This paper provides information about Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT) and Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT). The purpose of the exams is to: (1) Ensure that students qualifying for a diploma have mastered essential core academic content and skills. All students seeking a Georgia high school diploma must pass the GHSGT in four…

This paper provides information about Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and TAKS (Accommodated) Phasing in End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments. The purpose of the tests is to: (1) Meet a state mandate; (2) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (3) Determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state…

This paper provides information about Washington Assessment of Student Learning and the new High School Proficiency Exam. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Determine prospective high school graduates' knowledge and skill levels relative to those needed for entry-level employment and postsecondary education; (2) Determine prospective high school…

This technical brief examines the current alignment between the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) and Graduation Exit Examination (GEE) mathematics assessment standards and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics framework. It looks at the extent to which current state assessment standards cover the…

This paper presents an empirical study investigating the relationship between vocabulary size and the skills of listening, reading and writing in English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants were 88 EFL learners from lower secondary education whose language skills were assessed as part of the national school leaving examination in…

The study reported here aimed to establish whether the stakes of examinations taken by students in the final two years of compulsory education in the UK were associated with degree of self-reported examination anxiety, and whether examination stakes moderated the anxiety-examination grade relationship. Data were collected from 615 students who…

This article examines in detail the Ohio WINS (Writing Institute Network for Success), a program whose goal is to provide continuing education for teachers. The aim of the program is to use up-to-date research to help teachers improve students' critical thinking and to better prepare them for both the rigorous Ohio Graduation Tests (OGTs) and…

This study investigated the functions of annotations, the role of annotations in markers' decision-making processes, whether annotations conform to conventions, and whether these vary according to subject area. Across subjects a number of scripts were analysed to survey which annotations are subject specific and which are more general. Twelve…

This paper examines the views of staff at higher education institutions on how well 14-19 education and training prepares young people for higher education (HE) study. It draws upon research involving focus groups with approximately 250 academic and admissions staff at 21 higher education institutions in England and Wales. The data collection was…

High-stakes testing has emerged as a central feature of the educational landscape in primary and secondary schools in the United States. Despite this prominence, there is a paucity of guidance available to practitioners on how they can best make predictions about student performance based on available test data. While achievement gaps based on…

This study investigates the interplay of working memory, cognitive style, and behaviour. Year 8 (aged 13 years) students (n = 205) at a UK urban secondary school were tested to ascertain predictors of General Certificate of School Education (GCSE) achievement. Assessment included Riding's cognitive style dimensions, working memory capacity, and a…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mathematics enrichment activity used to improve the mathematics performance of students relative to participation in the State Agricultural Mechanics Career Development Event (CDE) and in mandated assessments. The treatment group (13 schools, 43 students) participated in a…

This paper provides information about the New York's Regents Examination. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' knowledge and skill levels relative to those needed for entry-level employment; (3) Determine prospective high school graduates'…

In this article, the authors ask whether state high school exit examinations are associated with high school dropout rates and racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in high school dropout rates in Florida and Texas. Using data from the 1968-2000 October Current Population Surveys, they first consider the 1971-2000 graduating classes and use…

A problem on a state's high school exit exam asked for the longest straw that would fit in a box. The examiners apparently wanted the length of a diagonal of the box, but the figure accompanying the question suggested otherwise--that the radius of the straw be considered. This article explores that more general problem.