Testing

Don't Leave Accountability Behind: A Call for ESEA Reauthorization
A new report argues that, despite the promise of education reform efforts such as Race to the Top and the state-led common standards movement, improvement can only be sustained if Congress and the Administration update and improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Alliance for Excellent Education and the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind, March 1, 2010

Math 2009: Nation's Report Card
See the 2009 NAEP math results and academic trends for 4th and 8th grade students attending urban school districts. Eighteen districts from across the country participated in this year's Trial Urban District Assessment. NAEP,  December 8, 2009

The Nation’s Report Card: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress
The Nation’s Report Card: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress compares results for 2008 to 2004, when performances were last released. 4/28/2009

Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Teaching Programs

The Educational Testing Service has released its second edition of "Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Teaching Programs." The report updates and expands research from 2003 and focuses on whether gaps in experience and life conditions have narrowed, stayed the same or improved. Researchers looked at 16 factors related to life experiences and conditions that correlate to development and academic achievement. 6/2/2009

The Condition of Education 2009 is an integrated collection of the indicators and analyses and is produced by the National Center for Education Statistics. 6/2/2009

International Lessons about National Standards
The Thoms B. Fordham Institute released this report about testing benchmarks and goals for American policymakers. 5/5/2009

The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra
The Brookings Institution analyzes the disadvantages of eighth graders taking Algebra I when they are not prepared. Tom Loveless, senior fellow and director of the Brown Center on Education at Brookings, is the lead author of the report.
by Brookings Institution , 12/12/2008

Counting on the Future: International Benchmarks in Mathematics for American School Districts pdf
This study by the American Institute for Research (AIR) finds U.S. students from six cities perform equal to, or better than their peers in other countries. The study says student math scores in grades 4-8 in Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York and San Diego were on par with their peers internationally.
10/12/2008

Has Student Achievement Improved Since 2002? State Test Score Trends Through 2006-07
The Center on Education Policy released "Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002?" Student state test scores in reading and math have risen and the achievement gaps between groups of students---specifically African American and poor children -- are narrowing. CEP analyzed state test data from 50 states and trends from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-the federal administered assessment of students on reading and math subjects.
Center for Education Policy - Nancy Kober, Naomi Chudowsky, Victor Chudowsky, 6/24/2008

The 2007 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning? pdf
This year's Brown Center Report focuses on the nation's testing achievement, private school enrollment and the impact of time on learning math.
The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution - Tom Loveless, 12/11/2007

Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap
The Brookings Institution has released a report examining No Child Left Behind's effect on the education of the nation's poor children. Researchers said there have been some positive effects for students in the improvement of teacher quality.
The Brookings Institution - Thomas Dee, Laura Desimone, George Farkas, Barbara Foorman, Brian Jacob, Robert M. Hauser, Paul Hill, 11/9/2007

Interpreting 12th-Graders’ NAEP-Scaled Mathematics Performance Using High School Predictors and Postsecondary Outcomes From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) pdf
A report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) interprets the math scores and performance of students.
U.S. Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics - Leslie A. Scott,Steven J. Ingels, Jeffrey A. Owings, 9/18/2007

Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era
This report examines time spent during the school week on core academic subjects and how that's changed since NCLB was enacted in the 2001-2002 school year. It finds that approximately 62 percent of school districts increased the amount of time spent in elementary schools on English/language arts and or math, while 44 percent of districts cut time on science, social studies, art and music, physical education, lunch or recess.
Center on Education Policy - Jennifer McMurrer, 7/24/2007

What It Means to Make 'Adequate Yearly Progress' Under NCLB
This Education Sector Explainer provides an aid to understanding how NCLB's accountability system works overall and in different states, without weighing in on the merits of the law's 2014 goal. It includes a discussion of the basics of "making" AYP and the multiple routes schools can take to get there and data showing what the requirements are in each state to meet AYP this year and for the past two years.
Education Sector, 7/24/2007

Standards, Accountability and Flexibility: Americans Speak on No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
ETS's seventh annual public opinion poll reveals that parents, teachers and administrators strongly support No Child Left Behind reauthorization, despite limited knowledge about the law's provisions. The survey also shows a majority of adults think state standards and tests should be replaced with one national standard and test.
ETS, 6/20/2007

The Condition of Education 2007
High school students in the United States are taking more courses in mathematics and science, as well as social studies, the arts, and foreign languages, according to an analysis of high school student coursework that is highlighted in this government report. Statistics on student achievement, school environment and a wide range of other topics related to early childhood education through postsecondary education are also included.
by National Center for Education Statistics, 5/1/2007

