This May sees the release of the results from the third PISA assessment of financial literacy. These results are largely consistent with previous findings, but also go beyond earlier assessments in probing students' behaviours and attitudes towards money matters (including digital money matters) and their exposure to financial education at school.…

While federal law requires students to be tested in math, English-language arts and science in particular grades, states are still struggling to mount the resources and expertise necessary to fully implement college and career readiness standards, let alone new assessments aligned to these higher standards. New assessments are not only more…

American education has problems, almost everyone is willing to concede, but many think those problems are mostly concentrated in America's large urban school districts. In the elite suburbs, where wealthy and politically influential people tend to live, the schools are assumed to be world-class. Unfortunately, what everyone knows is wrong. Even…

Over the past few decades, those who take tests in the United States have exhibited increasing diversity with respect to native language. Standard psychometric procedures for ensuring item and test fairness that have existed for some time were developed when test-taking groups were predominantly native English speakers. A better understanding of…

Medical diagnostics help us evaluate a range of disorders, such as cancer and infectious diseases. In the United States and other developed countries, doctors have access to advanced equipment and laboratories that provide reliable diagnoses. As a result, when we are sick, we feel confident that we will get the treatment we need. Unfortunately,…

This article describes the idea of scientific literacy as defined in PISA, discusses relevant results of PISA, and clarifies meaningful relationships between PISA data and scientific competencies of U.S. students. Finally, the author includes insights and recommendations for contemporary leadership in science education. (Contains 8 tables and 1…

Ten years have passed since President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind (NCLB), making it the educational law of the land. A review of a decade of evidence demonstrates that NCLB has failed badly both in terms of its own goals and more broadly. It has neither significantly increased academic performance nor significantly reduced…

The "2009 GED[R] Testing Program Statistical Report" is the 52nd annual report in the program's 68-year history of providing a second opportunity for adults without a high school credential to earn their jurisdiction's GED credential. The report provides candidate demographic and GED Test performance statistics as well as historical…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) has unsurpassable advantages over traditional testing. It has become the mainstream in large scale examinations in modern society. This paper gives a brief introduction to CAT including differences between traditional testing and CAT, the principles of CAT, psychometric theory and computer algorithms of CAT, the…

This report provides information about the performance of 2012 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the context of…

This report provides information about the performance of 2012 Hispanic/Latino graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in…

Not only did many industrialized countries outperform the United States in science on a recent international exam, but American students' academic achievement was also more likely to be affected by their wealth or poverty and family background than was their peers' in higher-scoring nations. That was one of several sobering findings for the United…

Data from First in the World Consortium (group of 20 suburban school districts that paid to have students take the Third International Mathematics and Science Study tests) and TIMSS dispel pervasive myth that only 1% of American students score as well in math as average Japanese student. Before copying Asia, American educators should examine…

This report contains eight tables describing the use of the General Educational Development Tests (GED) in 1986 as well as comparative trends since 1949. The tables report statistics for the 50 states, U.S. territories, and the provinces of Canada. The tables report the following: (1) testing volumes by jurisdiction; (2) percent tested by age…

For the most part, the performance of U.S. students on the main part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) failed to meet expected standards, and results of the TIMSS performance assessment do not give much cause for celebration either. (SLD)