This present study examined the intended and unintended consequences of Minnesota's high stakes graduation exam on students with disabilities. Historically, little empirical data have been collected and the scant data available suggest some significant unintended consequences for educational accountability systems (e.g., the retention of students…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and other recent changes in federal legislation have placed greater emphasis on accountability in large-scale testing. Included in this emphasis are regulations that require assessments to be accessible. States are accountable for the success of all students, and tests should be designed in a way that…

This study set out to explore the mechanisms for educating court-involved youth in Chicago, learn about the available educational options, and the barriers, if any, these young people face when continuing in or returning to school. A key finding is that educational options in Chicago that are designed expressly for court-involved youth who are…

The State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative represents a unique opportunity to improve the quality of life for young children and their families, and support them in reaching their full potential. Under the SECCS Initiative, state mother and child health agencies are being asked to apply MCH experience and expertise to a…

Every spring, education-related newspaper and magazine stories raise the alarm that schools are "teaching to the test." Scores of articles and editorials paint a disheartening picture of frustrated teachers forced to abandon good instructional practices for a relentless stream of worksheets based on boring, repetitive test-preparation…

Education reforms such as "A Nation at Risk" and "Goals 2000" have come and gone. However, we can be confident that the goal of student improvement shall not pass if the core mission is student learning. The true mission of learning has prompted educators to ponder the following questions: How do we need each student to behave?…

This report presents findings from the first two years of the Early College High School Initiative. However, the focus of the findings is on the work of the grantees, called intermediaries in this initiative. This report draws on qualitative data collected through interviews and site visits to summarize the early work of the intermediaries. After…

Measuring the progress of students toward completing their college education is an important gauge of how well California's postsecondary education systems are meeting the needs of students and the public. This report provides an assessment of persistence as a measure of student success at California's public universities and is one of a series of…

In view of the pending reauthorization of Head Start in 2003, this paper presents information on the effectiveness of Head Start, alternatives to Head Start, program funding, performance standards, and other issues germane to its reauthorization. Topics considered in the question-and-answer format of the report are: (1) Head Start benefits for…

This paper discusses the role of assessment in educational accountability in England. A national curriculum was introduced in England and Wales in 1988, and national assessment against the national curriculum was introduced progressively from 1990. Students are assessed at the end of the key stages (at ages 7, 11, and 14) using a combination of…

This document presents the transcript of a hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce concerning reforming the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically recommendations from the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. Opening statements are provided by Representative John A.Boehner,…

This document presents the 50th semiannual report on the activities and accomplishments of the Office of Inspector General (OIG), U.S. Department of Education (Department). During this reporting period, the OIG issued 123 audits, inspection reports and memoranda, and closed 95 investigations. As detailed in this report, this office continues to…

Academic institutions are becoming increasingly interested in the collection and presentation of data to support strategic planning, accreditation, and accountability needs. With an increased emphasis on campus-wide involvement and centralized data collection at some institutions, the integrity, accessibility, and interpretation of data become key…

Recently NWEA completed a project to connect the scale of the WKCE with NWEA's RIT scale. Six Wisconsin school systems participated in the study, using test information from a group of over 1,500 students enrolled in fourth, eighth, and tenth grade who took both the WKCE and NWEA tests in the fall of 2003. Information from these tests was used in…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a law that was passed by Congress, with strong support from both political parties. It is a somewhat complex law about federal support for education from kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12). But the law's purposes are simple: to ensure that all children in the United States receive a high quality education and to…