Previous research provides evidence that developing a growth mindset--believing that one's capabilities can improve--promotes academic achievement. Although this phenomenon has undergone prior study in a representative sample of ninth graders in the United States, it has not been studied in representative samples of other grade levels or with…

Understanding how children's broader context influences their development is critical if we are to develop policies that help them flourish. Combining sociological, economic, and psychological literature, we argue that ability stratification--the degree to which children of similar levels of ability are schooled together--influences a child's…

This study represents an extension of the findings of Kieffer and Thompson (2018) and evaluates potential correlates of state- and district-level achievement gaps in reading and mathematics between monolingual and multilingual students. Using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, this study reported that there were substantial…

Prior research suggests that males outperform females, on average, on multiple-choice items compared to their relative performance on constructed-response items. This paper characterizes the extent to which gender achievement gaps on state accountability tests across the United States are associated with those tests' item formats. Using roughly 8…

Federal legislation and policy increasingly seek to address minority overrepresentation in special education due to concerns that U.S. schools are misidentifying children as disabled based on their race or ethnicity. Yet whether and to what extent this is occurring is currently in dispute. We estimated racial disparities in disability…

This article provides provide a new, systematic profile of more than 18,000 homeless students in Michigan, utilizing rich administrative data from all test-taking students in Grades 3-9 during three academic years. These data are part of a larger study of school choice and student mobility in that state. Homelessness is a condition found…

Research on science achievement disparities by gender and race/ethnicity often neglects the beginning of the pipeline in the early grades. We address this limitation using nationally representative data following students from Grades 3 to 8. We find that the Black-White science test score gap (-1.07 SD in Grade 3) remains stable over these years,…

In this study, we examined how the relationships between one observation protocol, the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO), and value-added measures shift when different tests are used to assess student achievement. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project, we found that PLATO was more strongly related to the…

Is a popular innovation for increasing human capital in the teaching profession--competitive college scholarships for teachers--effective? The authors show that one large and long-standing merit-based scholarship program (a) attracts teacher candidates who have high academic qualifications; (b) yields graduates who teach lower performing students,…

The technical complexities and sheer size of international large-scale assessment (LSA) databases often cause hesitation on the part of the applied researcher interested in analyzing them. Further, inappropriate choice or application of statistical methods is a common problem in applied research using these databases. This article serves as a…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was originally used to report academic improvement or decline in the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year olds across major geographic regions. State-by-state comparison was carefully avoided. In 1988, however, Congress authorized the NAEP to conduct voluntary Trial State Assessments. (CJS)

Suggests that the National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP) Trial State Assessment (TSA) will provide reliable and valid state-by-state comparisons of what students have learned and will assess their progress over time. The TSA will also provide information on home learning environments, instructional practices, educational resources,…

Suggests that the proposed state-by-state National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will be unable to provide information about which state programs are responsible for differences in test scores. Raises concerns about its cost effectiveness and potential loss of validity if used in state comparisons. (CJS)