Legal education is in a mid-life crisis, with prosperity in the past, doubt in the present, and problems ahead: economic hard times, a declining student pool, dissatisfaction with traditional legal education, and economic and technological changes in the practice. It is time to reconsider what lies ahead in admissions. (MSE)

Discusses American attitudes toward education for the gifted, minority attitudes toward testing, economic correlates of giftedness, educational strategies for financing the education of the gifted, and present and future policies. (CMG)

The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The M Word: "Marketing" Has Changed from a Dirty Word to a Buzzword in Higher Education (Jon Marcus); (2) A Contrarian View of the Testing Industry: FairTest…

Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and 504 Plans often recommend the use of accommodations to facilitate the learning of classroom material by students with disabilities. Since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997, students with disabilities are expected to participate in state and district-wide assessments, using…

This research report summarises the results of an exploratory teaching program in a primary and secondary school in rural New South Wales, Australia, focused on improving basic mathematics skills. Pupils, aged 11 to 13 years, identified as consistently low-achieving in Mathematics were targeted. The program ran for approximately twenty-five weeks…

In the current school climate of standards-based curriculum and the emphasis on measuring student achievement by state-mandated standardized testing, teachers have to carefully allocate instructional time with emphasis on reading and mathematics. The assumption often is that these subjects need to be taught in the morning when students are more…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the NMSBA assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The study estimated the changes in reading and mathematics RIT score equivalents for the NMSBA performance levels in those subjects. Test records for more than 17,000…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) holds states, districts, and schools accountable for student achievement. NCLB requires regular assessments to mark progress and highlight weaknesses in core academic subjects. Assessment results must be reported in the aggregate and disaggregated by individual subgroups of students. Research shows that…

This paper examines student resegregation by race and socioeconomic class, high stakes accountability measures aimed at affecting educators' decisions on student promotion and graduation, and continuing disparities in school resources and finance, all of which intensified in 2002, particularly in North Carolina and the U.S. south. The paper…

This paper reports on a survey of the perceptions of 86 state-level educational assessment personnel or other professionals involved in educational assessment regarding different ways in which test scores are influenced by accommodations for participants with disabilities and how scores obtained under accommodated conditions should be treated in…

Parents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have more tax-supported educational choices than parents in other cities. Most programs were enacted during the 1990s. Opponents believed these programs would harm the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), but 11 years of data show positive trends. MPS enrollment increased by 4,576 students since 1990. Real spending per…

Teacher-developed tests can be more valid and reliable than standardized tests or state-mandated tests in evaluating student achievement in science. Many teachers, however, are not acquainted with the standards to use in test writing. The National Research Council has released "Classroom Assessment and the National Education Standards," a…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the use of accommodations in state assessment by students with disabilities and explored several related factors. A survey of states indicated 12 states (Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and West…

This study investigated the impact of the Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education at West Virginia University (WVU). Under this model, Professional Development Schools (PDSs) were expected to be sites of best practice, centers of inquiry, and empowered communities. The model raised admissions requirements, reinvented the curriculum, and…

In the current climate of accountability in American public education, tests get more attention and carry more importance than ever before. Both state accountability systems and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) hold schools accountable for whether students pass standardized state tests. NCLB requires that schools and school districts…