This report highlights the results of Austin Independent School District's 4th- and 8th-grade students on the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation's Report Card.

This article explains the process behind estimating a National Education Cost Model (NECM) and generating from that model projections of per-pupil costs to achieve 2016 national average outcomes (reading and math grades 3 to 8) across all districts in the United States, from 2019-20 to 2020-21. This article is a follow-up to a preliminary report…

This report examines the impact of Creative Teaching techniques on students' academic growth on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and math tests from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. Statistically significant growth on STAAR reading was found for students who had teachers who were moderately competent at Creative Teaching…

During the past decade, the NAEP Validity Studies (NVS) Panel has been monitoring, studying, and commenting on potential issues with the validity of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) arising from changes that have been brought about by the adoption of rigorous state college and career readiness standards, such as the Common…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present insights from the implementation of a dialogic social studies curriculum and its potential to support diverse learners. Policymakers and educators must attend to the learning needs of diverse/minoritized (Note: In this paper, the authors use minoritized and diverse interchangeably) students who have…

We use a quadratic equation to estimate trends in cohort performances in the charter and district sectors on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 4th and 8th grade between 2005 and 2017. Data consist of over four million test observations of nationally representative samples of students on seven separate math and reading tests. We…

California's shift towards continuous improvement in education makes understanding how districts and schools can learn to improve a more pressing question than ever. The CORE Improvement Community (CIC), a network of California school districts engaged in learning about improvement together, is an important testing ground to learn about what this…

The 2014-15 school year was the first in which the Smarter Balanced assessments (referred to here as the SBAC) were administered statewide. While educators and policymakers agree that multiple measures over multiple years are the best way to gauge student, school, and district performance, the first-year SBAC results provide an important baseline…

The following report presents Austin Independent School District (AISD) English language learner students' (ELLs) 2013-2014 3rd and 4th grade state academic test results in reading and math, providing a comparison to AISD and State of Texas performance. In addition, ELLs' performance on an early elementary reading measure in 2013 and 2014 is…

Houston's experience with the Educational Value-Added Assessment System (R) (EVAAS) raises questions that other districts should consider before buying the software and using it for high-stakes decisions. Researchers found that teachers in Houston, all of whom were under the EVAAS gun, but who taught relatively more racial minority students,…

When New York state released the first results of the exams under the Common Core State Standards, many wrongly believed that the results showed dramatic declines in student achievement. A closer look at the results showed that student achievement may have increased. Another lesson from the exams is that states need to closely coordinate new data…

This brief maps the national attendance gap--the who, what, when, where and why of absenteeism--using research drawn from national sources as well as attendance data gathered across states from students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Health emerges again and again, both as a challenge and as a solution to improving…

This summary from the "Public Schooling in Southeast Wisconsin: 2013-2014" full report presents the school district performance in a pull-out format. Definitions are provided for the column heading: (1) Total Operations Spending, (2) Property Tax Revenue, (3) Total Enrollment; (4) One-Year Change in Enrollment, (5) Minority Enrollment,…

In the past several decades, Boston has been a proving ground for new strategies such as mayoral control, charter schools, and expanded access to early childhood education. Located in a state known for rigorous standards and accountability, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has consistently ranked among the top-performing large public school districts…

This report analyzes how AISD students with disabilities (SDs) performed on 2011 NAEP reading and mathematics compared: (1) with their peers in similar TUDA districts; (2) over time; and (3) with AISD non-SD students.