Public schools have, for generations, played a critical role in the lives of the vast majority of North Carolinians-they are ingrained into the fabric of identity as a state. Many of the issues in the Top Ten highlight where the erosion of the historic commitment to public schools for the public good is seen. The Public School Forum of North…

Nearly four years after a front-page story in "The New York Times" sparked a fierce debate by suggesting that charter school students nationally were lagging academically behind their peers in regular public schools, the national testing program that informed the controversy has generated far more data for researchers and advocates to scrutinize.…

This paper estimates the effect of charter schools on both students attending them and students at neighboring public schools. Using school-level data from Michigan's standardized testing program, I compare changes in test scores between charter and public school students. I find that test scores of charter school students do not improve, and may…

Educational assessment and, more broadly, educational research in the United States have entered into an era characterized by a dramatic increase in the prevalence and importance of test score use in accountability systems. This volume covers a selection of contemporary issues about testing science and practice that impact the nation's public…

This document contains student and school system performance data on North Carolina's grade 3 pretest, end-of-grade tests, high school comprehensive test, and end-of-course tests. Results were generated from tests administered statewide in the 2000-2001 school year. The grade 3 pretest was administered in reading and mathematics, and the…

This primer is designed to help charter school leaders in Ohio in coordinating testing and test data reporting procedures as required by state and federal guidelines. The report discusses the roles and responsibilities of charter schools under Ohio's new accountability system and what charter schools need to know to administer the tests of the…

Over the past five years the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) has used the results of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) to rate public school performance on the School Accountability Report (SAR). The public often considers the school ratings as indicative of the school's quality. There appears to be a lack of quantitative…

This book contains data reported to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction before August 12, 2002 about state testing results. It contains preliminary 2001-2002 state testing results for: (1) grade 3 pretest, in reading and mathematics; (2) end-of-grade tests at grades 3 through 8, multiple choice tests; (3) alternate assessment…

This document consists of articles 1 through 39 published in the electronic journal "Education Policy Analysis Archives" for the year 2003. (SLD)

This report presents preliminary results from four sets of tests that are part of the North Carolina state testing program. The Grade 3 Pretest is a multiple choice reading and mathematics test administered to students at the beginning of third grade. This pretest was administered to more than 102,000 students in the 1999-2000 school year, and…

In the 2000 presidential race, education seems a top priority for Vice-President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. Although both candidates are promising billions of federal-aid dollars to raise standards, many believe they are ignoring factors such as student motivation and funding inequities. (MLH)

The North Carolina Open-Ended Assessment for grades 5 and 8 emphasizes higher-level thinking skills. Test items commonly require the integration of knowledge and skills from more than one curricular area. Beginning in 1996-97, the North Carolina Open-Ended Assessment was administered to students in grades 5 and 8 for the second time. Because it is…

This document contains preliminary state-level results for the 2000-2001 North Carolina state testing program. No conclusions about achievement are drawn in this report, although percentages achieving at given Achievement Levels are given for the end-of-grade tests. The Grade 3 Pretest is a multiple-choice reading and mathematics test administered…

This document contains results for 1998-1999 for several North Carolina state testing programs. The Grade 3 Pretest is a multiple-choice reading and mathematics test administered to students in the first 3 weeks of third grade. This pretest was administered to more than 101,000 students in the beginning of the 1998-1999 school year. Results show…

Beginning in the 1992-93 school year, the North Carolina State Board of Education authorized the administration of North Carolina-developed end-of-grade tests aligned with the state's "Standard Course of Study." These curriculum-based tests were administered to over 553,000 students in grades 3 through 8 at the end of the 1997-98 school…