States use their accountability systems to identify low-performing schools, which can receive added support and are expected to improve. Alternative schools serve students whose needs are not met in a regular school. They often serve at-risk students who are struggling academically or behaviorally. Given this unique population, the Government…

In 2007, every district in North Carolina received access to EVAAS (Education Valued-Added Assessment System), a statistical tool designed to give principals a resource to make strong instructional decisions for their schools. The use of EVAAS has now worked its way into state law and its use is mandated in teacher evaluation. However, EVAAS is…

Recent educational accountability efforts have married student assessments with reform mandates and sanctions. As a result, students--beginning in early elementary grades--are feeling the pressures of this new era of high-stakes accountability. This article chronicles a story of the consequences of high-stakes testing on a father and his son.…

Geospatial tools and technologies have become core competencies for natural resource professionals due to the monitoring, modeling, and mapping capabilities they provide. To prepare students with needed background, geospatial instructional activities were integrated across Forest Management; Natural Resources; Fisheries, Wildlife, &…

Although the federal No Child Left Behind program judges the effectiveness of schools based on their students' achievement status, many policy analysts argue that schools should be measured, instead, by their students' achievement growth. Using a 10-year student-level panel data set from North Carolina, we examine how school-specific pressure…

Classroom assessment is how teachers find out how well students are learning. It is important because teachers need a lot of information for the decisions they have to make. It can take many forms, such as paper and pencil assessments, performance assessments, conversations, or observations. Classroom assessments are built on clear goals and…

The characteristics of a state-mandated principal evaluation system are presented based on a survey of 149 principals and 121 superintendents in North Carolina. The means by which satisfaction with the evaluation process are related to the means for assessing performance, the criteria applied to principals' work, and the type and sources of…

State assessment systems must address both technical and policy issues as assessments and accountability practices are developed and implemented. These technical and policy issues have been expanded from traditional large-scale assessment to new alternative assessment approaches required by law and developed in every state. The primary purpose of…

This article reports on the research design and implications stemming from a statewide evaluation developed during a Department of Education Title IID (EETT) grant. This article introduces critical issues to consider while developing research and evaluation methods for technology integration projects. The North Carolina IMPACT project, an…

This document is the result of an extensive effort to design an assessment program in communication skills and mathematics for first and second graders. It contains resource materials and instruments that school systems can use in their assessment programs. The resource materials include strategies for teachers to use in evaluating student…

This state assessment at the third-grade level is the first stage of a proposed three-year evaluation cycle of third, sixth, and ninth grades in North Carolina to aid personnel in making accurate decisions regarding improvement in the social studies curriculum. Students were randomly selected to represent the third-grade population in the state…

This year the Center on Education Policy (CEP) 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…

North Carolina State University (NCSU) is a Research Intensive (Research I) university located in Raleigh, the state capital. Increasingly over the past ten years, NCSU faculty interested in issues of teaching and learning have used the term "inquiry-guided learning" (IGL) to describe the kind of learning they are trying to promote. The…

The Performance-Based Accountability Program was enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1989 as part of the School Improvement and Accountability Act. This report addresses five components of the program and includes appendixes that provide detailed data for several of the components. The Flexible Funding Provision is made for the…

Research is presented exploring the individual programing practices at both Pamlico High School and Pamlico Technical Institute, Pamlico County, North Carolina and possible means by which the two institutions could better coordinate articulation of their occupational education program activities. The two institutions offer the only available…