The family of Weibull distributions was investigated as a model for the distributions of response times for items in computer-based criterion-referenced tests. The fit of these distributions were, with a few exceptions, good to excellent according to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. For a few relatively simple items, the two-parameter gamma…

The 1979-80 South Carolina Statewide Testing Program assessed the achievement of students in public school grades 3, 6, and 11. Results were used to facilitate the decision-making process of educators at the state, district, and school levels. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) were used to measure achievement in the basic skill areas…

This ethnographic study investigated the implementation process of mathematics curriculum initiatives designed to improve student achievement in a test-driven accountability environment. The research focused on complex factors within the school contextual environment influencing implementation and student achievement specifically, leadership;…

A study using the static-group research design was performed comparing the raw standardized Stanford 9 high stakes test scores of career and technical education (CTE) students with those of other students while controlling for extraneous variables such as learning styles, special populations, gender, race, and ethnicity. Two thousand high school…

People live in a fast-paced world in which, as the saying goes, the only constant is change. Like the rest of society, the American higher education system is grappling with changes that are significantly altering the landscape. This report surveys the higher education landscape and highlights a number of facts about the various converging trends.…

The effects of extended time on SAT Reasoning Test™ performance are examined. The study explored the impact of providing standard time, time and a half (1.5 time) with and without specified section breaks, and double time without specified section breaks on the verbal and mathematics sections of the SAT®. Differences among ability, disability, and…

For the past few years the Florida School Code has set the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) performance requirements for promotion of 3rd graders and graduation for 10th graders. Grade 3 students who do not score at level 2 or higher on the FCAT SSS Reading must be retained unless exempted for special circumstances. Grade 10 students…

The College Board developed a program in the content areas of English and mathematics designed to prepare students for challenging content as early as grade 6 and extending through high school. Conceived with the goal of creating high-quality professional development activities with associated instructional strategies embedded in instructional…

Steele and Aronson (1995) found that the performance of African-American subjects on test items portrayed as a problem-solving task, in a laboratory experiment, was adversely affected when they were asked about their ethnicity. This outcome was attributed to "stereotype threat". Performance was disrupted by the subjects' concerns about…

This study investigated the impact on ethnic, language, and gender groups of a new kind of essay prompt type intended for use with the new SAT®. The study also generated estimates of the reliability of scores obtained using the prompts examined. To examine the impact of a new prompt type, random samples of eleventh-grade students in 49…

This report summarizes the 2000-2001 program evaluation results of AISD's AVID program, a program designed to help underachieving students with academic potential prepare for entrance into colleges and universities.

A study investigated the effect of adding a writing measure to the Graduate Management Admission Test on the gender/ethnic composition of an admissions pool. Standardized differences from the white male reference group were computed for men and women in four ethnic/minority groups: Whites, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, and…

In this column, the author relates her experience as a teacher in a K-12 school in Point Hope, Alaska, where most of the students spoke "village English," a form of nonstandard English mixed with the village's native language of Inupiaq. She relates how the students' reading test scores, which had been below the 25th percentile, were…

This study examined the impact of background, aspirations, achievement, college experiences, and price on the persistence of first-generation (F-gen) and continuing generation (C-gen) college students at 4-year institutions using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study of 1995-96 (n = 24,262). The authors found differences between the two…

This paper describes the identification process of a Priority One Jacob K. Javits grant, Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity (Project CLUE), a university-school partnership. Project CLUE uses a "sift-down model" to cast the net widely as the talent pool of gifted second-grade students is formed. The model is based on standardized test scores, a…