After a few decades of keeping a watchful eye, substantial gaps in the average standardized test scores of White and some minority group students persist. The average group differences on the SAT are among the most visible examples of this pattern, but when we focus only on mean score differences among students, we tend to overlook the relatively…

The use of ability grouping is frequently justified on the grounds that it is an effective means of raising attainment. Little large-scale quantitative research has been undertaken since the introduction of the National Curriculum in England and Wales. The aim of this article is to examine the effects of setting on students' achievement in…

In the last decade, the debate over state-mandated standardized testing has become one of the most heated, political debates in education. Situated within that debate and drawing from it, this paper examines the relationship among teachers, teaching, and standardized testing, using the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) as a case study…

This insightful and practical guide for parents shows how they often undermine rather than encourage their teens' success on one of the most stressful standardized tests--the SAT--and what strategies will remedy the problem. In recent years this test has taken on fearsome proportions, matched only by the growing competition for slots at major…

Austin Independent School District served more than 13,000 students in summer programs during 2009, providing opportunities for accelerated learning, maintenance of academic skills between school years, course credit recovery, state achievement tests, or school-level transition activities. This report summarizes this information.

The standards-based reform movement in education that began in the 1980s has evolved. In the 1990s, the focus was on producing subject-area content standards and modifying instruction. Today, the focus has shifted to assessment, and for technology education, demonstrating the impact on children and the efficacy of the discipline within general…

The purpose of this study is to reexamine the relationship between PSAT/NMSQT scores and AP Examination grades using more recent test data in order to obtain additional validation evidence for using the PSAT/NMSQT to identify AP students. PSAT/NMSQT data from October 2000 and October 2001 and AP data from May 2002 and May 2003 were analyzed. The…

Of the 1,828 grade 6 students who received accelerated instruction outside of the regular classroom, 27% participated in both reading and math interventions. Of the 1,872 grade 7 students who participated in accelerated instruction outside of the classroom, 26% participated in both reading and math interventions. The overall state test results for…

Singing exaggerates the language of reading. The students find their voices in the rhythm and bounce of language by using music as an alternative technological approach to reading. A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted to investigate the use of an interactive sing-to-read program Tune Into Reading (Electronic Learning Products, 2006)…

Since the publication of the highly influential "Coleman Report" of 1966, researchers have tried to find inputs, such as school quality, that are associated with student achievement on standardized tests, but have found little. This study finds an underlying association between Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and several measures of…

There is a fair amount of research on individual curricular experiments in specific high school courses, but general research on high school curriculum and what the curriculum should be is hard to find and is far out weighed by theory and policy. Most of the theory and policy literature are dominated by discussions of state and national standards.…

The purpose of this literature review and Ex Post Facto descriptive study was to determine which type of benchmark assessment, multiple-choice or project-based, provides the best indication of general success on the history portion of the CST (California Standards Tests). The result of the study indicates that although the project-based benchmark…

Under the Florida A+ Accountability Program, Florida's schools are graded based on student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Previously, when schools would earn their second failing grade within four years, students assigned to these schools were offered school vouchers which parents and guardians could use to transfer…

This article reports the relative effect of smart and mainstream schooling on students' acquisition of science process skills which was measured using TIPS-II(M)--the Malay version of Burns, Okey, and Wise's (1985) Test of Integrated Process Skills II. Using students' primary-school science achievement results in the Standardized National…

In order to make an intelligent advance in any school practice a knowledge of what schools are doing in that practice is almost indispensable, since a transition in procedures must be a growth from the one to the other. This bulletin gives this background of facts concerning the use of tests and examinations by the different subject departments in…