Reflecting upon the experience serving on the University of California's Standardized Testing Task Force, and drawing lessons learned, I argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has merely served to accelerate the trend of US higher education institutions moving away from current standardized tests. New educational assessments will continue to be…

In the 21st century, with the rise of the popularity of standardized or large-scale tests, their high-stakes have started to be apparent. High-stake tests are not new, but in most cases, their current use as social practice tends to shape individuals' futures. Currently the new trend for their quality discussion aims to critically evaluate tests…

Various approaches help determine students' need for language support courses. Some programs use standardized language proficiency test scores, which are available from the admissions process; others use local placement tests, which are typically designed to be aligned with local language needs and ESL course curricula. Using local placement tests…

The aim of this study was to explore whether the classroom implementation of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) for secondary school students (grade 9) was linked to better school achievement. The goal of the ICDP is to increase school achievement by promoting positive teacher-student relationships. The study, performed in…

State education departments find themselves pressured to reduce costs while improving student performance. To do so, state education departments must measure the performance of each school district in an objective, data-informed manner. We present a benchmarking methodology and illustrate its application in New York State school districts. We…

While the effect of teachers' unions on school districts continues to be debated, the research literature provides few definitive conclusions to guide these discussions. In this article, we examine the relationship between teachers' union contracts and school district efficiency. We define efficiency as the ratio of short-run productivity (student…

I study the efficacy of test-based meritocracy in college admissions by evaluating the impact of a grade-based "top percent'' policy implemented by the University of California. Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) provided large admission advantages to the top four percent of 2001-2011 graduates from each California high school. I…

Dynamic assessment in the educational setting has been shown to offer many benefits for students with speech and language disorders. This chapter highlights the benefits of dynamic assessment and describes the limitations of static assessments. Because dynamic assessment can be implemented in many ways, three scenarios have been designed to…

State-wide tests are designed to measure student overall ability on grade-level standards. School leaders want fine-grained information on student performance to inform curriculum and instruction. One currently used target scoring method, which compares student scores to expected values is currently used to give this feedback to schools, but there…

Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) as a secondary school subject is affected by two policies, namely the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and Progress 8, which contribute to the measurement of performance in exams at age 16 (GCSEs). In this paper, I discuss the concept of performance measurement in schools and the purpose it purportedly serves, before…

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of one-to-one device initiatives in a secondary school setting. Not only was this study focused on the academic achievement of all students, but also the impact of such initiatives on the academic achievement in the free and reduced lunch population. The…

Schools are tasked with ensuring that students with disabilities are educated within general education classrooms, alongside non-disabled peers, to the maximum extent possible. This study investigated the influence of classroom placement on academic achievement in reading and mathematics for a group of students with mild learning disabilities, who…

Most selective colleges implemented test-optional admissions during the pandemic, making college entrance exam scores optional for applicants. We draw on descriptive, two-way fixed effects, and event study methods to examine variation in test-optional implementation during the pandemic and how implementation relates to selectivity and enrollment.…

Historically, colleges have used standardized testing to determine whether a student is ready for college-level work or requires developmental courses first, but this method has been criticized as inaccurate. To obtain more accurate placements, nearly three-quarters of colleges now use multiple measures assessment (MMA) systems. These systems…

The rising status of English as a global language prompts a call for a paradigm shift in English language teaching in order to correspond to the new sociolinguistic landscape. However, studies related to English language assessment, which can catalyze the transformation especially in a test-oriented context like Thailand, remain limited. This…