Each year, Pennsylvania students participate in testing as part of the Pennsylvania assessment program. Students in grades 5, 8, and 11 take tests in reading and math while those in grades 6, 9 and 11 are assessed in writing. These tests serve as an important measure of student achievement for the state's accountability system. Results from these…

Each year, South Carolina students participate in testing as part of the South Carolina assessment program. Students in grades 3 through 8 take the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT) in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. Students in grade 10 take the High School Assessment Program (HSAP) in English/Language Arts and mathematics. These…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the ISTEP+ assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The RIT scale was developed using Rasch scaling methodologies. RIT-based tests are used to inform a variety of educational decisions at the district, school, and…

This book shows teacher-librarians and school library media specialists how to perform qualitative research and use the results effectively to promote the school library and build a shared understanding of the impact of school libraries on student learning. Hands-on guidance is provided for performing action research, including how to establish…

Despite persistent media headlines about extreme cases of child abuse and neglect, the public remains largely uninformed about the developmental status of children affected by this tragic problem. The research brief draws on available data and recent research to summarize what is known about these outcomes in several critical areasphysical and…

This executive summary discusses the definition of learning disabilities (LD) and how students are identified as having a learning disability. It begins by outlining four major methods that are used to compute the discrepancy-based definition of LD and the flaws of the discrepancy-based model. It then describes an approach to defining LD that is…

This monograph examines the special educational needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children and youth who are also diagnosed as having behavior disorders (BD). Following an introductory chapter, chapters 2 and 3 address the specific populations of Asian Americans (usually underrepresented in the BD population) and African…

Oregon's Education Act for the 21st century sets academic and performance standards for all students statewide. The implementation of statewide standards entails a major change from a time-based to a standards-based educational system, and will require that all students achieve the performance standards for each curricular area. This report to the…

This report presents preliminary recommendations for indicators and predictors of dependence on income from means-tested assistance programs, such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Supplemental Security Income. It includes an assessment of the ability of existing data collection efforts to provide the data needed to…

Results-based evaluation and assessment of guidance and counseling is a difficult task. How to best evaluate whether the comprehensive guidance program was getting the intended results became an issue for Omaha Public Schools. They set about to draft a framework for measuring student behavior or learning resulting from activities associated with…

This issue discusses changes in standards, assessments, and graduation requirements needed in K-12 and higher education, examining whether high school graduates are adequately prepared to enter college without remediation. Currently, about three-quarters of high school graduates will attend college. Among students who take the recommended number…

Students' ability to use self-regulatory learning skills is becoming increasingly important with the advent of World Wide Web-based learning. Online courses delivered through the Web require students to take more ownership over how and when learning takes place, rather than tutors and lecturers making these decisions. This comes at a time when…

Logistic and Cox regression methods are practical tools used to model the relationships between certain student learning outcomes and their relevant explanatory variables. The logistic regression model fits an S-shaped curve into a binary outcome with data points of zero and one. The Cox regression model allows investigators to study the duration…

This paper tells the story of Dr. J. Marvin Brown's life as a linguist and physicist in his quest to develop the means for adult, second language fluency. This is a combination of his auto-biography, which provides the context, and the lessons he learned in his 50 years as linguist, and language teacher. Brown's experiences indicate that adults…

This document is an update of Focus on Research: A Guide to Developing Students' Research Skills (Alberta Education, 1990). Focus on Research was developed in response to suggestions from Alberta teachers during the implementation of Focus on Learning: an Integrated Program Model for Alberta School Libraries (Alberta Education, 1985). …