Teachers must meet a variety of students' mathematics learning needs but are often not trained to do so. Little is known about how teachers perceive their efficacy to meet diverse math learning needs. The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to explore teacher attitudes and perceptions of professional development (PD) and…

We expect that word knowledge accumulates gradually. This article draws on earlier approaches to assessing depth, but focuses on one dimension: richness of semantic knowledge. We present results from a study in which three distinct item types were developed at three levels of depth: knowledge of common usage patterns, knowledge of broad topical…

A vertical scale, in principle, provides a common metric across tests with differing difficulties (e.g., spanning multiple grades) so that statements of "absolute" growth can be made. This paper compares 16 states' 2007-2008 effect size growth trends on vertically scaled reading and math assessments across grades 3 to 8. Two patterns…