This 20-year follow-up study examined elementary special educators' use of curriculum-based measurement. Elementary special educators (N = 1,077) in four Midwest states participated in the survey. Results indicated that the overall use of CBM was much higher than 20 years ago with reading CBM as the most prevalent area of monitoring with data used…

This study investigates the effects of a scenario-based assessment design on students' writing processes. An experimental data set consisting of four design conditions was used in which the number of scenarios (one or two) and the placement of the essay task with respect to the lead-in tasks (first vs. last) were varied. Students' writing…

The recent turn toward core practices and practice-based teacher education has been accompanied by a growing literature on the definitions, pedagogies to teach, and assessments of core practices. Despite these developments, the field lacks core practices performance assessments designed to be used across course sections, courses, and subjects.…

Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the student is to read and write about. Before…

School closures because of natural phenomena, such as COVID-19, underscore long-standing gaps in access to science education in the United States of America, particularly for young students. When educators have to pivot to deliver virtual instruction, it is important to identify feasible remote learning strategies for science content across formal…

There is increasing expectation that schools should be able to use tablets for a range of instructional and assessment purposes. This article considers the comparability of student writing on tablets and laptops to ensure that writing assessment is conducted in a way that is fair to all students. Data were collected from a sample of 826 students…

Since the United States Congress enacted the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, school districts have been charged with ensuring that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Schools failing to achieve are labeled as failing or needing improvement. This study sought to determine if commercially produced elementary math curricula…

This report on professional teaching standards in the Central Region examines what K-8 general education teachers are expected to know and be able to do in order to teach English language learner students. It reviews the standards for coverage of six topics that the research literature suggests are important for improving student achievement. Key…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 68 percent in Iowa. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy economy…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 65 percent in South Dakota. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy…

This report on professional teaching standards in the Central Region examines what K-8 general education teachers are expected to know and be able to do in order to teach English language learner students. It reviews the standards for coverage of six topics that the research literature suggests are important for improving student achievement. Key…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), the Reading Recovery Observation Survey (RROS) early reading sub-tests, and the reading achievement of Native American first-graders as measured by the Stanford 10. A causal-comparative correlation research design…

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE, 2005) defines response to intervention (RTI) as the practice of providing high-quality instruction and intervention based on a student's needs, changing instruction and/or goals through frequent monitoring of progress, and applying the student response data to important…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 65 percent in South Dakota. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment in South…