Federal law requires that, at a minimum, states assess high school students at least once in English language arts/literacy (ELA), mathematics, and science; these results are used for school accountability. With states' recent transitions to new assessments and accountability systems, Achieve wanted to know more about how these varied assessments,…

As a condition of receiving federal funds, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires state education agencies to implement statewide assessments in mathematics and English language arts every year in third through eighth grade and once in ninth through 12th grade. The federal law also requires a science assessment once in each of three grade spans:…

This study examined the value of using measures of academic "tilt" and vocational interest "tilt" to predict whether students will declare a STEM major during their first term in college. Academic tilt looks at students' relative academic strengths by appropriately comparing their math and science achievement levels to their…

The School Quality or Student Success (SQ/SS) indicator was one of the most talked about and biggest decisions that fell to the states in drafting their new ESSA accountability plans. This memo summarizes the chosen SQ/SS measures for each state, DC, and Puerto Rico. The most common SQ/SS measures among the states are: (1) Chronic Absenteeism (37…

Research shows that students who take a certain core curriculum are better prepared for college than those students who do not; however, data indicate that taking core courses is not enough: Teachers must assign greater rigor in all courses they teach, especially courses needed for college (Schmeiser, 2007). As early as 1983 the National…

The authors investigated the extent to which taking specific types of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and the number of courses taken predicts the likelihood of passing subject benchmarks and earning a score of 19 on the composite score on the ACT test, and examined the role gender plays in the projection. They found evidence that taking an AP…

This brief describes an evaluation of academic intervention supports available to high school students in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) during the 2012-2013 school year. A website review identified information about academic supports available to students or parents within each high school's web pages. A survey of school staff gathered…

This document presents writing samples that have been annotated to illustrate the criteria required to meet the Common Core State Standards for particular types of writing--argument, informative/explanatory text, and narrative--in a given grade. Each of the samples exhibits at least the level of quality required to meet the Writing standards for…

One of the key requirements of the Common Core State Standards for Reading is that all students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. By the time they complete the core, students must be able to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found…

Data from a sample of 2,593 high school seniors (58% female) were used to study the relationship between courses taken and scores on the American College Testing (ACT) English Usage Test, the ACT Mathematics Usage Test, the ACT Social Studies Reading Test, and the ACT Natural Sciences Reading Test. For English and Mathematics, test performance…

A random sample of October, 1979, test sites was selected to assess the potential bias of the ACT Assessment. From this sample, sites which tested at least five Anglos and five Hispanics were included; the final sample contained a total of 876 students (403 Anglo and 373 Hispanic). Using the primary hypothesis, "There is no interaction…

This study examined the accuracy of predictions of college grades in English, mathematics, social studies, and natural science courses, and the accuracy of predictions of overall freshman grade point average (GPA) based on American College Testing Program (ACT) assessment test scores and on high school course work and grade information from the…

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have declined during the last 14 years. Similar score declines have been observed in many different testing programs, many groups, and tested areas. The declines, while not large in any given year, have been consistent over time, area, and group. The period around 1965 is critical for the interpretation of…

This PowerPoint report summarizes AISD student demographic and performance results at high schools as of the end of the 2007-2008 school year.