This paper develops models to measure growth in student achievement with a focus on the possibility of differential growth in achievement for low and high-achieving students. We consider a gap-closing model that evaluates the degree to which students in a target group -- students in the bottom quartile of measured achievement -- perform better…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the "Phonics First"® program within one district to inform district level curriculum team decisions and program planning moving forward. As a level 4 Directed State Support district, the studied district was looking for ways to close the achievement gap and raise overall…

Student voice related to assessment, particularly in graduate educational leadership preparation programs, can be a powerful source of data to inform program development and implementation. This case study explores student experience and attitude toward assessment in two graduate level educational leadership programs at a midwestern university in…

We study a California policy that loosened constraints on some local governments by lowering the share of votes required to pass school capital improvement bond referendums. We show that the policy change yielded larger tax proposals that received less support from voters, yet led to a doubling of approved spending. We show that this effect is…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 schools are under immense pressure to meet the diverse needs of students. But policies and practices have not evolved quickly enough to meet those needs -- and as a result, the system continues to fail far too many young people. In "Levers of Change: How State Policies Support District…

The lockdowns that began during the spring of 2020 changed the conditions for teaching and assessment across the globe. In Norway, schools were closed, and all school activities took place online. Moreover, all final exams were canceled, and all student grading was based on final grading by the individual teacher. Because of this, teachers'…

This study investigates unproctored assignment-based assessment implementation in an online teaching environment compared to on-site assessment. A mixed-method research approach was conducted with the participation of 284 English-major students, 6 teachers, and 4 experts at a university in Vietnam. Data collection instruments included a…

Purpose: The impact of morphological knowledge on students' literacy development has been well documented. The purpose of this tutorial is to illustrate how school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can target morphology in their interventions to support their students' literacy development. Method: This tutorial includes a review of the…

The full impact of the COVID-19 crisis on higher education remains unclear, with some topics still under-researched. This research explores the challenges faced by Spanish academics during emergency remote teaching and is a pioneering study in this context due to the number of participating universities and variety of profiles of university…

Despite a large number of studies on teachers' assessment literacy (AL) and the increasing interest in digital assessment, there is a paucity of research on teachers' AL in digital environments (TALiDE). To bridge this gap, the current study explored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TALiDE, the roles, and competencies underlying TALiDE, and…

This study presents reflections from accounting lecturers in Singapore on the challenges and opportunities of conducting assessments during the crisis period of COVID-19. We seek to answer the following research question: What were the responses of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Singapore to the pandemic to maintain order in the…

Instructional explanations are an ubiquitous component of classroom instruction, but are relatively neglected in science education when compared to other facets of teaching and learning. The ubiquity of instructional explanations and their potential to stimulate learning in students suggests that they should garner more attention from science…

Changepoints are abrupt variations in a sequence of data in statistical inference. In educational and psychological assessments, it is pivotal to properly differentiate examinees' aberrant behaviors from solution behavior to ensure test reliability and validity. In this paper, we propose a sequential Bayesian changepoint detection algorithm to…

This study investigated professional development practices and its impact on classroom instruction as perceived by teachers in participating school districts in Mississippi. One hundred and twenty-one teachers who participated in this study responded to Learning Forward's Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) using the Survey Monkey platform. This…

Initial teacher education programme and paper assessments need to encompass university degree requirements and attest to student mastery of teacher professional competencies. This article reports one aspect of an investigation of the nature and principles employed in the design of assessments for a three-year Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)…