IMPACT is the District of Columbia Public Schools' (DCPS) system for assessing and rewarding the performance of teachers and other school-based staff. This system is called IMPACT because the adults serving in the DCPS have the ability to make a dramatic, positive impact on students' lives. The system is designed to help staff become more…

Grade inflation in academic institutions. Is it a subject so complex and pervasive in education that it defies resolution? The issue of grade inflation is of concern to college students, faculty, administrators and future employers. There is much gnashing of teeth, some veiled threats, wringing of hands, and both written and oral discussion of the…

This report is a compilation of reprinted Executive Summaries from the reading, mathematics, and writing report cards based upon data collected in 2007. The reports provide national, state, and district-level results, as well as trends for different student groups such as gender, race/ethnicity, students with disabilities (SD), English language…

Assessing a high school's effectiveness is not straightforward. Comparing a school's standardized test scores to those of other schools is one approach to measuring effectiveness, but a major objection to this method is that students' test scores tend to be related to students' "socioeconomic" status--family household income, for…

This "Practitioner's Guide to Growth Models," commissioned by the Technical Issues in Large-Scale Assessment (TILSA) and Accountability Systems & Reporting (ASR), collaboratives of the "Council of Chief State School Officers," describes different ways to calculate student academic growth and to make judgments about the…

The paper takes a critical look at the different metrics that could be used to measure First Nations student success. The paper concludes that more than one metric is needed given the holistic worldview of First Nations Aboriginal people. A framework undergirding First Nations student success is presented and discussed.

In her groundbreaking book, Educating Young Giants, Nancy Pine reveals how reliance on antiquated teaching methods and ineffectual reform efforts has left youth in the United States and China ill-equipped for the demands of modern technology and the global economy. Transporting us into Chinese elementary and high school classrooms, Pine, a U.S.…

Jeb Bush campaigned for governor on a clear and bracing set of education reforms in 1998. Having won office, he immediately pursued a dual-track strategy for reforming Florida's K-12 education system: standards and accountability for public schools, choice and options for parents. Florida lawmakers followed those reforms with additional measures.…

Policymakers target educational accountability primarily at public school administrators and teachers, rather than also include the broader society in which schools are housed and where poverty thrives. This article proposes a process through which community members can develop a report card to determine the educational capacity of a region and…

This article reports on Blackboard, a course-management system used by the University of Maryland-Baltimore County to rate and track the "most active instructors" using the university's course-management system. Just about every college has such a system these days, designed to track assignments and manage online class discussions, but…

The Critical Success Factors Report is the North Carolina Community College System's major accountability document. This annual performance report is based on data compiled from the previous year and serves to inform colleges and the public on the performance of North Carolina's 58 community colleges. In 1993, the State Board of Community Colleges…

In "Beyond Test Scores: Leading Indicators for Education," Foley and colleagues (2008) define "leading indicators" as those that "provide early signals of progress toward academic achievement" (p. 1) and stress that educators "need leading indicators to help them see the direction their efforts are going in and to take corrective action as soon as…

Maryland public high school students outperformed all others in the nation on the rigorous Advanced Placement (AP) exams, according to the College Board's fifth annual analysis of the AP program. Maryland ranked first nationwide in the percentage of public school students scoring 3 or higher on at least one AP exam. A score of 3 or higher on the…

Today, the term "quality" cannot be used without evidence--evidence of learning for teacher candidates, and evidence that these teachers impact their young learners. In response to this call for evidence, teacher education programs are currently developing assessment systems that emphasize the analysis of data to make educational decisions about…

This review of state English language arts (ELA) and mathematics standards is the latest in a series of Fordham evaluations dating back to 1997. It comes at a critical juncture, as states across the land consider adoption of the Common Core State Standards. These are the authors' major findings: (1) Based on their criteria, the Common Core…