In this mixed-methods study, we seek to understand the impact of the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) on the makeup of the teacher pipeline. We are specifically interested in exploring how teachers of color are impacted by these tests when seeking to enter the teacher workforce. Findings from the data, both qualitative and…

Is the achievement gap real? Using a mixed-methods approach, this study reframed standardized testing through a Quantitative Critical and Black Critical lens. It interrogated the deficit framing of Black student achievement by asking the following questions: (1) To what extent do the aggregated standardized test scores for Black students in…

The purpose of this nonexperimental correlational quantitative research design is to examine if there is a relationship between parents' understanding of summative student score reports and accessing further resources online, while also examining the relationship between parents' comprehension of the summative student score report and other…

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the delivery of education as many occupational therapy (OT) programs temporarily transitioned to remote learning. The purpose of this article is to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) pass rates. A mixed methods research design was used…

This non-consecutive, three-year qualitative study explored the testing experiences of high school juniors who used Chromebooks to take their Smarter Balanced Standardized Assessments (SBAC) in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The study began in 2015, the first year in which SBAC was administered to students across California and other…

The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students' areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement…

A court decision in California, Larry P. v. Riles (1979) case, ruled in favor of African American students who were disproportionately and wrongly placed in special education (E.M.R. -- educable mentally retarded) classes. Standardized intelligence tests were biased, discriminatory and failed to identify the academic need to support African…

Reflecting upon the experience serving on the University of California's Standardized Testing Task Force, and drawing lessons learned, I argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has merely served to accelerate the trend of US higher education institutions moving away from current standardized tests. New educational assessments will continue to be…

While the effect of teachers' unions on school districts continues to be debated, the research literature provides few definitive conclusions to guide these discussions. In this article, we examine the relationship between teachers' union contracts and school district efficiency. We define efficiency as the ratio of short-run productivity (student…

I study the efficacy of test-based meritocracy in college admissions by evaluating the impact of a grade-based "top percent'' policy implemented by the University of California. Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) provided large admission advantages to the top four percent of 2001-2011 graduates from each California high school. I…

Teachers working in middle and high school Dual Immersion (DI) programs (Spanish-English) face unique sets of challenges: linguistic equity between the two languages of instruction, attrition due to high linguistic and academic expectations, and preparing DI students for standardized tests in English. In this article, we reflect on our current…

When the U.S. Department of Education (ED) signaled that the broad waivers for state assessments it had offered in 2019-20 would not be widely offered in 2021, it sought to balance the need for student learning data to inform pandemic recovery with the very real operational challenges states face in administering tests this year. This policy…

The number of students opting out of standardized tests has grown in recent years. This phenomenon represents a potential threat to our ability to accurately measure student achievement for schools and districts. This working paper documents the extent to which opting out is observed in the CORE districts. It then models the extent to which…

We examined developmental trajectories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, standardized achievement, and school performance for adolescents with and without ADHD who did and did not enroll in postsecondary education (PSE; N = 749; 79% boys; 63% White, 17% non-Hispanic Black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other ethnicities). In a…

Eligibility is a policy construct unique to California. UC and CSU are the only US universities that distinguish between eligibility for admission and admission itself and set separate requirements for each. The eligibility construct derives originally from California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which famously mandated that UC admit…