With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest provides an overview of how…

This brief examines issues raised by the No Child Left Behind Act critical to long-term success of states' reforms. These issues include building a coherent testing program (lead with standards, not tests, and ensure the quality of all tests, particularly their alignment with state standards); managing trade-offs between high expectations and high…

This report addresses issues concerned with reporting educational results for students with disabilities, identifies principles to guide reporting practices, and offers recommendations. The report notes that there are many purposes for reporting and that reporting information on students with disabilities is important because it ensures that they…

This introduction to second language program evaluation begins with a rationale outlining the major issues involved in program evaluation. Procedures for evaluation are described, and examples are offered of goal statements, sub-goal statements, curriculum objectives, and learning objectives. Guidelines for judging a statement of aims are listed.…

This report examines issues concerning the participation of students with disabilities in state and district assessments and offers principles and recommendations for increasing their participation. This report suggests that 85 percent of students with disabilities could participate either in the regular assessments or by using accommodations and…