Using the nationally representative, cohort-based data of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:02), this study employs multiple regression to examine the effects of exit exams on student achievement and school completion. This study finds that exit exams as a whole do not have substantial effects on student achievement in mathematics,…

Results of the Florida High School Exit Survey collected in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 are presented. Participants include 2,520 students with and without disabilities across 40 school districts. Survey items cover questions relating to employment, postsecondary education and training, daily living, quality of life, agency connections, in-school…

This study assesses the effects of state exit exams on the student utilization of and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP programs have become an increasingly popular way of providing fairly standardized and academically rigorous academic experiences that can prepare high school students for the transition to post-secondary schooling.…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This issue includes a feature on the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, which gives states an unprecedented opportunity to build the tools to measure results; guide decision-making and investments; and provoke honest conversations about…

It has long been established that marking accuracy in public examinations varies considerably among subjects and markers. This is unsurprising, given the diverse cognitive strategies that the marking process can entail, but what makes some questions harder to mark accurately than others? Are there distinct but subtle features of questions and…

The "Versant Spanish[TM] Test" applies state-of-the-art technology to language assessment in a quick and efficient tool designed for the purpose of "assessing an individual's ability to speak and understand spoken Spanish". According to the developers, the Pearson Education Group, the test is equally useful in academic as well as professional…

This paper reports a study of the effectiveness of the mandatory mother-tongue education policy in post-colonial Hong Kong. Special attention has been placed on students' academic achievement before and after the policy implementation in 1998 in order to find out if students learn better through their mother tongue without sacrificing their…

Nursing programs can be highly stressful, and nursing students have been found to be more test-anxious than other students. The present investigation examines a practical program to reduce test-anxiety impairment and improve academic performance for a significant number of highly anxious nursing students. Incoming nursing students were screened…

The number of public high schools implementing a semester 4 x 4 block scheduling design within the state of South Carolina has tripled since 2005. However, minimal local research has been conducted regarding the impact of block scheduling on student academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine if significant differences exist…

This paper reports and discusses how the IELTS test has brought its impact to Assumption College Thonburi English Program (ACTEP)'s exit testing, English courses offered and foreign teachers' teaching. Two different methods of data collection apply; an interview with the ACTEP Academic Head and questionnaire for Grades 10-11 students and foreign…

This study sought to determine if there is possible a relationship between agricultural education class credits obtained by students and their subsequent outcome on the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE). Also, the perceptions of Alabama agricultural educators regarding 1) student test taking preparation 2) academic standard integration…

Public college graduates in many developing countries outperform graduates of private ones on the college exit exams. This has often been attributed to the cutting edge education provided in public colleges. However, public colleges are highly subsidized, suggesting that the private-public education outcome gap might reflect the pre-determined…

It has often been suggested that actual or anticipated final grades may influence the ratings given by students in student experience surveys but few studies have been able to test this using actual grades. A study was carried out involving six courses over all four year levels of an undergraduate engineering programme, where students were asked…

Any student seeking a high school diploma from the public school system in one U.S. state must pass the state's high school graduation test. In 2009, only 88% of students at one high school in the state met the basic proficiency requirements on the science portion of the test. Because improved science education has been identified as an explicit…

At the end of secondary education in The Netherlands, students have to pass a final examination, consisting of an internal school-based assessment and an external national assessment. According to the Dutch inspectorate, to ensure the quality of final examinations, the discrepancy between both assessments must be less than 0.5 points (on a scale…