This article examines the role and pedagogical implications of supportive assessment strategies at the interface where curriculum, general "Didaktik" and pedagogy meet; theoretically, the article draws upon concepts from research in each of those domains. This interplay is examined in relation to the performance-orientation on two…

Race to the Top (RTT), one of the Obama administration's signature programs and one of the largest federal government investments in an education grant program, received $4.35 billion in funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through three rounds of competition in 2010 and 2011, RTT awarded grants to states that…

Race to the Top (RTT), one of the Obama administration's signature programs and one of the largest federal government investments in an education grant program, received $4.35 billion in funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through three rounds of competition in 2010 and 2011, RTT awarded grants to states that…

The purpose of this report is to describe the procedure for revising the ReadiStep™ score scale using the field trial data, and to provide technical information about the development of the new ReadiStep scale score. In doing so, this report briefly introduces the three assessments--ReadiStep, PSAT/NMSQT®, and SAT®--in the College Board Pathway…

Drawing on national and state assessment datasets in reading and math, this study tested "external" versus "internal" standards-based education models. The goal was to understand whether and how student performance standards work in multilayered school systems under No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Under the…

This paper examines the King's Oxfordshire Assessment Project, which took place in the UK and explored the use of coursework as a means of terminal assessment. In particular, it considers the findings of the six English teachers who were involved. In a standards-based curriculum all six teachers supported 100% coursework. The paper looks at how,…

Policymakers in Minnesota have made assessing and improving student science performance a priority (Minnesota High Tech Association 2010a,b). Minnesota has supported several statewide initiatives to promote science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)--including a grant from the National Governors Association to increase science learning…

In Fall 2008, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) conducted an alignment content analysis of the 2007 TIMSS Mathematics and Science education assessments for students at grades 4 and 8 and the 2006 PISA Mathematics and Science Literacy assessments for students at age 15 (i.e., TIMSS--Trends in Mathematics and Science Study,…

As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing model content frameworks for English language arts/literacy (ELA/Literacy) to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC assessments. The Model Content…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

Using 3 waves of the TIMSS data, this study investigates the relationship between 8th-graders' mathematics and science achievement and their self-perceptions on these 2 subjects. For within-country data, there is generally a positive relationship between students' achievement and the following 3 measures of their self-perception: how much they…

During the 2009-10 academic year, 1,444 8th grade students in the Canton City, Plain and Marlington Local School Districts (hereafter called Stark students) took the EXPLORE Test as part of a pilot project, "Ready to Go: Increasing Eighth Grade Readiness," sponsored by the Stark Education Partnership with funding from the Ohio College…

This is an abridged, summary report of selected findings from "Pieces of the Puzzle: Factors in the Improvement of Urban School Districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress"--a comprehensive study prepared by the Council of the Great City Schools in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and with…

This report summarizes preliminary and exploratory research conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools and the American Institutes for Research on urban school systems participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study is one of the first large-scale analyses…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires the states to test their students every year to determine how many of them have achieved proficiency in, among other areas, math, science, and reading. The law also requires that the states participate yearly in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which calls itself "the Nation's…