This report describes SAT test results for Austin Independent School District's (AISD) graduating seniors, Class of 2021, who took the SAT any time during high school.

This paper analyzes the nature and perceived effects of mid-stakes testing (known as the EQAO) in Ontario, Canada. Ontario's mid-stakes tests were meant to ensure accountability and transparency, and assure system-wide improvement, while avoiding the negative effects and perverse incentives of their high-stakes counterparts. The paper provides new…

As parents, communities, educators, and policymakers continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning in America, many have turned to recently released results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP measures what students know and what they can do in several tested subjects, including reading,…

This Research Brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The IB program was offered at six M-DCPS high schools in 2022-2023. Over 3,200 assessments were completed by M-DCPS students in 30 subject areas in 2022-2023. The number of IB…

This Research Brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The IB program was offered at six M-DCPS high schools in 2021-2022. Over 3,000 assessments were completed by M-DCPS students in 30 subject areas in 2021-2022. The number of IB…

Most public K-12 schools in the United States enact a school improvement plan each year based upon the state testing results from the previous year. Despite the many frameworks, research, and recommendations, few scholars tackled what the plans contain and the results. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods model, two stages examined school…

Although Montessori is the most common unconventional education model, no multi-state study has compared standardized test proficiency of Montessori schools with districts. Here we report on this for the 10 states/regions with the most public Montessori schools (n = 195). In 3rd grade, Montessori schools were less proficient in math but more…

School accountability systems have been roundly criticized for their narrowness, being largely informed by standardized achievement scores. With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, accountability systems may become more multifaceted in coming years. This study examines pilot results of an alternative school quality framework--one…

Although Montessori is the most common unconventional education model, no multi-state study has compared standardized test proficiency of Montessori schools with districts. Here we report on this for the 10 states/regions with the most public Montessori schools (n = 195). In 3rd grade, Montessori schools were less proficient in math but more…

This report summarizes district Advanced Placement (AP) test results in 2016. AP test results may be used by higher education institutions to place students in courses and extend course credit to students who obtain high scores on the examinations.

Some schools use results from the MAP® Growth™ interim assessments from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA®) in a number of high-stakes ways. These include as a component of their teacher evaluation systems; to determine whether a student advances to the next grade; or as an indicator for student readiness for certain programs or…

The report brief describes district-level ACT test results for AISD students in the 2015-2016 school year.

High-stakes testing policies have reduced elementary-level instructional time for untested subjects, raising questions about the extent to which students' content knowledge in social studies has been compromised. This research project compared social studies assessment performance of two student cohorts from the same school district, one required…

This paper provides the first population-based evidence on how much standardized test scores vary among public school districts within each state and how segregation explains that variation. Using roughly 300 million standardized test score records in math and ELA for grades 3 through 8 from every U.S. public school district during the 2008-09 to…

This report summarizes the longitudinal performance of Austin Independent School District bilingual and English as a second language programs' students on state academic reading and math assessments by examining scores across 5 school years, from 2013-2014 through 2017-2018. Students' performance is summarized by program.