The purpose of this study was to explore the association of NCLB/accountability with educational output and input for New York State, collectively. Focusing on ELA and Math achievement in 4th and 8th grades, this study demonstrated the association of accountability outcomes in three ways: "accountability design, school proficiency level, and…

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) prepares an annual report on graduates and dropouts in Texas public secondary schools. This report includes state summaries of the annual dropout rate, longitudinal graduation and dropout rates, and state attrition rates. In addition to statewide statistics, the report provides historical information about dropout…

West Virginia uses multiple state assessments to measure student achievement and inform program decision making. States are required to provide guidance for appropriate participation of all students, including those with English Learners and those with disabilities, in required state assessments. The West Virginia Department of Education has…

The United States is in the midst of an effort to intensify middle school mathematics curricula by enrolling more 8th graders in Algebra. California is at the forefront of this effort, and in 2008, the state moved to make Algebra the accountability benchmark test for 8th-grade mathematics. This article takes advantage of this unevenly implemented…

This article is based on a preliminary action research (AR) study conducted with selected schools in Limpopo. It intends to report on the progress made and research problem identified during the reconnaissance/preliminary study. The aim of this preliminary research is to ascertain whether the findings conform to the main research question of the…

This study examines Arizona's restrictive language policy from the perspective of English learners (ELs) and reclassified fluent English proficient students who have been enrolled in the structured English immersion (SEI) model. While multiple scholars in the USA have analyzed Arizona's policy impact since its enactment in 2008, none to date have…

International assessments, such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), are being used to recommend educational policies to improve student achievement. This study shows that the cross-sectional estimates behind such recommendations may be biased. We use a unique data set from one country that applied the PISA mathematics test…

The stakes of large-scale testing programs have grown considerably in the past decade with the enactment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To The Top (RTTT) legislations. A significant component of NCLB has been required reporting of annual yearly progress (AYP) of student subgroups disaggregated by sex, special education status, English…

The 2013 European Commission Communication on Opening up Education underlined the importance of solid evidence to assess developments and take full advantage of the impact of technology on education, and called for sustained effort and international cooperation to improve our knowledge-base in this area. The International Computer and Information…

Every country strives for its students to have advanced achievement in some way, shape, or form. But too often, competence is a higher policy priority than excellence, and shrinking minimum competency gaps is a higher priority than closing excellence gaps. In this brief, educational excellence is defined as the percent of students who meet or…

Between 1990 and 2012, the percentage of 13-year-olds (most of whom are 8th graders) taking algebra more than doubled, from 15% to 34% (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). Yet recent education policy changes suggest that this movement to encourage algebra-taking in 8th grade has begun to reverse course. Existing research suggests that…

Despite policy efforts to encourage multiple measures of performance in newly developing teacher evaluation systems, practical constraints often result in evaluations based predominantly on formal classroom observations. Yet there is limited knowledge of how these observational measures relate to student achievement. This article leverages the…

In the past several decades, Boston has been a proving ground for new strategies such as mayoral control, charter schools, and expanded access to early childhood education. Located in a state known for rigorous standards and accountability, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has consistently ranked among the top-performing large public school districts…

Race to the Top (RTT), one of the Obama administration's signature programs and one of the largest federal government investments in an education grant program, received $4.35 billion in funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through three rounds of competition in 2010 and 2011, RTT awarded grants to states that…

Race to the Top (RTT), one of the Obama administration's signature programs and one of the largest federal government investments in an education grant program, received $4.35 billion in funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through three rounds of competition in 2010 and 2011, RTT awarded grants to states that…