The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) initiated this special study in an effort to link the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scale so that states could compare the performance of their students with that of students in other countries. The…

In this paper, the authors examine some of the ways that different types of non-equivalent comparison groups can be used to strengthen causal inferences based on regression discontinuity design (RDD). First, they consider a design that incorporates pre-test data on assignment scores and outcomes that were collected either before the treatment…

With the rise in online and hybrid courses at the post-secondary level, many institutions are offering various online learning readiness assessments to students who are considering these instructional formats. Following a discussion of the characteristics often attributed to successful online learners, as well as a review of a sample of the…

Using Dutch data on pupils in elementary school this paper is the first empirical study to analyze whether assigning homework has a heterogeneous impact on pupil achievement. Addressing potential biases by using a difference-in-difference approach, I find that the test score gap is larger in classes where everybody gets homework than in classes…

The 2014 Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card is the Mackinac Center's second effort to measure high school performance. The first high school assessment was published in 2012, followed by the Center's 2013 elementary and middle school report card, which used a similar methodology to evaluate school performance. The…

This article presents the results of a study focused on the issue of how proctored testing affects student test scores in a formal Intermediate Algebra course setting. The study follows a model of assessment in which students in one group have taken two of their five unit exams as proctored tests along with a proctored comprehensive final exam,…

This report presents the value-added models that will be used to measure school and teacher effectiveness in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) in the 2010-2011 school year. It updates the earlier technical report, "Measuring Value Added for IMPACT and TEAM in DC Public Schools." The earlier report described the methods used…

Reliability Analysis for the Internationally Administered 2002 Series GED (General Educational Development) Tests Reliability refers to the consistency, or stability, of test scores when the authors administer the measurement procedure repeatedly to groups of examinees (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological…

There are significant signs of progress in California's schools, in spite of the tremendous challenges they face. Trends across multiple measures of student performance are fairly consistent: all students are doing better, or at least holding steady, during a time when the system is serving a larger and more diverse population of children. For…

Public schools face raised performance expectations on group-administered achievement tests. In response, educators have implemented various preparation strategies to ready students. However, the research community largely ignores the impact of setting on test performance. This randomized field trial assesses whether or not there were significant…

The use of microworlds (MWs), or complex dynamic systems, in educational testing and personnel selection is hampered by systematic measurement errors because these new and innovative item formats are not adequately controlled for their difficulty. This empirical study introduces a way to operationalize an MW's difficulty and demonstrates the…

This study compared global scores of 26 Australian students (ages 4 to 16) with mental retardation on the third and fourth editions of the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale. Analysis indicated a fairly strong positive relation between the two tests, suggesting that the fourth edition may be substituted for the older instrument in longitudinal…

We use data on statewide end-of-course tests in North Carolina to examine the relationship between teacher credentials and student achievement at the high school level. The availability of test scores in multiple subjects for each student permits us to estimate a model with student fixed effects, which helps minimize any bias associated with the…

Inmates score significantly lower on the second edition (BETA II) than on the first edition (BETA I), regardless of the order of administration. BETA I score distributions were unaffected by the order of administration. BETA II score distributions depended on whether BETA II was administered first or second. (Author)

Criticizes the William Bennett/Emily Feistritzer "Report Card on American Education 1993" for misrepresenting the "crisis" condition of U.S. education. State rankings of SAT scores flatten data and exaggerate differences. Bennett also ignores influence of limited English proficiency, poverty, and percentage of test-takers on…