Urban Districts: 2005 Science Assessment
Ten urban school districts volunteered to have their results on science portions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress published as part of an experiment to compare urban districts to the rest of the country. Some urban districts do better than others, but as a whole, not as well as the rest of the country.
11/20/2006

How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?
A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science.
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 11/3/2006

The Condition of Education 2006
The 2006 Condition on Education summarizes important trends and developments in education. The report includes 50 indicators in five main areas: (1) participation in education; (2) learner outcomes; (3) student effort and educational progress; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and (5) the contexts of postsecondary education.
National Center for Education Statistics - Patrick Rooney, William Hussar and Michael Planty, 6/1/2006

Executive Agendas: Education Week reviews the 2005 education agendas and outcomes for all 50 governors pdf
In a study of the 2005 education agendas and outcomes of all 50 U.S. governors, Education Week found that most focused their efforts on policies related to high school and preschool.
Education Week - Alan Richard, 3/22/2006

Improving Assessment and Accountability for English Language Learners in the No Child Left Behind Act
This report looks at the impact of the federal No Child Left Behind Act on English language learners (ELLs). Although many states try to bypass the law by exempting ELLs from test score and student outcome reports, NCLB holds considerable promise for closing the achievement gap between ELLs and other students, the study concludes.
National Council of La Raza - Melissa Lazarín, 3/22/2006

Beating the Odds: A City-By-City Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments pdf
This study found that students in urban school districts increasingly scored better on state assessment tests in the past four years, with many outpacing their states?? average rates of improvement. In addition, students in big cities improved faster in mathematics than reading.
Council of the Great City Schools - Michael Casserly, 3/21/2006

Margins of Error: The Testing Industry in the No Child Left Behind Era
The debut report from the new think tank Education Sector examines how thinly stretched the testing industry is in this era of accountability. Both the industry and state agencies are vying for the few psychometricians college produce.
Education Sector - Thomas Toch, 1/30/2006

Thinking About Tests and Testing pdf
A primer on testing by Gerald Bracey, written for the American Youth Policy Forum.
11/30/2005

Frequently Asked Questions about Assessment and Testing
The Association of American Publishers put out a series of informational papers on issues related to educational assessment and testing.
Association of American Publishers, 11/9/2004

U.S. Reading Scores Stall in Urban School Districts
Students in large U.S. cities are struggling to improve their reading ability, especially at middle-school levels, according to results from a national reading test released Thursday. Stephanie Banchero, The Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2010

Additional scrutiny for Ga. schools as state tests begin
More eyes will be on Georgia’s school kids as state testing season kicks into high gear this week.More monitors will watch over students settling into testing rooms. Others will be on hand to watch the transfer of booklets from teacher to principal. And even more system and state officials will be on alert when answer sheets make their way from campus to warehouse and on to be scored. Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 12, 2010

More California youth applying to out-of-state universities, say admission officers
With the state's higher education system in crisis, more California students are vying for admission at out-of-state universities, applying for seats at campuses from the hills of upstate New York to the snowy flatlands of Ohio to the deserts of Arizona. Lisa M. Krieger, San Jose Mercury News, March 12, 2010

Computerized state assessments to save time, money
Despite growing up with computers in her home and classroom, fourth-grader Laurel Huntley prefers taking state assessments the old-fashioned way — with paper and pencil. But, like all Kansas students Laurel will have to take her math, reading and writing tests on the computer this year. Lori Yount, The Wichita Eagle, Feb. 22, 2010

St. Paul schools rev up for test season
A broad swath of St. Paul Public Schools students will be getting extra help studying for high stakes tests this spring as part of a new district program that is assigning a phalanx of senior teachers to focus on improving test scores. Gregory A. Patterson, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Feb. 18, 2010

Suspicious test scores widespread in state
One in five Georgia public schools faces accusations of tampering with student answers on last spring’s state standardized tests, officials said, throwing the state’s main academic measure into turmoil. Heather Vogell and John Perry, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Feb. 12, 2010

Failure rate for AP tests climbing
The number of students taking Advanced Placement tests hit a record high last year, but the portion who fail the exams — particularly in the South is rising as well, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Jack Gillum and Greg Toppo, USA TODAY, Feb. 5, 2010

More Texas students taking, failing AP exams
Robust Advanced Placement programs are often seen as a seal of quality for high schools. And in its quest for excellence, Texas has seen an explosion of the classes that offer the promise and prestige of college credit. But the latest data show Texas high school students fail more than half of the college-level exams, and their performance trails national averages. First in a two part series. Holly Hacker, The Dallas Morning News, December 7, 2009

