This exploratory study illustrates the differences in achievement between Latino college-bound students compared to their White counterparts with respect to key background and achievement variables. This research presents the gaps in "inputs" that Latino students possess regarding disparate income, parent education levels, access to Advanced…

A primary problem with special education placement is that it is a solution that comes too late for children who are first noticed by their kindergarten teachers as lacking prerequisite skills. It is of critical importance that these students, whose reading skills are low in comparison to their peers, be accurately identified through universal…

This article explores the complex, hierarchical relation among school characteristics, individual differences in academic achievement, extracurricular activities, and socioeconomic background on performance on the verbal and mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Using multilevel structural equation models (SEMs) with latent means, we…

This paper uses extensive student-level micro databases of three international student achievement tests to estimate heterogeneity in the effect of external exit examinations on student performance along three dimensions. First, quantile regressions show that the effect tends to increase with student ability--but it does not differ substantially…

The mathematics achievement of a cohort of 955 students in 42 classes in six schools in London was followed over a 4-year period, until they took their General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (GCSEs) in the summer of 2000. All six schools were regarded by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) as providing a good standard…

In this article, the author proposes to describe some of the developments that have taken place in public education in American Samoa in the past few years. This has really been a period of rapid change and although many challenges remain, there has been considerable progress on several fronts. One of the fundamental organizational reforms that…

Parents want validation of the quality of education their children are receiving, but education is complex, non-linear, and to a great extent unquantifiable. This article discusses two current trends that are said to be indicative of educational quality: standardized tests and school rankings. This author argues that while standardized tests may…

All successful organizations, including successful high schools, have employees who go beyond their formal job responsibilities and freely give of their time and energy to succeed. Organ was the first to use the phrase "organizational citizenship behavior" (OCB) to denote organizationally beneficial behavior of workers that was not prescribed but…

A contextual understanding of general education classroom teachers' reasons for a student's referral for special education services provides insight into this initial step in the identification process. The philosophy of social constructivism (Bruner, 1987; Freedman & Combs, 1996; Vygotsky, 1978) provides a backdrop for the underlying…

In May 2001, students in the author's Advanced Placement (AP) United States History class were embroiled in a controversy surrounding the AP exam, in particular, having access to the exam's Document Based Question (DBQ) and free response portion prior to the test's administration. Prior to the exam, the College Board had provided a fifty-year time…

Objective: The third-year clerkship provides fundamental psychiatric training experience for medical students at Ohio State University. The authors aimed to assess students' attitudes toward this clerkship, as well as its quality and its relationship to standardized measures of performance. Methods: Pre- and post-surveys using Likert-type scales…

The current study investigated written language skills of children and youth with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Sixteen children and youth with AS and 16 neurotypical peers were compared on a standardized test of written language skills and legibility of handwriting. To investigate more detailed characteristics, informal analyses were also made for…

In recent years, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has focused the educational lens on testing children rather than teaching them. Much to the dismay of many educators and parents, the burden of this yearly ritual falls most heavily on learning disabled students, who are often tested inappropriately. A clear picture of what these special-needs students…

In this article, the author relates how a math-assessment software has allowed his school to track the academic progress of its students. The author relates that in the first year that the software was deployed, schoolwide averages in terms of national standing on the math ITBS rose from the 42nd to 59th percentile. In addition, a significant…

The effect of block scheduling on high school student achievement in mathematics and reading was investigated in this study through the use of an ex post-facto, longitudinal research design. Specifically, student scores from 9th and 11th-grade standardized tests were matched and sorted by junior high and high school attended. Outcome measures…