While policymakers and researchers alike have focused on improving students' transition into high school, a new study of Florida schools suggests the critical transition problem may happen years before, when students enter middle school. The study, part of the Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series at Harvard University,…

The author reports on a study released in April 2009 that suggests that California's high school exit exams are affecting some student demographic groups more than others. The California study, which was released by the Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice at Stanford University, is the latest in a small spate of studies…

A study released last week suggesting that California's high school exit exams are affecting some student demographic groups more than others is the latest in a small spate of studies pointing to trade-offs from policies that require high school students to pass state tests to graduate. Twenty-six states have exit exams in place or will by 2012,…

Despite academic progress, standardized tests have been a handicap in school's quest to meet the yardstick for adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The law requires that students be tested annually in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once during high school. Schools must show sufficient gains in performance…

Three decades of mounting academic and testing requirements are snagging growing numbers of students in the 9th grade. "The bulge" is the name education researchers give to the percentage increase in students in the 9th grade over the same period. This article reports on factors that might explain the growing 9th grade bottleneck and…