In 1979, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) developed the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), an English proficiency test for people working in international environments, based on a request from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The Chauncey Group International, a subsidiary of ETS, currently…

In a more consistent and viable manner than ever before, education in Alabama is moving toward its ultimate goal of providing every student with a quality education, thereby preparing them for work, college, and life after high school. Alabama's graduation rates from 2002 to 2008 increased significantly, tripling the national average increase and…

The court system has been an increasingly important forum in the attempts to remedy the persistent achievement gaps in American education. In the past twenty years, school finance adequacy litigation has replaced desegregation as the most widely used legal strategy in these efforts. Despite the widespread use of adequacy litigation, few…

PCI Education sought scientifically based evidence on the effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program--Level One" for students with severe disabilities. During the 2007-2008 academic year. Empirical Education conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) in two Florida districts, Brevard and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. For this…

To explore whether different balances of fiction/non-fiction reading and challenge might help explain differences in reading achievement between genders, data on 45,670 pupils who independently read over 3 million books were analysed. Moderate (rather than high or low) levels of challenge were positively associated with achievement gain, but…

The Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) was administered to all kindergarten students enrolled in two rural elementary schools in the fall of 2004. Eight months later, the reading portion of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests, 6th Edition (MRT-6) was administered. Teachers were asked to indicate whether they had concerns about each student's…

During the 2005-06 school year, Save the Children supported 47 local programs in its model literacy initiative. Twenty of the sites operated for the first time during the 2005-06 school year, while 15 began operation in the spring of the 2004-05 school year, and the remaining 12 began operation during the 2003-04 school year. Services at local…

This booklet is intended to help students do their best on the ACT. It summarizes general test-taking strategies, describes the content of each test, provides specific tips for each, and lets students know what they can expect on test day. Included in this booklet are complete practice tests--"retired" ACT questions that were administered to…

Reynolds and Nicolson ("Dyslexia," 2007; 13: 78-96) claim to show that the "dyslexia dyspraxia attention-deficit treatment" (DDAT) benefits children with reading difficulties. However, Rack, Snowling, Hulme, and Gibbs ("Dyslexia," 2007; 13: 97-104) argue that because this study did not include an untrained control group then "all that needs to be…

This study describes the reading and test-taking strategies that test takers used on the "Reading" section of the "LanguEdge Courseware" (2002) materials developed to familiarize prospective respondents with the new TOEFL. The investigation focused on strategies used to respond to more traditional "single selection"…

Background: Empirical research suggests that social disadvantage has a negative effect on the development of language, and related cognitive skills such as reading. There is, however, no corresponding body of research on the impact of social disadvantage on motor development. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of…

Abstract Research has demonstrated girls outperform boys on conventional literacy tests. The present studies concern gender differences on computerised educational tests. Seventy-one children were tested using LASS Secondary and a set of seven conventional measures. No significant gender differences were found on any of the LASS Secondary modules,…

Formative assessments--assessments that measure what students do and do not know, so that teachers can modify their instruction accordingly--have been widely hailed as a potential vehicle for improving student achievement. Yet little solid research evidence exists about their effectiveness, especially in reform-rich school districts. This study…

Test-based education reform efforts continue to limit the number of minority teachers in the United States. Minority-serving institutions face numerous challenges in recruiting and preparing highly qualified minority teacher candidates for the academic demands of a changing teaching climate and the influx of a diverse student population in public…

Research has suggested that important research questions can be addressed with meaningful interpretations using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The proper interpretation of results, however, is invariably linked to the choice of centering for the Level-1 predictor variables that produce the outcome measure for the Level-2 regression analysis.…