In this qualitative collective case study, we investigated how participating in external longitudinal root cause analyses (RCAs) contributed to the enhancement of instructional leadership practices of the leadership teams in three turnaround elementary schools in Texas. We participated with an external team of expert professors in conducting the…

Despite evidence suggesting that standardized tests are an imperfect measure of academic readiness, many community colleges across the country rely on them alone to determine student course placement. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to transition to remote operations in spring 2020, proctoring in-person placement tests became…

University tuition fees and student debt have risen in part due to rapid expansion of university administration compensation. This study provides a novel methodology for detecting inappropriate executive compensation within universities. The usefulness of academic ideas is openly ranked using the h-index. By comparing the ratio of academic…

At the urging of the U.S. Department of Education, regional accrediting organizations have, during the last few years, placed much greater emphasis on implementation of assessment as a requirement for accreditation. Assessment serves two important purposes: institutional survival and improvement of student achievement. Of these two, survival is…

The term Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) refers not to a single kind of assessment but rather an entire family of assessment methods that can be used by institutions. Some of these methods are exam-based. In addition, there are other methods of PLA. One of the more innovative methods of offering PLA, however, is through the development of student…

As prekindergarten becomes a more common feature in elementary school, little is known about how early childhood stakeholders are incorporating their child-centered practices into the standards-based accountability reforms that define elementary school. This article addresses this issue by presenting a case study that examined the implementation…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how and why Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) has developed a system aiming to effectively place students in freshman and developmental English programs. The placement system includes: triangulating data from external test scores, with scores from a panel-marked hand-written essay (HWE),…

The authors present the argument that evaluation as currently practiced is failing the needs of the social sector, if the goal is to help organizations achieve their mission. Three case studies are presented in which evaluation played a key role in the development of a learning culture within the organization. Each case highlights the positive…

Discusses a method of evaluating results of child protective services which uses a comprehensive checklist of indicators of abuse and neglect. Also explains how the evaluation instrument was developed and explores its uses at the service delivery level, including its use as a diagnostic aid in quantifying family problems normally assessed…

The state policy implications of using higher education performance indicators for accountability purposes are examined, based on the experiences of 10 case study states (Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin) and others that have initiated such efforts. Specific issues that must be…

With the implementation in 2003 of the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, students from all cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including English language learners (ELLs), are required to perform well on state assessments. Since the numbers of ELLs in schools are growing and since schools are held accountable for all students'…

The goal of this study was to determine the level of educational expenditure necessary to make ample provision for the education of all students, providing all students with the skills to meet long-term academic standards, pursue additional learning beyond high school, and become productive citizens and contributing members of society. This study…

Measuring History complements the cases presented in Wise Social Studies Practices (Yeager & Davis, 2005). Yeager and Davis highlight the rich and ambitious teaching that can occur in the broad context of state-level testing. In this book, the chapter authors and I bring the particular state history tests more to the fore and examine how…

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project was undertaken to identify effective strategies for helping low-income parents work more steadily and advance in the labor market. The 15 ERA demonstration projects that were operating in nine states (California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, South Carolina; Tennessee, and…