Texas students struggle on early versions of end-of-course tests
As hundreds of Texas school districts get a jump on the end-of-course tests that will debut statewide in two years, preliminary results indicate a large number of students will have trouble passing the exams. Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, Dec. 3, 2009

Botched Most Answers on New York State Math Test? You Still Pass
For many students, bungling more than half the questions on a test would mean an F and all that comes with it — months of remedial work, irksome teachers and, perhaps, a skimpy allowance. But on New York State’s math exam this year, seventh graders who correctly answered just 44 percent of questions were rewarded with a passing grade. Javier C. Hernandez, The New York Times, Sept. 14, 2009

Testing Tactics Helped Fuel D.C. School Gains
When Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the continued growth of standardized test scores for District students Monday, he hailed it as "powerful evidence of the incredible work being done by teachers, principals and most importantly our students."  Bill Turque, Washington Post

Newark Starts a Summer School Aimed at Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement classes do not begin at Science Park High School until September, but Cristiana De Oliveira will spend many a summer day sitting behind a desk in A.P. calculus for five hours rather than lounging by a swimming pool. Cristiana is one of 335 students signed up for Newark’s new A.P. Summer Institute, in which A.P. courses in calculus, biology, United States history and English language and literature each get an intensive two-week introduction, paid for with $300,000 in federal grants. Winnie Hu, The New York Times, July 7, 2009

Bright spots seen in individual school CRCT results
Some schools in metro Atlanta are outperforming their district and the state on the high-stakes CRCT, according to new data released. Nancy Badertscher, Atlanta-Constitution and Journal, July 7, 2009

Taking the $ATs

Before the financial crisis hit, eighth-graders across the country were scheduled to take a new test this fall*, their first to get into college. The exam is called ReadiStep, and it's a new standardized test that simultaneously says it's "low-stakes" while also being a "vital step" toward getting ready to get a bachelor's degree. But the test is not provided by the federal government. Nor is it a brainchild of state and local school boards or mandated by No Child Left Behind. It's provided by the College Board, the same organization that administers the PSAT and the SAT. Chadwick Matlin, The Big Money.com, 5/15/2009

Elementary school hopes music boosts test scores
by Greta Cuyler
At Lisa Sharer's command, 18 kindergartners hold violins in place and raise their bows in the ready position. All 130 kindergarten students at Schuylkill Valley Elementary School in York, Pa., are receiving classroom instruction on the violin this school year. The district is initiating a four-year study to examine if violin lessons boost performance on standardized tests.
York Daily Record, 1/18/2009

Charter schools grade highest
by James Vaznis
A new study indicates that Boston charter schools significantly outperform the city's traditional schools, but raises new questions about the city's experimental pilot schools, which in many cases posted "ambiguous" or "disconcerting" results.The study examined state standardized test scores for students of similar backgrounds at the three kinds of schools over a four-year period.
The Boston Globe, 1/6/2009

Surge in CRCT results raises ‘big red flag’
by Heather Vogell and John Perry
A miracle occurred at Atherton Elementary this summer, if its standardized math test scores are to be believed. Half of the DeKalb County school’s fifth-graders failed a yearly state test in the spring. When the 32 students took retests, not only did every one of them pass - 26 scored at the highest level. But state education officials said last week they will investigate steep gains at Atherton and four other schools as a result of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s inquiries.
Atlanta Journal- Constitution, 12/15/2008

Charter Schools Make Gains On Tests
Students in the District of Columbia's charter schools have opened a solid academic lead over those in its traditional public schools, adding momentum to a movement that is recasting public education in the city. The gains show up on national standardized tests and the city's own tests in reading and math, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Charters have been particularly successful with low-income children, who make up two-thirds of D.C. public school students.
The Washington Post - Dan Keating and Theola Labb,-DeBose, 12/15/2008

Once-mighty SAT losing its clout
by Peter Schworm
Finora Franck didn't study for her first go-round with the SAT, and it showed. Now the senior at Boston Latin School is keeping her flashcards close at hand, hoping the algebra and geometry formulas will stick this time. Increasingly, colleges are coming over to Franck's point of view. The SAT (formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test), that longtime teenage bugaboo and pillar of the college admissions process, is under heavy assault on several fronts.
The Boston Globe, 11/24/2008

More Than Just 'Quirky'
by Jeneen Interlandi
Liane Willey watched from behind a two-way mirror as doctors at the University of Kansas performed a series of psychological tests on her 5-year-old daughter. Doctors had continually assured the young mother that her daughter was normal, if a bit quirky. But with each passing year, 'quirky' had become less apt a description. Because they may have different symptoms than boys do, some girls with Asperger's syndrome don't get diagnosed.
Newsweek, 11/13/2008

