The "Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998" (commonly referred to as "Perkins," "Perkins III," or "the Act" and referred to hereafter as Perkins III) requires, in Sec. 113(c)(3)(C), that the secretary provide the appropriate committees of Congress copies of annual reports received by…

Five sister reports published by the Friedman Foundation over the past two years have ignored the relevant research literature in asserting that private-school voucher programs can reduce the social costs of dropping out while increasing graduation rates. The reports are state-specific, targeting five different states. But each report follows a…

Do children learn more in full-day kindergartens than half-day programs? If full-day kindergarten increases learning, are kindergartners in some schools particularly advantaged by their full-day experience? We address these questions with a nationally representative sample of over 8,000 kindergartners and 500 U.S. public schools that participated…

Investigated the relationship of the ITPA subtests to measures of academic performance (i.e., the California Achievement Test). Subjects were 137 nine-year old children. Results failed to support the hypothesis that psycholinguistic abilities, except those which contribute to the Grammatic Closure subtest, are related to academic proficiency.…

The organization of data at the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is undergoing a significant transition from a system designed only for national assessment purposes to one designed both for assessment and a variety of academic research interests. The advent of NAEP public-use data files opens up many possibilities for those who…

Analyzes the effects of quantity of schooling on achievement. The author concludes that, contrary to earlier findings, quantity of schooling is not of great practical importance for achievement. Additional research is called for. (Author/DB)

PIRLS 2006 provides countries with the unique opportunity to obtain internationally comparative data about how well their children can read. Countries also will obtain detailed information about home supports for literacy as well as school instruction. For the 35 countries that participated in PIRLS 2001, PIRLS 2006 will provide information on…

The Washington State Legislature requires that a sample of public school eleventh grade students be tested at least once every 4 years in the basic skills of reading, language arts and mathematics. A statewide assessment of eleventh grade achievement was made in 1981 using the California Achievement Test Form C. This report describes the…

The present paper sought to investigate the usefulness to accountability of identifying outlying schools through multiple regression. The outlier approach identifies schools which differ significantly for reasons other than variation in the predictors. The present study was not able to confirm the construct validity of the outlier approach for the…

This discussion of Pimlico School's self-assessment procedures focuses on methods used for reconciling student grades from mixed-ability and from ability-grouped classes into a valid picture of individual and schoolwide attainment. (SJL)

This report examines the preparation of California public high school graduates to do college-level work, based on high school coursework and state and national testing. A companion report examines the proficiency of adults enrolled in basic skills education programs operated by California's public schools and the state's community colleges. This…

The 1983 annual report of Washington's statewide test of fourth grade basic skills achievement is presented in this document. Both state level and district-by-district results are reviewed. The first section of this report presents the overall results for the 48,000 fourth grade students who were administered the basic battery of the California…

Describes the scope of experiences for which people are seeking credit at the post secondary level and suggest some techniques for dealing with them noting that when this experiential learning is school-controlled it is sticky--but becomes more complicated when petitioners submit personal experiences from the past. (HD)

Discusses data collection and presents data analysis of NAEP's (National Assessment of Educational Progress) career and occupational development (COD) assessment, designed to determine how knowledgeable young Americans are about the work of the world and how well developed their basic skills (needed to obtain almost any job) are. (SH) Aspect of…

This report on the 1977 mathematics assessment of British Columbian students in grades 4, 8, and 12 describes the item specification model; test administration procedures; results for each grade level; and overall results correlated to sex, mother tongue, and parental level of schooling. (SJL)