In the spring of 2015, Illinois students will take new state assessments that, like the new Illinois Learning Standards, challenge them to think deeply, write often and defend their reasoning--all skills they will need in the world. The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) covers math and English Language Arts…

Defining and measuring college quality is a contentious issue, and the debate about how to do so is far from settled. What is quality when institutions produce outputs ranging from student learning and labor-market success to research? How is student learning measured when students specialize in a major field? How are quality metrics tied to…

Since 2005, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has published annual analyses of Ohio's state report card data, focusing on district and charter schools in Ohio's Big Eight urban areas: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown. For the 2017--18 school year, we provide an overview of Ohio's assessment and report…

"Core to College: Preparing Students for College Readiness and Success" is a three-year initiative. The initiative's mission is to "facilitate greater coordination between K-12 and postsecondary education systems around implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and aligned assessments." Its aim is to foster…

Leadership Networks are regional and content-specific networks focused on the preparation of college- and career-ready students. Each network includes teacher leaders, school administrators, central office staff, regional cooperatives, and institutes of higher education. Network members work collaboratively to focus their efforts on regional needs…

Although the phrase "college and career readiness" has been in circulation since the mid-2000s, it has become nearly ubiquitous in discussions about K-12 and postsecondary education, especially in the last two years. In spring 2010 an unprecedented collaboration led to the development of the "Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing," an…

A recent five-state project, the National Forum on College-Level Learning, has demonstrated that learning, higher education's most important product, can be assessed in ways that make interstate comparison possible, that these assessments are consistent with other information known about the states, and that the results can be useful to…

Oklahoma's three-tiered system of higher education provides access for all students, with the comprehensive universities requiring the highest standards, regional universities requiring less restrictive standards, and the two-year colleges having open door access. The various tiers help students match their level of academic preparation to the…

It is suggested that available research cannot substantiate the claim that certain accrediting association standards assure institutional quality. In moving to a more direct approach to assessing institutional performance, the focus should be upon student performance at graduation. (MLW)

In a review of statewide plans for assessing student learning at institutions of higher education, this paper argues that assessment, carefully planned to focus on students, can lead to an improvement in the communication and understanding between the academy and the polity. A brief section on the role of statewide assessment places it in a…

At a time when college degrees are increasingly a prerequisite for middle-class wages, less than 40 percent of college students are able to demonstrate proficiency on literacy tests, barely half of college students graduate on time, and many do not graduate at all. At the same time. the price of college continues to increase quickly and…

The Phase 1 induction training received by provisional teachers from their local school districts and the student teaching experience of Trenton State College students were studied. Under the New Jersey Provisional Teacher Program, the professional education of the alternate route provisional teachers is provided by the local school district and…

Uses of assessment in postsecondary education and policy issues are considered. In higher education, assessment is used to refer to at least six separate but overlapping activities: (1) multiple measures to track students' intellectual and personal growth over an extended period of time; (2) state-mandated requirements for evaluating students…

The activities and accomplishments of the second year of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission's Performance Funding Project at Tennessee Technological University are reported. The purpose of the Project was to explore the feasibility of allocating some portion of state funds to colleges and universities based on a performance criterion with…

In this document, a state appointed task force commissioned to examine how Ohio state colleges and universities can sustain quality programs with the highest degree of efficiency during times of fiscal constraint reports on its findings and conclusions, and offers its recommendations. Following an executive summary the report is presented in four…