Today, we revisit our initial stance of eliminating standardized test scores from the college admissions process to improve equity and student diversity. With refreshed data about test-optional admissions, we address the import of institutional responsiveness to redress persistent equity gaps that impact our state's workforce diversity and hiring…

Authentic listening increasingly involves being able to pause or replay recordings as needed. In this study, we investigated differences in the reported use of listening strategies and listening anxiety between single-play and self-paced test administration. We also analyzed the interrelationships among first language (L1) literacy skills, second…

Edgenuity is a one of a multitude of digital support tools for instruction and intervention. In 2019,a School District in the South began using Edgenuity -- a digital intervention platform focused on grade and credit recovery. This current study evaluated Edgenuity to determine its effects on students learning and the associated cost. For the…

Background/Context: Spurred by changes in federal policy, Response to Intervention (RTI) has witnessed increased adoption across states and districts in the past several decades (Berkeley et al., 2020). Originating in the special education field, RTI involves a shift from a uniform instructional approach to a tiered instructional approach…

The washback effects of high-stakes tests have become conspicuous and prevalent in Thai educational contexts. Yet, researchers in language assessment still have much to strive towards to understand the nuanced role of teacher factors as a mediator between the washback effects of high-stakes tests and teaching. This study aimed to investigate how…

This paper analyzes the impact of grading practices on the gender gap in student achievement. We examine the gender difference in the difference between teacher grading and scores on national exams to test whether there are gender differences associated with different grading systems. We use data on 21 subjects across humanities and sciences for…

Background: Part of a special issue on the high-stakes testing opt-out movement, this article focuses its analysis on the movement within New York State, and examines white privilege and power within one specific organization, the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE). Specifically, I examine how the public-facing work of NYSAPE addressed (or…

This paper contributes to a growing body of research on the increasing datafication of schooling, which has become a salient topic in comparative education and education policy research. Specifically, we address the rising scholarly concern about the meaning of (comparing) contexts as bounded localities facing an increasingly fluid and generative…

University lecturers and coordinators of business and economics courses around the world are faced with the challenge that beginning students in these courses have heterogeneous entry conditions in terms of personal characteristics. This article focuses on the economic knowledge of German and Japanese beginning students in a business and economics…

Teacher candidates in California are required to pass four standardized tests: the California Basic Educational Skills Test, the California Subject Examinations for Teachers, the Teacher Performance Assessment, and the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment. Many underrepresented minority teacher candidates fail to pass these required tests in…

State standardized exams help parents, educators, and policymakers understand which students are on track -- and who is falling behind -- so that the adults can intervene to meet the needs of all students. This information is more crucial than ever given that COVID-19 upended traditional schooling. This report's recommendations for federal and…

School vouchers are state-funded programs--often called scholarship programs--that allow students to use public monies to attend a private school. The state provides a set amount of money, typically based on the state's per-pupil amount, for private school tuition. There are currently 27 voucher programs in 16 states and the District of Columbia.…

The purpose of this study is to examine impacts of non-cognitive measures in the college admissions process on the retention of academically at-risk student populations. Increasing access to higher education is of benefit to individual and society as a whole. Traditional college admissions practices use standardized testing and GPA, which have…

The English learner (EL) student population has grown steadily for the past 20 years. During this time, the use of standardized assessments has increased as well. Teacher understanding of assessment accommodations that best support ELs is low, despite the research that shows the unreliability of standardized achievement tests that measure the…

The Conover Solution is a nonparametric method used to analyze relative growth in students' achievement on state tests administered on two or more occasions. However, there has been very little research assessing the robustness of this method in the presence of missing data. Using vertically scaled and non-vertically scaled data from the math…