This dissertation analyzes data in order to answer the research question, "Do eighth grade students who have participated regularly in their school band programs for four consecutive years achieve higher scores in New Jersey's Grade Eight PARCC Assessment than students of similar ability who do not play a musical instrument?" Data was…

The purpose of this cross-sectional, non-experimental, explanatory quantitative research study was to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between instructional time and student achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5 on the 2011 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge in Language Arts Literacy (LAL) and Mathematics. The unit…

This study investigates the benefits of no-stakes educational testing during students' summer vacation as a strategy to mitigate summer learning loss. Fifty-one students in Grades 3-8 from the Every Child Valued (ECV) and Lawrence Community Center (LCC) summer programs in Lawrenceville, NJ, took short, online assessments throughout the summer,…

This study examined the impact of a read-aloud accommodation on standardized test scores of reading comprehension at Grades 4 and 8. Under a repeated measures design, students with and without reading-based learning disabilities took both a standard administration and a read-aloud administration of a reading comprehension test. Results show that…

Since Achieve's first report in 2000, New Jersey has revised its Core Curriculum Content Standards in language arts literacy and math. In 2004, at the request of the governor and commissioner of education and with the encouragement and support of New Jersey United, a statewide business and education coalition, Achieve reviewed the state's revised…

The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) is New Jersey's test for fourth graders. It is designed to give the school information about how well students are achieving in the areas required by New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. This guide offers parents and students information about the ESPA. Parent information, which is…

The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) is New Jersey's test for fourth graders. It is designed to give the school information about how well students are achieving in the areas required by New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. This guide offers parents, students, and teachers information about the ESPA. The parent…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…