The purposes of this study were to (a) identify how leadership in a successful rural school districts has helped raise student achievement levels beyond those of comparable school districts as measured by state and federal mandated test scores, (b) investigate the district leadership that aligns with identified effective practices, and (c)…

This qualitative, longitudinal study documents the academic and professional journeys of 8 college graduates or "scholars" of the Paterson Teachers for Tomorrow (PT4T) program. Data from this study further contribute to the growing body of research focusing on preparing diverse candidates--particularly those from urban and low…

In "Holding Accountability to Account: How Scholarship and Experience in Other Fields Inform Exploration of Performance Incentives in Education"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, argues educational…

Many districts and schools across the U. S. have begun to develop and administer assessments to complement state testing systems and provide additional information to monitor curriculum, instruction and schools. In advance of this trend, the Jackson Public Schools (JPS) district has had a district benchmark testing system in place for many years.…

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They've settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to…

This paper illustrates how statistical decision theory can be used to model aspects of the effectiveness of a course placement system. The illustration is based on data from students who enrolled in a first-year mathematics course at a midwestern university. To model the placement of students, the author first elicited students' and instructors'…

This paper describes the development and outcomes of New York State's "Invitation to Invention," the Regents Exam Options Project. Initiated as a temporary strategy to encourage and support local changes in teaching and assessment toward the learner-centered reforms taking place in the state, the project provided high school teachers and…

This collection of essays and articles on education reform highlights many of the issues of greatest interest to educators and the public. Articles are grouped into the following categories: (1) "The Front Lines" (9 selections); (2) "Charter Schools" (4 selections); (3) "School Choice" (4 selections); (4)…

This booklet presents the social studies test required for graduation in Alberta, Canada. The grade 12 diploma examination consists of multiple-choice questions (60 percent of the total mark) and written response questions (40 percent). Time for the examination is expected to be two-and-one-half hours with an additional one-half hour given to…

This booklet presents the social studies test required for graduation in Alberta, Canada. The grade 12 diploma examination consists of multiple-choice questions (60 percent of the total mark) and written response questions (40 percent). Time for the examination is expected to be two-and-one-half hours with an additional one-half hour given to…

Discussed are nine questions regarding standard setting issues in educational testing: (1) Should normative or content-referenced standards be used? (2) Different standard setting methods yield different results. Does this finding present a problem? (3) Assess the adequacy of the grounding of various methods of standard setting in psychological…

A comprehensive student basic skills assessment program was developed at St. Louis Community College (SLCC) at Florissant Valley to appraise student readiness to take courses, gather information for counseling and advising, diagnose student problems, and evaluate program efficiency and effectiveness. The steps taken in developing the program were:…

This report describes a procedure that promises to improve the stability, accuracy, and efficiency of the employment of latent trait models and an application of the procedure to the Rasch model. Data were collected from the Portland Public Schools Level Tests administered to 25,740 students. Since each of the 173 items (chosen from the total…

Educational item banking presents observers with a considerable paradox. The development of test items from scratch is viewed as wasteful, a luxury in times of declining resources. On the other hand, item banking has failed to become a mature technology despite large amounts of money and the efforts of talented professionals. The question of which…

Suggest that the test performance of disadvantaged children can be influenced by the affective tome of the test administration as determined by the wording and content of the test instructions. (Author/AM)