This volume brings together experts on various aspects of education to address many of the emerging issues and problems that affect how data are being used or misused in educational contexts. Readers will learn about the importance of using data effectively, responsibly, and ethically to fully understand how cognitive fallacies occur and how they…

The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at American Institutes for Research (AIR) publishes this biannual update of college- and career-readiness standards and assessment (CCRS-A) resources. This list of resources is designed to assist staff in state education agencies (SEAs) and other educators in their curricula, instruction, standards, and…

This book is designed to help educational leaders, decision makers, and teachers wade through the complexities of aligning technology planning with learning goals. Organized around a problem-solving model based on solution fluency, the authors outline how to: (1) Address state, regional, or provincial standards; (2) Improve test scores--Meet…

The purpose of this technical assistance paper is to provide a description of the procedures used to determine school grades for the 2014 school year. Florida's current school accountability system originated with state legislation passed in 1999 (the "A+ Plan") and has been revised periodically to reflect increased standards and…

Each year, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education publishes an online "school accountability report card" for each public school district, each building and each charter school. This document provides a statewide report card on key accountability measures about Missouri public schools, including information…

All too often, literacy assessments are given only for accountability purposes and fail to be seen as valuable resources for planning and differentiating instruction. This clear, concise book shows K-5 educators how to implement a comprehensive, balanced assessment battery that integrates accountability concerns with data-driven instruction.…

The promise, embraced by governments around the world, is that the knowledge economy will provide knowledge workers with a degree of autonomy and permission to think which enables them to be creative and to attract high incomes. What credence should we give to this promise? The current economic crisis is provoking a reappraisal of both economic…

This book offers an ambitious new system for evaluating, compensating, and providing professional development for school teachers and administrators. In this realigned system, new forms of accountability are introduced, but they go hand in hand with new rewards and access to enhanced forms of professional development to help educators succeed in…

This study investigated secondary school students' conceptions of assessment and feedback. Five focus groups were conducted with 41 Year 9 and 10 students (equivalent to Grades 8 and 9 in other countries) from 4 diverse New Zealand schools. Students said that assessment was useful because it led to information and feedback. This information, in…

The intention of this article is to illustrate how assessment is an "emotional practice" (Hargreaves, 1998) for teachers and how paying attention to the emotions involved can provide useful information about assessment practices to teachers, teacher-educators and policy-reformers. Through presenting a review of research literature it makes three…

Completely updated, this popular guide provides teachers with a proven method for documenting (collecting, analyzing, and displaying) young children's work at school. Written by teachers for teachers, this classic resource also shows principals, curriculum coordinators, and directors of Head Start and other early intervention programs how to…

This book offers a comprehensive program of holistic accountability for educators, school board members, school leaders, and parents. Holistic accountability systems yield information about curriculum, assessment, and instruction that can lead to better practices, better decision making, and higher student achievement. The chapters are: (1) "What…

Educational standards and accountability are at the center of an ongoing national debate on school reform that began almost 20 years ago. This debate has raised fundamental questions about school effectiveness and the strategies educators should use to boost student learning. This book provides a closer look at these questions and seeks to answer…

To support K-12 students with significant disabilities and get an accurate picture of their skills and knowledge, schools need to implement effective alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). This is the guidebook every team should have--not only to develop successful AA-AAS linked with grade-level content standards,…

Educational reform is becoming synonymous with accountability. However, designing an effective accountability system poses serious challenges for states as is clear from the progress and pitfalls experienced by states such as Texas, Kentucky, and California. For example, many states tend to overload their new accountability programs, resulting in…