This article aims to understand how new accountability instruments in the context of the French-speaking Belgian educational system are appropriated by schools. After having characterised the specific nature of those instruments in the context of a traditionally highly decentralised system involved in a significant process of centralisation, we…

This study examined the effectiveness of participating in special education on the academic outcomes of students with disabilities. A sample of 575 students from a large, urban school district were followed longitudinally as they transitioned between general and special education to evaluate whether receiving special education services was…

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents findings on a curricular intervention aimed at integrating computer programming with reading and writing in early elementary school. The purpose of this research was to explore the relation between students' varying literacy levels and their level of success in mastering an introductory programming language.…

Since 2014 the College Board has continued to revise and develop the Advanced Placement European, United States, and World History examinations. It keeps getting in trouble. Many critics have excoriated the College Board for teaching history grossly politicized to the left--history without the history of freedom, history that teaches hatred of…

On May 21, 2020, the University of California (UC) Board of Regents unanimously approved the suspension of the standardized test requirement (ACT/SAT) for all California freshman applicants until fall 2024. UC plans to create a new test that better aligns with the content the University expects students to have mastered for college readiness.…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between science writing and student science achievement and how teachers implement the writing strategy claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) in their science classrooms. Writing is a critical tool for scientific literacy and student achievement. We must teach our students to…

American high school educators have developed and adopted various disciplinary practices to discourage misconduct among students. Amongst the popular practices are zero-tolerance policies and restorative procedures. Zero-tolerance policies are those whereby student punishment occurs when they violate the code of conduct. Usually, it results in…

In seeking to maximize student learning, educators must implement grading practices that assess well-defined course standards and clearly articulate student proficiency. Standards-based grading (SBG) practices enhance student learning by linking well-defined course standards and effective feedback. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) testing sought to…

Purpose: Our objective was to delineate components of motor performance in specific language impairment (SLI); specifically, whether deficits in timing precision in one effector (unimanual tapping) and in two effectors (bimanual clapping) are observed in young children with SLI. Method: Twenty-seven 4- to 5-year-old children with SLI and 21…

This article employs Rittel and Webber's "wicked" problem as a heuristic device for enhancing understanding about National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing in the Australian education context. Using a research project with seven independent schools in New South Wales, Australia, which analysed NAPLAN data from…

A Vygotskian approach to assessment is proposed by invoking the distinction between the development of lower and higher psychological functions. Higher psychological functions are specifically human and develop with the use of cultural tools via mediation. Accordingly, a distinction is made between tests that are based on association, which have…

In the past few decades, literature has consistently suggested that bilingual children are at risk for academic failure due to their limited language skills. However, many of these studies included underprivileged bilingual children, and few of them attempted to disentangle the effects of bilingualism from the effects of socio-economic status.…

Properly selecting students is one of the core responsibilities of higher education institutions, which is done with selection criteria that predict student success. However, student selection literature suffers from a dearth of research on non-cognitive selection criteria which can lead to incorrect admission assessments. Contrarily, personnel…

Few standardized language assessments are adapted to different cultural and linguistic contexts to assess children's first language (L1) abilities. We introduce the Ivorian Children's Language Assessment Toolkit for measuring phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral comprehension, and tone awareness in the Abidji, Attié, and Baoulé languages of…

School improvement has become a goal in many education systems globally, with the mantra of 'whole school change' adopted as key to achieving that goal. However, whole school change is complex and interpreted variously. In Australia, a case in point is the drive to lift literacy outcomes. Drawing on qualitative data from a study of literacy…