As prison populations soar at unprecedented rates, the need for high quality education behind bars has never been greater. Prison education programs are the vehicle for reform and may be the solution to curtailing an ever-growing prison population. Yet, as the public sector increasingly contracts with the private sector for prison management,…

A specific assessment for testing readiness skills is lacking for children entering kindergarten. This study investigates the influence of early education programs on school readiness and differences between male and female school readiness screening scores upon students' entrance into kindergarten. The study uses 321 school readiness screening…

In British Columbia, there are three principles of learning guide practice in the development of Integrated Resource Packages (IRPs), which contain the provincially prescribed learning outcomes for grades and subjects. These are: (1) Learning requires the active participation of the student; (2) Students learn in a variety of ways and at different…

This paper describes the development of Board policy on the reporting, release, and dissemination of National Assessment results and other relevant information. Through selected scenarios, it also illustrates the kinds of issues that required action by the Board. These issues have included concerns about the testing and reporting of English…

The purpose of this study was to examine student and faculty attitudes toward computer technology in advanced arts classes at a southeastern university in the United States. This one semester study was focused on the traditional arts disciplines of art, dance, music, and theatre. This correlational analysis limited to faculty members and students…

Annual standardized testing lies at the heart of the accountability system that American education reformers and policymakers have established during the past decade in an effort to ensure equal opportunity for all students, no matter their race, ethnicity or wealth. The new testing regime has brought national attention to the schooling of…

The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, has been called the most far-reaching federal education bill in nearly four decades. The law's comprehensive assessment provisions address areas from school choice to low-performing schools and increased…

Glossary and reading aloud test items are often listed as allowed in many states' accommodation policies for ELL students, when taking states' large-scale mathematics assessments. However, little empirical research has been conducted on the effects of these two accommodations on ELL students' test performance. Furthermore, no research is available…

To many people, standardized testing means multiple-choice testing. However, some tests contain questions that require the test taker to produce the answer, rather than simply choosing it from a list. The required response can be as simple as the writing of a single word as complex as the design of a laboratory experiment to test a scientific…

The Fordham Institute conducted a survey of experts who are advocates of private education, soliciting opinions about how private schools accepting public monies, such as from voucher programs, should be held accountable. The experts were in agreement that private schools should not accept regulation of their day-to-day operations, but disagreed…

Introduction: This paper reports a preliminary investigation of the individual and situational factors affecting goal achievement in a psychology student population. The impact of normative information on goal achievement is considered in relation to goal commitment, optimism, gender and academic setting. Method: Psychology students (n=121) from…

Background: Three studies carried out in educational settings examined determinants of teacher's instructional styles and students' degree of satisfaction with the learning climates created by such styles. Aims: Based upon regulatory mode theory, Studies 1 and 2 tested the hypotheses that teachers' locomotion orientation will be positively…

Objective: Symptoms of overactivity form part of the "DSM-IV" criteria for the combined or hyperactive-impulsive subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); yet little data exist that would quantify the nature of the overactivity component. We aimed to quantify the ability of four different measures of motion sensor data, taken…

Many authors have posited that agricultural education curriculum in middle schools may enhance student performance in science. To determine the effect that agricultural education curriculum has upon Georgia middle schools' student performance in science, this descriptive study compared science knowledge among middle school students in Georgia who…

This study examined whether the application of conceptual change texts are effective before or after the instruction on 10th grade students' conceptual understanding and alternative conceptions about acids and bases. The study was conducted with 76 10th grade students from three classes of a chemistry course taught by the same teacher. One of the…