Critical thinking is a learning outcome highly valued by higher education institutions and the workforce. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has designed a next generation assessment, the HEIghten™ critical thinking assessment, to measure students' critical thinking skills in analytical and synthetic dimensions. This paper introduces the…

This study examined how gender; race/ethnicity; language; socioeconomic status; California Standards Test (CST) scores in mathematics, science, and ELA; and California High School Exit Exam mathematics predict college-ready results on the Early Assessment Program (EAP) in mathematics in urban areas of southern California. Approximately 1,700 high…

At Southern Vermont College (SVC) and at the nation's other colleges and universities, Anatomy and Physiology I (A&PI) is the gateway course into healthcare careers. Disturbingly, at SVC and elsewhere, many first-year students interested in healthcare careers do not succeed in this course. They withdraw from the course or the institution, or…

American students accustomed to standardization in secondary education have experience with fulfilling the requirements imposed upon them, but often these students require further assistance to facilitate their personal decisions about education after high school. Postsecondary education and career preparation programs, educators, and educational…

Rising remediation rates among college students are leading to increased time for completion of degree, additional costs for students and colleges, and financial aid being used on courses that do not count towards a degree. In response to these issues, in 2007 the state of Illinois passed the College and Career Readiness Act, Public Act 095-0694,…

High school students in the United States have been taking more challenging courses in recent years, but academic achievement has been stagnant. At the heart of the matter is the quality of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Some courses tend to be more challenging in name than in practice. High schools also have a history of autonomy that…

The Biology Intensive Orientation for Students (BIOS) Program was designed to assess the impact of a 5-d intensive prefreshman program on success and retention of biological science majors at Louisiana State University. The 2005 pilot program combined content lectures and examinations for BIOL 1201, Introductory Biology for Science Majors, as well…

This study examined the separate and joint use of high school course grades, course work taken, and American College Testing Program (ACT) Assessment subject area scores for making course placement decisions. The data for this study were obtained from nine institutions through their participation in a pilot study of the ACT Course Placement…

Recognizing the challenges rural districts face in providing broad curricular offerings and supplemental educational services to students, in 2007, the 80th Texas Legislature authorized the creation of a pilot program designed to provide technology-based supplemental educational services to rural school districts that show an overall academic need…

This report summarizes evaluation results on the costs and benefits of administering ACT's EXPLORE assessment in AISD during its pilot year in 2000-2001.

Recognizing the challenges rural districts face in providing broad curricular offerings and supplemental educational services to students, in 2007, the 80th Texas Legislature authorized the creation of a pilot program designed to provide technology-based supplemental educational services to rural school districts that show an overall academic need…

In 2007, the Texas Legislature (80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2007) authorized the creation of the Texas Rural Technology (R-Tech) Pilot program, which provides $8 million in funding to support rural districts in implementing technology-based supplemental education programs. In order to be eligible for funding, districts must have…