complexities of the contexts for education in Aotearoa, which include the need to recognise and include Maori (Indigenous) perspectives, but also to extend this inclusion to the context of increasing ethnic diversity. These complexities include the situation of worsening disparities between rich and poor which…

In spring 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to an unprecedented and sweeping shift in the landscape of public schooling in the United States. Beginning in March, schools across the country closed their doors and adopted remote learning supports that varied in degree and type. In May 2020, researchers from the RAND…

Bilingual children are often referred for assessment to determine if educational or mental health supports are necessary for academic, social-emotional, or personal success. However, practitioners unfamiliar with the complex factors affecting second language acquisition run the risk of misinterpreting assessment data. For example, assessments that…

As part of the federal Preschool Development Grant Program in late 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) was awarded a Preschool Expansion Grant (referred to as the Massachusetts PEG program) to expand high-quality early childhood education to four-year-old children from low-income families. The Massachusetts PEG…

Public school districts in the Mississippi (MS) Delta are under severe pressure to make rapid and adaptable changes in response to the federal legislation No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the MS Plan for Student Achievement: Assessment, Accreditation, and Accountability. These reform Acts require higher student performance standards and new…

School districts, and even states, striving to identify optimal school size are confounded more often than not by the conflicting research findings and theoretical arguments presented throughout the literature. Some writers adamantly declare that smaller schools are a "must" if educational opportunity is to be optimized. Others argue that school…

The accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 place high-poverty schools and racially diverse schools at a disadvantage because they rely on mean proficiency scores and require all subgroups to meet the same goals for accountability. In this article, student achievement data from six states are used to highlight…

This book is a compelling indictment of the use of high-stakes assessments with punitive consequences in public schools. The authors trace the history of the policy and document the inequities for children of poverty that undergird high-stakes testing practices. Lack of dental and medical care, environmental violence, insufficient school funding,…

High-stakes testing creates a system that is unfair and destructive to learning. This paper critiques several common defenses of high-stakes testing, including claims that this strategy is necessary for addressing educational inequalities. The paper argues that an emphasis on tougher standards, accountability, and standardized testing is uniquely…

This book outlines 101 tried-and-true strategies for making teaching more effective. Grounded in research from the cognitive sciences and best classroom practices, the strategies are divided into the following areas: "Beginning With What Students Know: Activating Prior Knowledge" (e.g., visual sequencing, speaking categorically, and guided…

This study examined differences in nine factors between a group of the highest-performing needs high schools (HPHN) and a group of the lowest performing high-needs (LPHN) high schools using teacher responses from a national dataset. The factors are: (1) shared mission and goals; (2) professional development; (3) collaboration among teachers (4)…

This serial is in four sections. Part 1--Features: "American Social Policy"; "A Generational Perspective on Young Adults"; "Rising Income Inequality and Poverty"; "A Victim of Policy Neglect? 'Wealth Inequality'"; "Balancing Growth with Economic Equality"; "Economic Inequality: 'A Comparative…

This twelfth edition of "The Condition of K-12 Public Education in Maine" is designed to provide Maine citizens, legislators, and educators a yearly report on the state of Maine public schools and education. This new edition updates educational information which appeared in earlier editions, and also provides information on several new…

"Education Indicators" are facts and statistics that help to describe a public education system. They are tools which are useful in examining and measuring the effectiveness of the system. Examples include information such as the amount of local funds raised to support local schools, per pupil expenditures, pupil-teacher ratios, and…