This study examined the relationships between enabling structures, academic optimism, and student achievement to determine whether academic optimism served as a mediator between the two. Student achievement was measured using both criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests. Findings indicated a relationship between academic optimism, enabling…

This study addressed whether prior successes with educational interventions grounded in the theory of successful intelligence could be replicated on a larger scale as the primary basis for instruction in language arts, mathematics, and science. A total of 7,702 4th-grade students in the United States, drawn from 223 elementary school classrooms in…

As an organization made up of Michiganders, we know well how our parents once prided themselves on the quality of our state's public schools. Sadly, we have little to be proud of today. Our state's educational performance is lackluster by practically any reliable measure. In this report, we lay out a common-sense agenda to raise Michigan's…

This report describes how five states -- Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee and Texas -- made exceptional progress in student achievement during the first decade of the 21st century. State leaders in these states all realized early in the decade that they had a problem they wanted to address. They established a "plan" at the state…

This study examined the relationship of two climate constructs in academic optimism and organizational climate as each relates to school effectiveness. Academic optimism is an academic environment comprised of three dimensions: academic emphasis, collective efficacy, and faculty trust (Hoy, Tarter, & Hoy, 2006). The Organizational Climate…

This paper profiles Alabama's test score trends through 2008-09. Between 2005 and 2009, the percentages of students reaching the proficient level on the state test and the basic level on NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) increased in grades 4 and 8 in both reading and math. Average annual gains were generally larger on the state…

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP, high school graduation rates, and access…

Guided by a new framework, the NAEP science assessment was updated in 2009 to keep the content current with key developments in science, curriculum standards, assessments, and research. The 2009 framework organizes science content into three broad content areas. Physical science includes concepts related to properties and changes of matter, forms…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

For years people have assumed there is an unquestionable connection between school funding and student achievement. A study of Alabama students in grades 4 and 8 attempted to unearth the truth about the widely held assumption that the more money spent on a school the higher the student achievement will be. The study only examined funds that are…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

A one-year study evaluated the Human Development Program, or "Magic Circle," a project (conducted in the Tuscaloosa County (Alabama) School District) designed to explore student concerns and ideas in the areas of awareness, mastery, and social interaction and consisting of daily twenty-minute classroom meetings of teacher and pupils in a…

This paper presents the appendices to the "High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act" report. It contains the following appendices: (1) Example of Context for Assessing State-Level Stakes Sheet--Connecticut; (2) Example of Completed Rewards and Sanctions Worksheet--Connecticut; (3) Directions…

This report compares Alabama's reading and mathematics performance on the most recent administrations of the state assessment with performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To indicate how Alabama is doing in narrowing the academic achievement gap between African American, Latino, or low-income students and their…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences--or stakes--for student performance. The theory of action implied by this…