Council for American Private Education (CAPE) is a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12. "Outlook" is published monthly by CAPE. This issue contains the following articles: (1) NAEP Math Results Raise Question: Are Reforms Working?; (2) CAPE Calls for Equity in Discretionary Grant Programs; (3) "Let Me…

Background: Validity is a central concern in any assessment, though this has often not been made explicit in the UK assessment context. This article applies current validity theorising, largely derived from American formulations, to national curriculum assessments in England. Purpose: The aim is to consider validity arguments in relation to the…

Background: National curriculum tests have been administered in England for well over a decade. Although reliability evidence has been published, critics have argued that there is not enough evidence (of the right kind) and that test results may be insufficiently reliable. Purpose: This article collates and discusses evidence on the reliability of…

In this commentary, the author discusses some of the issues she finds interesting from a Swedish perspective, and also makes some comparisons between the systems. The English and Swedish education and assessment systems have some fundamental differences, but also similarities. Some are becoming even more evident after learning about the…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

Last month the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federally financed "Nation's Report Card," released the results of its 2006 tests of historical knowledge among schoolchildren. Although there were hints of small improvements since the last NAEP test in 2001 (47 percent rather than 43 percent of 12th graders had at…

The presumed November match-up produced by the long presidential-primary season offers contrasting approaches to K-12 policy, along with some common ground on the basics of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, his Democratic counterpart, both…

This article reports on Ontario's way of school improvement which focuses less on test-score results and more on engaging teachers and principals. Like the United States, the Canadian province of Ontario has committed itself to reaching key numeric targets: at least 75 percent of 6th graders able to read, write, and do mathematics at the…

In this fictional account, a principal raised his school's ratings by forcing out marginal students and attracting successful students. (IRT)

The guiding principles and procedures for pupil assessment in Portuguese compulsory education were established by the Implementing Order No. 1/2005, 5th January, with amendments introduced by the Implementing Orders No. 18/2006, 14th March and No. 5/2007, 10th January, and apply to the learning objectives and competencies defined for the various…

Outreach mathematicians are college faculty who are trained in mathematics but who undertake an active role in improving primary and secondary education. This role is examined through a study where an outreach mathematician introduced the concept of complex variables to junior high school students in the United States with the goal of stimulating…

Numerous teaching practices, especially those associated with classroom testing, abridge students' right to privacy. (IRT)

Compares outcomes of the 1970 and 1977 weighted standardization samples for the subtests of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. On the whole, achievement appears to be consistent between tests for the fourth- and eighth-grade students and no one basic skill shows marked gains or losses. (Author/IRT)

Thirty years ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court forced our state to take stock of its system for funding schools. Our poorest towns had thousands of dollars less per child to spend. Today, our poorest districts spend roughly the same as our richest, but Connecticut's poor children still score far below their wealthy peers. Our school finance…

The National curriculum assessment (NCA) in Wales has evolved from common foundations into a system that is now distinct from that in England. The influence of the political and social milieu of Wales can be seen both in the distinctive features that have been in place from the outset and in the more radical changes introduced since 2002. In this…