At open-access two-year public colleges, the goal of the traditional assessment and placement process is to match incoming students to the developmental or college-level courses for which they have adequate preparation; the process presumably increases underprepared students' chances of short- and long-term success in college while maintaining the…

Assessments matter in education. Testing is nothing new; tests have been around as long as school itself. However, over the last 15 years, state assessments have grown to be an increasingly central, and often controversial, part of schooling. As states raise their standards, it is more important than ever to ask: What is a high-quality assessment?…

This study explored elementary school counselors' perceptions of importance and implementation for state standards in support of academic achievement. Results indicate that Academic and Personal/Social standards are important to achievement with no statistical difference between the standards. Further, counselors implement Personal/Social…

This study is a mixed-methods text analysis of African American representation within K-12 U.S. History content standards treating the revolutionary era, the early U.S. republic, the Civil War era, and Reconstruction. The states included in the analysis are Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Virginia. The analysis finds that the reviewed…

Purpose: This study aims to be one in a series examining the leadership best practices of school principals as they lead in an accountability- and standards-driven school environment. The lack of research and necessity to find successful practices to improve student achievement highlight the need for this study. Design/methodology/approach: An…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

This first draft of the "Comparison of Virginia's 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2009 Mathematics SOL are aligned to the CCSS. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for supporting…

This paper tabulates the correlation of Virginia's mathematics performance expectations with Virginia's 2009 mathematics standards of learning.

The "Comparison of Virginia's 2010 English Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy (ELAL)" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2010 English SOL are aligned to the CCSS for ELAL. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for…

Two panels of practicing chemists and physicists met in summer 2007 to review Virginia's content standards in the high school capstone courses of chemistry and physics. Those panels were sponsored by the Virginia secretary of education and NASA, and the findings and recommendations were meant to help inform the 2010 septennial review of Virginia's…

This report explains that The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--known since 2001 as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)--requires states to set annual objectives for increasing student achievement in reading and mathematics and closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Under the flexibility waiver granted by the US Department of…

The extent to which smaller learning communities' (SLCs) focus on academic press and strong social relationships affects academic engagement among 9th graders in urban high schools was investigated. Data were collected through classroom observations, student questionnaires, and focus groups with teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive…

This article challenges policymakers, school leaders, and teachers to implement wide-scale and systematic teaching of character education in every classroom. In support of the idea that student character development should be a priority in all classes, I explain that youth need "decision-filters" to negotiate life's challenges. Further,…

STEM--the catchy shorthand for "science, technology, engineering and mathematics"--has been part of the school improvement discussion for more than a decade, as educational leaders and policy makers have underscored the importance of these areas in preparing students for an internationally competitive, 21st-century economy. But while the…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. The reports include bill numbers and legislative Web site…