This research was undertaken to understand grade 3 students and teachers in Texas more fully and to explore the relationships between student characteristics, teaching practices, and materials in grade 3 classrooms and student performance in grade 3. Survey data was received from teachers for 7,216 students from 93 campuses and 72 districts around…

This study, assumes the significance of socioeconomic status (SES) or input factors in explaining achievement, and considers the impact of other "process" variables, that is, factors over which schools have some control. Using the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) data, it examines these variables to determine the…

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'…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment (TSA); for the first time in NAEP's history, voluntary state-by-state assessments were made. In 1992, the NAEP Program included an expanded TSA in fourth-grade reading. The 1992 reading assessment considered students' performance in situations that…

So that comparisons of achievement test scores across campuses would be unaffected by variations in test preparation activities, the Austin Independent School District has set out to standardize all testwiseness instructions and practice testing across the school system. Appropriate preparation activity was defined as that which contributes to…

In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of Texas eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the West region of the United States and the nation (using data from the NAEP…

The 1998 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) state level reading assessment measured fourth- and eighth-grade students' reading proficiency in situations that involved reading for three purposes: reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task (grade 8 only). This report describes the…

Discusses the effect of deficit thinking on the academic achievement of minority and low income students. Highlights five ways that high-stakes accountability helped displace deficit thinking of school superintendents in Texas school districts. Data come from a multiyear study that demonstrated sustained, substantially improved academic…

Suggests that the most useful discussion of accountability, testing, and educational equity should occur at the conceptual level rather than the level of conflicting individual studies. Argues that statistical debates avoid larger foundational questions about the goals of schooling in our society and emphasizes the need for research on effective…

The approach taken by three Texas school districts in high poverty and high minority areas to improve standardized achievement scores is explored. The three districts implemented an instructional management program consisting of aligning the curriculum, filling the curriculum gaps, and monitoring student progress. A first step in the curriculum…

Texas required a curriculum review of all subjects in 1979. From this review came major changes in the state's educational system. This document reports on the status of the mathematics and science education reforms that took place in Texas from 1979 to 1993. The first section, "National Education Reform," includes a chronology of reform…

As part of standards-based educational reform efforts, more than 40 states will soon require students to achieve passing scores on standardized exams in order to obtain a high school diploma. Currently, many states are struggling with the design of their examination systems, debating such questions as which subjects should be tested, what should…

Data from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) reveal that gains in performance for the African American student population of Region VII of the state's educational system were not keeping pace with the performance of African Americans in the rest of Texas. This study investigated practices in school districts in the region in which…

This report provides selected results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Texas' public-school students at grades 4 and 8. Since 1992, reading has been assessed in four different years at the state level (at grade 4 in 1992 and 1994, and at both grades 4 and 8 in 1998 and 2002). Texas participated in all of these…

The purpose of this study was to identify cognitive and non-cognitive variables that will predict a student's ability to achieve success in the lowest level developmental mathematics course at San Jacinto College. The study examined the ability of cognitive variables (standardized entrance examinations, high school grade point average, and type of…