One of the most controversial aspects of NCLB is its performance requirements for subgroups within the general student population. In this article, the authors examine the implications of these requirements for English-language learners and offer recommendations to help states, districts, and schools facilitate the progress of these students.

National Board Certification is intended to indicate that "a teacher is judged by his or her peers as one who is accomplished, makes sound professional judgments about students' best interests, and acts effectively on those judgments." This author, the first National Board Certified Art Teacher in Georgia, offers a first-hand perspective…

This study examines the effect and validity of accommodations for limited English proficiency (LEP) students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the impact of language factors on the assessment and accommodation of these students. Results indicate that accommodations used in NAEP did not reduce the performance gap between…

On July 14, 2006, the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a study that compared the performance in reading and math of 4th and 8th graders attending private and public schools. According to the NCES study, students attending private schools performed better than students attending public schools.…

There can be little doubt that there is wide variation in the rigor and quality of state standards and assessments. Moreover, it is clear that the vast majority of states have set their academic achievement bar far lower than federal standards, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB)…

Two studies were conducted to explore mathematical precocity in young children. Study 1 examined mathematically gifted first and third graders' working memory development. The results showed that mathematically gifted children's working memory growth was similar to that expected of their age peers. Study 2 examined changes in mathematically gifted…

States' policy approaches to accountability tend to divide between a primary emphasis on input guarantees and a primary emphasis on performance guarantees. In the midst of keen controversies about the impact of high-stakes testing under the No Child Left Behind Act, this article examines separate and joint effects of input-guarantee versus…

Israeli "external" high schools prepare students for external matriculation examination, providing them with a second chance to retain the matriculation certificate necessary for higher education. A study of the degree to which these schools fulfill second chance hopes is described, focusing on the problem of goal definition in…

This paper reports changes in the professional knowledge, general knowledge, and communication skills components of the National Teacher Examinations and explains validation procedures. Research efforts to: (1) establish the tests' credibility and usefulness; (2) identify factors the tests measure; and (3) study their relationship to effective…

In the 1980s, English and Welsh schools face two major problems: declining enrollment and financial stringency. These may be exacerbated by the countries' uniquely decentralized educational power structure in which conflicts may be generated by political differences between local and national levels and by national accountability and testing…

Reports on recent changes in examination policy and practice in China, England and Wales, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Identifies and discusses some significant trade-offs arising from the implementation of examination policy. Discusses four nearly universal dilemmas of…

Discusses language standards, standard language, and examinations in terms of the 1989 National Curriculum for state schools in England and the tensions caused by the curriculum. Also reviews the history of public education and examinations in England since 1944, focusing on English language instruction. (Contains 19 references.) (MDM)

The adequacy of linking statewide standardized test results to the National Assessment of Educational Progress by using equipercentile equating procedures was investigated using statewide mathematics data from four states. Results suggest that the linkings are not sufficiently trustworthy to make comparisons based on the tails of the distribution.…

Discusses concerns about and reaction to student test scores. Questions the nature of a national test for social studies. Asks whether students can be tested in groups as a means of performance assessment and whether such testing instruments can and should replace traditional testing in social studies. (DK)

Video and print formats of cardiovascular motion studies were compared for use as assessment measures of interpretive skills for 392 doctors taking a cardiovascular disease certification test. Although video studies were easier to interpret, the equivalence of both motion studies supports use of the print format in national examinations. (SLD)