The OECD and its U.S. administrator, McGraw-Hill Education CTB, have recently concluded the first cycle of the OECD-Test for Schools in the U.S. This test is being marketed to local schools and is designed to compare 15-year-olds from individual participating schools against peers nationally and internationally using the OECD's PISA test as its…

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…

This paper examines the re-articulation of social justice as equity in schooling policy through national and global testing and data infrastructures. It focuses on the Australian National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We analyse the discursive reconstitution…

In order to remain relevant and useful, testing programs must periodically update their tests to match shifts in student populations and school curricula. One might think that because the publishers are offering a product, the responsibility for updates rests entirely on them. Publishers conduct studies to assure new content is appropriate. But…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2017 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e., individual…

A good assessment plan combines many direct and indirect measures to validate the collected data. One often controversial assessment measure comes in the form of retention exams. Although assessment retention exams may come with faults, others advocate for their inclusion in program assessment. Objective-based tests may offer insight to…

Online education is growing rapidly and there is little doubt that it will continue to expand until it one day encompasses the majority of higher education course offerings. Higher education leaders agree that online education will continue to grow even in the face of a slight recent decline (Allen & Seaman, 2013). As the rise of online…

The "PIRLS 2016 Assessment Framework, 2nd Edition" provides the foundation for the three international assessments planned as part of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016: PIRLS, PIRLS Literacy, and ePIRLS. PIRLS represents the…

From September 2015, schools in England will be teaching new A-level science specifications that have been developed by examination boards to encompass new higher levels of demand developed by the Department for Education. Integral to these new specifications is a radical change to the contribution of practical science to the A-level grade of the…

Promoting Acceleration of Comprehension and Content through Text (PACT) and similar team-based models directly engage and support students in learning situations that require cognitive elaboration as part of the processing of new information. Elaboration is subject to metacognitive control, as well (Karpicke, "Journal of Experimental…

The author, a teacher in the Seattle public schools, tells the story of a movement begun by teachers at Garfield High School who in January 2013 voted unanimously to refuse to administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. The MAP boycott spread to seven more Seattle schools, and teachers at 10 more schools signed statements of support.…

In February 2014, a state department of education contacted the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) for support in informing the rebranding of their kindergarten readiness assessment instrument. This state's department of education would like to develop a plan for increasing the use of the early childhood assessment system among…

In July 2010, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted to adopt Common Core's standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in place of the state's own standards in these two subjects. The vote was based largely on recommendations by Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester and then Secretary of…

The Australian field of English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching is globally respected for its research and practice achievements over a period of some 30 years. However, this essential field of pedagogy is being diluted in the current Australian reform agenda which is firmly founded on a traditional vision of English as first language, and…

When New York state released the first results of the exams under the Common Core State Standards, many wrongly believed that the results showed dramatic declines in student achievement. A closer look at the results showed that student achievement may have increased. Another lesson from the exams is that states need to closely coordinate new data…