This dissertation pertains to the field of Engineering Education. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is hosting this dissertation under a special agreement. This study was motivated by the desire to find an improved, quantitative measure of student quality that is both convenient to use and easy to…

This report provides information about the performance of Nevada's 2016 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2016. Beginning with the Graduating Class of 2013, all students whose scores are college reportable, both standard and…

A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. This report covers the overall results, achievement level…

This report provides information about the performance of Nevada's 2012 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the…

This summary provides key findings about state, district, and school level performance on the TerraNova examinations (CTB/McGraw Hill) in Nevada in 1998-1999. The TerraNova tests are used to assess students in grades 4, 8, and 10 as stipulated by Nevada law. Within this summary, a description of performance as measured by national percentile…

This report provides information about the performance of 2009 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2009 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the context of…

The effect of rapid feedback for a state writing assessment on subsequent writing performance was investigated. In addition, the agreement between teachers' scores for the state writing assessment and state department scores was analyzed. Eighth grade English teachers (n=8) were trained in analytic trait scoring of writing assessments. They then…

In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of Nevada eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the West region of the United States and the nation (using data from the NAEP…

The 1998 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) state level reading assessment measured fourth- and eighth-grade students' reading proficiency in situations that involved reading for three purposes: reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task (grade 8 only). This report describes the…

The composite American College Test (ACT) scores of 7,928 Nevada students (University of Nevada Office of Counseling and Testing data for the years 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1972) were used as a measure of district educational quality to investigate the relationships between educational quality and various factors hypothesized to have an effect upon…

This report provides selected results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Nevada's public-school students at grades 4 and 8. Since 1992, reading has been assessed in four different years at the state level (at grade 4 in 1992 and 1994, and at both grades 4 and 8 in 1998 and 2002). Nevada participated in only the…

At the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the call for all students to be "proficient" in reading and mathematics by 2014. Yet the law expects each state to define proficiency as it sees fit and design its own tests. This study investigated three research questions related to this policy: (1) How consistent are various…

Nearly all school districts in Nevada qualify for Chapter 1 funds for educationally and economically disadvantaged children. All Chapter 1 programs are evaluated annually, and children participating are given pre- and posttests to measure their gains during the school year. Program evaluation data for 1990-91 are summarized. The first section…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in the United States know and can do in various academic subjects. The 1996 NAEP in mathematics assessed the current level of mathematical achievement as a mechanism for informing education reform. In 1996, 44…

The two primary college admission test batteries given in Nevada are the American College Test (ACT) and the tests prepared by the College Board, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE). This report provides an overview of the tests and major trends in Nevada for 1988. These tests apply to a small portion…