Ratings published by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) require selectivity in admission to educator preparation programs. NCTQ provides a list of citations to support the selectivity standard termed "strong support." A review of each citation in the list found little or no support for the standard. Original data was…

The debate over charter school effectiveness relies largely on neoclassical logic: individual parents or students express demand for a widening array of school types and then experience variable levels of organizational quality. We argue that market-like behavior is nested in segments of local organizational fields with different types of charter…

In 2010, HCM Strategists received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to engage academic researchers in identifying and discussing the best currently available ways to account for differences in college "inputs"--students, resources, and fixed characteristics--when evaluating postsecondary outcomes. The project, Context…

The implementation of teaching performance assessments has prompted a range of concerns. Some educators question whether these assessments provide information beyond what university supervisors gain through their formative evaluations and classroom observations of candidates. This research examines the relationship between supervisors' predictions…

Students' oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading) using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance--English language learners (ELLs) with low…

In this article, the author describes how his district develops clearly focused professional learning communities (PLCs) and raises its student achievement rating from "one of the worst" to one of the best. Sanger Unified School District in California's Central Valley had been named one of the worst school districts in California. It…

This article discusses the decisions that school leaders must make to reclassify students as fluent and proficient in English and the implications that reclassification decisions could have for the future achievement of those students. The study examined the achievement gap between English learners and the overall student population and the…

Prediction models using graduation rate as the performance indicator were obtained for community colleges in California, Florida, and Michigan. The results of this study indicated that institutional graduation rate could be predicted effectively from an aggregate of student and institutional characteristics. A performance measure was computed, the…

With the enactment of No Child Left Behind, districts across the country have been consumed with ensuring that students are proficient in math and reading. However, by the very nature of the law, the definition of "proficient" varies from state to state as well as within states. Since countless resources are being poured into this…

The overall aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between the roles of assessment in pedagogy, the interactions between curriculum assessment and pedagogy, and the study of pupils' progression in learning. It is argued that well-grounded evidence of pupils' progressions in learning is crucial to the work of teachers, so that a method…

An intent of many business programs is to enhance the critical thinking capabilities of their students. Since AACSB accreditation requires evidence that business schools fulfill their goals, our students were required to take the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). As expected, the CCTST was significantly related to SAT performance…

This article contains an analysis of a component of a large-scale reform effort in an urban school district that entailed placing high school students identified as underperforming in literacy in separate classes aimed at accelerating their learning. The relationship between students academic performance and social backgrounds, school…

Asserts that California's 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act does not do enough to address the underachievement of students in high-poverty schools. Recommends four initiatives to improve the academic performance of students in these schools: provide better teachers, boost instructional time, increase teacher professional development time, and…

The author, an executive director of Assessment and Accountability for the Poway Unified School District, relates how their school district implemented an assessment program with practical applications to teaching and learning. Rather than being yet another burden on teachers or a local report card on schools, the district's goal was to define…