In the fall of 2020, ACT and the Mississippi Community College Board (MCCB) entered into a data sharing agreement in order to examine the validity of ACT's® WorkKeys® Assessments. WorkKeys Assessments measure students' foundational workplace skills. The focus of this technical brief is to summarize the results of several validity studies using a…

Reading achievement has been a focus for many states since the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965. Schools and districts are faced with the challenge of accurately identifying students that are in need of intervention before they take high stakes assessments in reading. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of STAR Reading…

The purpose of this mixed-methods, action research study, with a convergent design, is to improve student literacy achievement within a Mississippi school district, through the exploration of reading volume, motivation, and family connections. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data to provide an in-depth look into the phenomenon of…

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the elements needed to produce a high quality professional development program for teachers. The researcher sought to determine possible factors that had a significant relationship to Mississippi public school teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of their professional development…

A wide variety of school-based physical activity contexts have been recently associated with various measures of academic performance. Of these studies, a small number employing objective measures of student fitness have identified a relationship with academic achievements. However, even among these studies, the fitness-academic link has not been…

The purpose of the study was to determine if a significant relationship existed between elementary principals. leadership traits and teacher morale. The study sought to identify the impact of the principal-teacher relationship on school achievement as it relates to student performance on state standards as outlined in the Mississippi state…

This study investigated the relationship between principal leadership style, school socioeconomic status (SES), and student achievement for 6 elementary schools. Each school's spring 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) scores were used in the areas of Reading, Language, and Mathematics as a measure of student achievement. The principal's…

This study examined the relationship between dimensions of wellness and academic performance for 634 third through fifth grade students in Title One schools in rural Mississippi, using composites of the Five Factor Wellness Inventory for Elementary Children and Reading, Language, and Math Scores of the Mississippi Curriculum Test (a state level…

This study investigated the implementation and impact of Reading First programs in 8 elementary schools across the state of Mississippi. The study assessed how principals, literacy coaches, and kindergarten through third grade teachers perceived the implementation of the Reading First program at their respective schools. Data from these three…

Through the leadership of the Mississippi Board of Education, the Mississippi Department of Education conducted two separate studies of the reading programs offered in the state. The first study examined statewide trends in reading achievement and compared selected school districts' data with data from the National Assessment of Educational…

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…

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…