Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states temporary flexibility…

This appendix volume supplements "Evaluating the Federal Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority: Early Implementation and Progress of State Efforts to Develop New Statewide Academic Assessments. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-004" analyzing the early progress of the first five assessment systems participating in the Innovative…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states flexibility from…

In the 1995 legislation establishing charter schools in the state of Louisiana, the Louisiana Legislature indicated their intention "that the best interests of at-risk pupils be the overriding consideration in implementing the provisions of this Chapter" (Charter School Demonstration Programs, 1997). Furthermore, the legislation required…

Recent policies intended to improve teacher quality have focused on the preparation that teachers receive before entering the classroom. A short-lived federal rule would have required every state to assess and rank teacher-preparation programs by their graduates' impact on student learning. Though the federal rule was repealed, last year some 21…

School choice has long been a subject of robust debate. Private school vouchers--programs providing public funds for students to attend K-12 private schools--tend to be the most contentious form of school choice. Over the past three years, the research team has released a series of reports examining how the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) has…

Teachers' problem-based learning knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are important factors in successful K--12 PBL implementations. This article describes the development and use of a free, online module entitled "Design a Problem-Based Learning Experience." The module production, aligned with theories of andragogy, was a partnership…

While many states are handling evolution better today than in the past, anti-evolution pressures continue to threaten state science standards. In April 2012, for example, Tennessee passed a law that enables teachers to bring anti-evolution materials into the classroom without being challenged by administrators. This law is similar to the Science…

Louisiana was the first state in the nation to develop and implement a statewide Value-Added Teacher Preparation Assessment to identify the extent to which teacher preparation programs prepare graduates to teach effectively in grades 4-9. The model was developed by Dr. George Noell (Louisiana State University and A&M College), piloted during…

The Louisiana Board of Regents is currently outpacing the nation in its ability to inform the public about the effectiveness of redesigned teacher preparation programs in preparing new teachers to teach grades 4-9 students in the areas of mathematics, science, social studies, reading, and language arts. Through the use of Louisiana's Value-Added…

The educational achievement and attainment of young people in the United States has been a long-standing issue of concern. While analyses of long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students in the United States have made gains in reading and mathematics over the past few decades, a sizeable…

These criteria, developed by the Louisiana Right to Read Commission, provide a statement of standards for a quality reading program. It is against these criteria that a school can evaluate its current program. Of the 25 criteria, 5 are related to the pupil, 17 are directed to the professional staff, and 3 are concerned with the local community.…

In 1981 the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education established regulations of quality assurance for educational program evaluations conducted in the state through two major areas: the certification of educational program evaluators and the use of the Joint Committee's Standards for Evaluation, Projects and Materials in the…

This guide is designed as a resource for leaders and evaluators of K-12 online learning programs. In this guide, the term "online learning" is used to refer to a range of education programs and resources in the K-12 arena, including distance learning courses offered by universities, private providers, or teachers at other schools;…

The Louisiana State Department of Education (LSDE) competency-based education and accountability effort includes, as an integral component, a Compensatory/Remedial Education Program. The primary purpose of the program is to provide special instruction to those students who fail -- or, who are at risk to fail -- to meet the state's minimum…