Accountability in education was implemented to improve poor learning outcomes by documenting and monitoring learning achievement results. In this process, external standardized achievement tests have played a central role, being the mechanism most frequently used to measure learning outcomes. However, several decades after its initial…

This report presents Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examination participation and performance results in Texas public schools for the 2020-21 school year. Data are provided by student characteristics, including race/ethnicity; gender; and economic, at-risk, dyslexia, Emergent bilingual student/English learner, foster…

High-quality assessments help determine which students are on track and, importantly, which ones are falling behind and need additional support. This is true in a normal school year, and it is even more critical now because of the pandemic's massive disruption of schooling for the Nation's young people. The following policy recommendations from…

Students' performance on standardized tests is clearly predictive of their later outcomes (Goldhaber & Özek, 2019) but whether the costs of administering tests are justified by the value of the tests for improving students' outcomes is controversial. This controversy fuels heated debates over federal testing requirements, such as those…

Most public K-12 schools in the United States enact a school improvement plan each year based upon the state testing results from the previous year. Despite the many frameworks, research, and recommendations, few scholars tackled what the plans contain and the results. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods model, two stages examined school…

Focusing on the variables that can affect both academic achievement and the well-being of students has been crucial for their development, making schools effective and designing educational policy as well as curriculum. The study has aimed to investigate the effect of peer bullying on academic achievement and to determine moderators in the…

The "2021-2022 WIDA Assessment Guidance" provides information on the following 14 topics: (1) English Language Proficiency Requirements; (2) Participation Requirements; (3) WIDA Assessments in Grades K-12; (4) WIDA ACCESS Annual Assessments Test Window; (5) Indiana English Learner Entrance and Exit Criteria; (6) Scheduling and Timing…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires state education agencies to establish and implement standardized, statewide entrance and exit procedures for English learners (ELs). WIDA provides the English language proficiency placement and annual assessments administered in…

This report presents Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examination participation and performance results in Texas public schools for the 2022-23 school year. Data are provided by student characteristics, including race/ethnicity; gender; and economic, at-risk, dyslexia, Emergent bilingual student/English learner, foster…

The "2020-2021 WIDA Assessment Guidance" provides information on the following 14 topics: (1) English Language Proficiency Requirements; (2) WIDA Assessments in Grades K-12; (3) WIDA ACCESS Annual Assessments Test Window; (4) Participation Requirements; (5) Indiana English Learner Entrance and Exit Criteria; (6) Scheduling and Timing…

The "2019-2020 WIDA Assessment Guidance" provides information on the following 10 topics: (1) English Language Proficiency Requirements; (2) WIDA Assessments in Grades K-12; (3) ACCESS Annual Assessments Testing Window; (4) Indiana English Learner Entrance and Exit Criteria; (5) Test Results and Reporting; (6) User Roles and…

Testing programs are often classified as high or low stakes to indicate how stringently they need to be evaluated. However, in practice, this classification falls short. A high-stakes label is taken to imply that all indicators of measurement quality must meet high standards; whereas a low-stakes label is taken to imply the opposite. This approach…

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at grades 4 and 8, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student achievement. TIMSS has…

The impetus for test-based accountability systems is to improve the educational opportunities afforded to all students so as to improve their learning; therefore, integral to the validity argument of these systems is the appraisal of test-based inferences and decisions in terms of their consequences. Both positive and negative consequences of…

Some schools use results from the MAP® Growth™ interim assessments from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA®) in a number of high-stakes ways. These include as a component of their teacher evaluation systems; to determine whether a student advances to the next grade; or as an indicator for student readiness for certain programs or…