School leaders in Queensland, Australia, are working in a rapidly shifting policy landscape, expected to work towards system-defined improvement measures involving increasingly higher external accountabilities. This article analyses a group of long-term case studies of the effects of school improvement expectations on principals since the…

Prior research suggests that males outperform females, on average, on multiple-choice items compared to their relative performance on constructed-response items. This paper characterizes the extent to which gender achievement gaps on state accountability tests across the United States are associated with those tests' item formats. Using roughly 8…

National standardized assessment programs have increasingly included extended written performances, amplifying the need for reliable, valid, and efficient methods of assessment. This article examines a two-stage method using comparative judgments and calibrated exemplars as a complement and alternative to existing methods of assessing writing.…

This 22nd edition of "Quality Counts" offers a fresh take on the annual top-to-bottom ranking of the nation's school systems on a state-by-state basis published by "Education Week". The first of three "Quality Counts" reports being rolled out over the course of the year, "Grading the States" aims to…

An assumption of culture-based education with respect to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children is that discontinuity between home and school cultures is responsible for educational underachievement. Using data from the 2009 round of the National Indian Education Study, a subset of the larger National Assessment of Education Progress…

Officials of state education agencies are not known for hyperbole. Maintaining data systems, drafting rules and regulations, and monitoring compliance are not the stuff of breathless raves--especially in Louisiana, whose education system ranks near the bottom nationwide on measures of student achievement and high-school graduation rates. Yet in…

When the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) were first considered, it was suggested that the results would assess entry-level students' academic and quantitative literacy, and mathematical competence, assess the relationships between higher education entry-level requirements and school-level exit outcomes, provide a service to higher education…

Despite consistently strong performances among NH 4th graders on the NAEP assessments, large disparities have been observed among NH elementary students on the NECAP assessments based on race and SES. The current study assessed the effectiveness of NH elementary schools, as defined by the effective schools research. Of the 209 elementary schools…

Australian students' performance on national and international literacy assessments has declined since 2000, while teachers in contemporary classrooms contend with conditions of increased complexity and uncertainty. In July 2017, the Australian Government commissioned a panel of experts to provide advice on how to improve Australian students'…

The present study examined the ability of content domain (algebra, geometry, rational number, probability) to classify mathematics misconceptions. The study was conducted with 1,133 students in 53 algebra and geometry classes taught by 17 teachers from three high schools and one middle school across three school districts in a Midwestern state.…

This study explores the relationship between students' self-report levels of cognitive test anxiety (worry), academic buoyancy (withstanding and successfully responding to routine school challenges and setbacks), coping processes and their achieved grades in high-stakes national examinations at the end of compulsory schooling. The sample comprised…

While rural communities are not monolithic, many have seen recent shifts in demographics from historically homogenous populations to more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse residents (e.g., Sharp & Lee, 2017; Brenner, 2016). Such shifts can occur very rapidly as new regional economic, social, or political forces emerge and are…

This data book profiles noteworthy academic events, trends and outcomes at the state and complex-area level. It includes tables, figures and narrative sections related to demographic, financial and educational performance. A list of resources is provided. [For " Hawaii Department of Education Data Book, 2020. 31st Annual Report," see…

New York State's system of public elementary and secondary schools is in steep decline, but it is salvageable. The roots of its problems pre-date the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but the system's response to that challenge accelerated discontent with the schools and harmed students. The damage of those years will not be undone if…

This article promulgates a conceptual framework for researching various roles of educational assessment emphasised in governments' assessment policies as a basis for comparing policy-making related to national testing in primary and lower secondary education in Norway and Sweden from 2000-2017. The study analyses policy documents and expert…