Over the past decade, state legislatures have experienced increasing pressure to hold higher education accountable for student learning. This pressure stems from several sources, such as increasing costs and decreasing graduation rates. To explore the feasibility of one approach to measuring student learning that emphasizes program improvement, we…

"The 2009 Legislative Briefing" is a topical summary of actions during the 2009 legislative sessions that affect education in the 16 SREB states. Topics include: state budgets and the economy; tax and revenue; teacher and faculty pay raises; retirement systems; issues affecting teachers and education leaders; health and safety;…

As part of compliance with with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, this document presents the State Report Card of Arizona for 2009-2010. The report card provides tables relating to percentage of students who passed AIMS in Arizona by subject and grade. The tables shown in this document include: (1) Mathematics Grade 3; (2) Reading Grade 3; (3)…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to prepare and disseminate an annual state report card. This requirement became effective at the beginning of the 2002-03 school year. The state agency also must ensure each local district collects appropriate data and includes this data at the district level and for each school in its annual…

The future of Greece's well-being will depend on improving educational performance to boost productivity and improve social outcomes. In the current economic context, with the need to get best value for spending, Greece must and can address inefficiencies in its education system. The challenges are significant. For example, Greece lags behind many…

Graduating more students prepared to meet the social, civic, and economic challenges of coming decades is a national priority. Indeed, institutional graduation rates are being scrutinized by state legislatures and by those in Congress drafting the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Every college and university can improve its graduation…

Texas has apparently achieved great success in closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, at least in the lower grades. Texas students in all grades have made substantial gains on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). The effect of TAAS-type accountability on student performance in the higher grades is important,…

With the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), graduation rate accountability has become the educational law of the land, a small part of it at least. Some uncertainty continues to persist around key issues like exactly how to calculate graduation rates and how much weight should be placed on graduation versus test scores when attaching…

This report provides an annual overview of data reported by South Carolina's public institutions of higher education as part of institutional effectiveness reporting and as part of the process of performance funding. Prior to the January 2000 edition, this document was entitled "Minding Our P's and Q's: Indications of Productivity and Quality…

The tables presented in this document show the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) results for the past two years. Twenty-four tables show results as percent at each performance level and percent passing, as well as percent of students tested. The tables shown in this document include: (1) Mathematics Grade 3; (2) Reading Grade 3; (3)…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended and funded to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Graduation rates are not just a "bottom line" for schools--they are critical predictors of individual achievement and have undeniable…

The annual "U.S. News and World Report" "America's Best Colleges" issue has become the nation's de facto higher education accountability system, evaluating colleges and universities on a common scale and creating strong incentives for institutions to do things that raise their ratings. But, says the author, the "U.S. News" ranking system is deeply…

The Arizona Department of Education, as part of compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, provides this state report card for parents. Arizona is committed to achieving the best possible academic education for its children. This includes an emphasis on accountability, discipline and character initiatives, help for schools in delivering…

The consequences of not graduating from high school are increasingly serious for both individuals and society as a whole. As a result, state and federal accountability systems now require reporting of more detailed graduation and dropout data. The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires states to report disaggregated…

This is a study of high schools and their districts receiving Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) grants that have used those grants to support implementation of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) model. Over a 4-year period 10 such high schools in 5 districts have been examined to determine if schoolwide or district-wide…