In September 2015, when the College Board released its average SAT scores for the 2015 graduating class, two details stood out for many educators: (1) the record participation and diversity numbers (close to 1.7 million students took the test, with 50 percent being students of color); and (2) the test's lower average scores compared with previous…

Good teachers are essential for high-quality educational systems. However, little is known about teachers' skill formation during college. By combining two standardized tests for Colombian students, one taken at the end of senior year in high school and the other when students are near graduation from college, we test the extent to which students…

Using survey data from 156 bachelor's-granting institutions, this study explored the relationship between academic advising services and seniors' grades and self-perceived gains. We found advising experiences has a positive relationship with students' grades and self-perceived gains. In addition, our results indicate that the institutional…

Implemented in almost 900 teacher education programs across 41 states and the District of Columbia, edTPA is marketed as a content-specific, standardized portfolio assessment of beginning teacher performance. However, concerns about edTPA and its content specificity are pervasive. To that end, the researchers surveyed teacher educators with World…

Although the notion of Global Englishes (GE) has been widely discussed in the literature, few books consider how GE can be translated into educational practice. This book addresses the incorporation of GE into language policy and curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices, and focuses on a wide range of geographical and language contexts.…

In response to research raising concerns about developmental placement, new placement systems and curricular models designed to increase the number of students placed into entry-level college courses have emerged in recent years. These systems aim to more accurately identify students who may benefit from some type of developmental instruction and…

Teacher preparation programmes (TPPs) find many ways to shape the development of their teacher candidates while bridging the research to practice gap in university and school partnerships. Recently, accountability models built on high-stakes standardised student assessments (Value-Added Models [VAM]) have been mandated as a way to evaluate the…

The current NCLB/ESSA-generation [No Child Left Behind/Every Student Succeeds Act] of pre-service teachers in the U.S. received their K-12 schooling during the standardized test-focused education accountability era. There is little research exploring how they perceive the disconnect between their K-12 teacher-centered, test-focused school…

A mixed methods study is used to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development program intended to enhance teacher knowledge and student learning so as to systematically improve student achievement in elementary literacy. In this study, a large urban school district partnered with a local university to provide intervention in a Title…

This study investigated the extent to which standardized reading performance, individual perceptions of reading and test taking skills, and test anxiety predict the amount of extended time needed to equalize test access for college students with disabilities. Thirty-seven college students with a specific learning disorder (LD) and/or an attention…

The aim of this article is to discuss a portfolio of interventions used to improve student outcomes in an accredited southeastern university's baccalaureate nursing program. Faculty identified three specific student-focused issues challenging student learning: (a) a steady trend of increasing student enrollment, (b) increased difficulty level of…

For more than seventy-five years, standardized tests have been considered a vital tool for gauging students' readiness for college. However, few people--including students, parents, teachers, and policy makers--understand how tests like the SAT or ACT are used in admissions decisions. Once touted as the best way to compare students from diverse…

High-stakes testing can be a major hurdle for individuals who know the material well, but have trouble understanding the language of the test. Many people have difficulty understanding test questions when the wording of the question is different from the language variation typically used by the test-taker. This research builds on prior research…

Research suggests that far more students are referred to developmental education courses than necessary, and that developmental education presents a barrier to students' success. As a result, many in the field have called for reforms to developmental education to address these challenges. This report documents developmental education practices…

College Preparatory Programs with Exams (CPPEs) include academically-rigorous high school classes that culminate in standardized exam-based assessments. Students take the classes as part of their high school schedule and apply them toward their graduation requirements, typically whether or not they take the exams at the end. Without the exam,…