Purpose: Over the last five years, approximately 50% of the students in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island and 20% across New York State have opted out of the yearly standardized tests for third through eighth grade. This article focuses on two grassroots organizations, New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) and Long Island…

Technology-based learning tools provide new opportunities to engage students in learning academic content. This study focuses on one such tool, Play Lu Interactive Technology (PLIT), and analyzes how students' math achievement on standardized test scores differs between students who have used PLIT and students who have not. PLIT is designed to…

Background: Recently, states have experienced widely varying participation in annual assessments, with the opt-out movement concentrated in New York State and Colorado. Geographic variation between and within states suggests that the diffusion of opting out is multilayered and an appropriate phenomenon to explore geographic dimensions of social…

This dissertation study examined how secondary social studies teachers in an ICT setting plan and teach as they adapt their instruction to prepare students for the new social studies Regents examination framework in New York State. Utilizing a qualitative approach, the researcher asked teachers to complete a survey. Sixty-three participants…

Physics, as a foundational science, has particular importance in predicting the postsecondary success of students who major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This quasiexperimental, observational study examined teacher-level and school-level predictors of student performance in physics, with a focus on isolated teachers. A New…

This report examines and explains the most recent achievement results for New York City and New York State students in district and charter schools, and to put New York City's achievement levels in context. The New York City public school system is the largest in the country, with more than 1 million students in grades prekindergarten through 12…

Between 1994 and 2014, New York City engaged in a historic overhaul of its publicly funded high schools. This included the opening of charter high schools (made possible by a 1999 state law) and the creation of new, smaller district high schools that would, in time, replace many of the city's large, traditional, comprehensive, and vocational high…

"Gulino v. New York State Department of Education" is a class action lawsuit that involves a teacher certification examination in New York. The case spanned over two decades and three iterations of the exam. The case is unique as the plaintiffs were already teaching in classrooms when they were required to sit for a new certification…

Over the past few years, students by the thousands have refused to take their state's standardized tests. This "opt-out" phenomenon has prompted debate in state legislatures and in Washington, putting states at risk of losing Title I funds. Advocates describe opt-out as a grassroots movement of parents concerned about overtesting,…

California's alternative education options for youth vulnerable to dropping out of school have been established at different historical points and for different student age and target populations. For purposes of this brief, "alternative school" is defined as belonging to one of six legislatively authorized types of public (non-charter)…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

In this paper we provide the first rigorous evidence of the impact of a partnership between public middle schools and informal science institutions (ISIs), such as museums and zoos, on student outcomes. This study focuses on Urban Advantage (UA), a program in New York City (NYC) that explicitly draws upon the expertise and resources of the city's…

Talented students compete fiercely for seats at Boston and New York exam schools. These schools are characterized by high levels of peer achievement and a demanding curriculum tailored to each district's highest achievers. While exam school students clearly do very well in school, the question of whether an exam school education adds value…

This document presents the technical appendices that accompany the full report, "High School Choice in New York City: A Report on the School Choices and Placements of Low-Achieving Students." The appendices include: (1) The Shrinking Pool of Level 1 and Level 2 Students; and (2) Supplemental Tables and Figures. [For the full report, see…

School choice policies, a fixture of efforts to improve public education in many cities, aim to enable families to choose a school that they believe will best meet their child's needs. In New York City, choice and the development of a diverse portfolio of options have played central roles in the Department of Education's high school reform…