Community colleges across the United States face a difficult challenge. On the one hand, they are "open access" institutions, with a mission to serve students from all backgrounds and at varying levels of college readiness. On the other hand, they must uphold high academic standards in order to maintain accreditation and prepare students…

For many years, the General Educational Development (GED) credential has been viewed as the high school dropout's safety net. Though not as well regarded as the high school diploma, the GED has opened up educational and economic opportunity for millions of young people and adults who did not finish high school. Nearly 680,000 people take the full…

This research study examined the role of critical pedagogical teachers within the education system. Public school teachers in the past ten years have been placed in a vulnerable position due in part to the high stakes testing within the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Classroom teachers are instructed by school administration…

Public elite and specialized high schools in New York City have a very low enrollment of Black and Latino students. Project 2011 is an intensive preparatory instructional program to improve acceptance rates for Black and Latino children to the eight specialized public high schools in New York City. Initiated and funded by District 17 and 18 of the…

In a developing nation like Turkey, the English language plays a significant role in educational and socioeconomic mobility. English is acquired and taught as a foreign language (EFL) primarily in the classrooms. However, the ways in which English language is represented in classroom instruction have been hardly examined and understood. With that,…

(Purpose) This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of an exam pre-reading strategy. (Methodology) It is an action research study that arose from a need in a particular class. A graduate class' scores on the first exam of the semester were unusually low. An instructor implemented a pre-reading strategy to determine if the scores would…

Using the World Health Organization definition of health for reference and a diverse group of raters, we sought to determine the following about the 931 questions that comprise the seven English pencil-and-paper versions of U.S. GED Official Practice Tests: (a) the prevalence of health-related questions and (b) representation of the eight U.S.…

This article discusses "My UniSpace", an innovative project which involves undergraduate students in a British university mentoring online pupils aged 14-18 who are studying languages. The project was funded by Routes into Languages, an initiative aimed at increasing take-up in modern languages. "My UniSpace" offers pupils…

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study, this study assessed the relevance of shadow education to the high academic performance of East Asian American students by examining how East Asian American students differed from other racial/ethnic students in the prevalence, purpose, and effects of using the two forms--commercial test preparation…

Steroid use in professional sports continues to receive much media attention in the United States. The predominant response to the use of steroids in professional sports is negative. Much of the opposition to steroid use focuses on the critical importance of fair play in American society. To the degree that steroids provide some players with an…

A previous study conducted a decade ago determined that there can be considerable disagreement--not only between students and faculty, but also among students and among faculty--regarding behaviors that constitute cheating. This article reports the results of a research study that replicated the student survey administered for the previous study,…

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to create transparency for the psychometric methods employed for the development of the Association of Social Work Boards' (ASWB) exams. Results: The article includes an assessment of the macro (political) and micro (statistical) environments of testing social work competence. The seven-step process used…

In this revised edition in the popular New Ways Series, teachers have once again been given an opportunity to show how they do assessment in their classrooms on an everyday basis. Often feeling helpless when confronted with large-scale standardized testing practices, teachers here offer classroom testing created with the direct aim of helping…

Learning as much as possible about what to expect and how best to select among response choices enables students to improve their scores so as to reflect more fully their knowledge and abilities, whether taking the SAT, ACT, AP history exams, multiple-choice exams in college courses, the GRE, or any other standardized examinations that include…

Passing the Leadership Test: Strategies for Success on the Leadership Licensure Exam is a study guide for the School Leaders Licensure Examination (SLLA.) The book presents a comprehensive, practical guide for preparing for the SLLA. It is divided into two sections: basic principles of test preparation and the ISLLC standards with implications for…