Suffering test anxiety
by Liz Bowie
Inti Guaman is a senior on the brink of either going off to college or staying behind to get through high school. It all depends on how quickly he is able to soak up vocabulary words so that he can pass his High School Assessment exam in English II.
The Baltimore Sun, 10/30/2008

School’s Success Gives Way to Doubt
by Adam Nossiter
MiShawna Moore has been a hero in the worn neighborhoods behind Charleston, S.C.venerable mansions, a school principal who fed her underprivileged students, clothed them, found presents for them at Christmas and sometimes roused neglectful parents out of bed in the nearby housing projects. As test scores rocketed at her school, Sanders-Clyde Elementary, the city held her up as a model. Somehow, Ms. Moore had transformed one of Charleston’s worst schools into one of its best, a rare breakthrough in a city where the state has deemed more than half the schools unsatisfactory. It seemed almost too good to be true. It may have been.
The New York Times, 10/30/2008

Testing for Tech Literacy
by Douglas MacMillan
On a recent Monday morning, the eighth graders in Chris Malanga's technology class at Riverhead (N.Y.) Middle School were hard at work constructing Web pages. Technology classes like this are entering the curriculum in schools around the country, but they're not common enough, say educators, company executives, and policymakers. In a bid to make technology literacy more widespread, the National Assessment Governing Board this month announced plans to develop the first nationwide assessment of technological learning in U.S. schools.
BusinesWeek, 10/28/2008

Science Evolves in Classrooms
by Daniel de Vise
In the past six years, science has slipped as a priority in public schools while reading and mathematics have grown dominant. But in coming years, experts say, the same federal law that elevated reading and math could spark a resurgence of science in the classroom. The 2002 No Child Left Behind law required states to test students in science starting in the 2007-08 year, on top of reading and math assessments mandated from the start.
The Washington Post, 10/27/2008

Growing number of English learners in county threatens pass-rate progress
by Chris Moran
Local schools are enrolling a growing number of students who don't speak English students who typically fare poorly on standardized tests at a time when the federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for unprecedented test score gains. The increase would be enough to fill three large high schools or every classroom in the Ramona Unified School District, making the federal goal of a 100-percent pass rate in math and reading in five years almost impossible, educators say.
San Diego Union Tribune, 10/14/2008

Many schools could get left behind
by Jenny LaCoste- Caputo
Just two months ago, the Texas Education Agency released a glowing report card for Bexar County: The number of top-rated schools here more than doubled, and the number of low-performing schools plummeted from nine to two. Today will be different. The state is scheduled to release the names of schools that failed to meet the federal government's standard for the 2007-08 school year, and schools across San Antonio are bracing for bad news.
San Antonio Express, 10/14/2008

California's new 8th-grade algebra rule gets some poor marks
by Howard Blume
The new California state policy of requiring algebra in the eighth grade will set up unprepared students for failure while holding back others with solid math skills, a new report has concluded.
The Los Angeles Times, 9/22/2008

A School's Grade Plummets, and Parents Are Confused
When the parents at Public School 363 in the East Village saw the big, bold D on its report card issued by the city last week, they were stumped. How had the school, which earned a B last year and boasted strong test scores, fallen so far, so fast? They looked at the group of schools the city had measured theirs against. City officials said the school's grouping was fair and that its low grade simply reflected its failure to keep up.
The New York Times - Javier C. Hernandez, 9/21/2008

Districts 'scrubbing' away thousands of students' test scores
In this era of academic accountability, the test scores of thousands of Ohio public-school students are being left behind. That's because districts are allowed to throw out test scores -- "scrub" them, in testing parlance -- of students who are not continuously enrolled from October through the testing dates in March and May. A Plain Dealer analysis shows that from 14 percent to 32 percent of the scores in grades 4 to 10 were eliminated in 2007 -- the year the district rejoiced over an improved state ranking.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer - Edith Starzyk, Scott Stephens and Thomas Ott, 9/8/2008

A Plan to Test the City's Youngest Pupils
by Elissa Gootman
The Bloomberg administration, which has made accountability the watchword of its overhaul of New York City's public education, is asking elementary school principals across the city to give standardized tests in English and math to children as young as kindergartners.
The New York Times, 8/27/2008

Value-added evaluation being tried in Ohio schools
by Scott Stephens
Tests measure what students know. Like a Polaroid, they give a snapshot of knowledge frozen at one moment in time. But what if you could measure how much a child learns over the course of a school year? What if you could gauge what a school actually adds to a child's learning experience? In Ohio, you can.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/25/2008

Wonder Wonk Unmasked
A year ago, Jennifer Jennings sent a shockwave through education circles. A grad student at Columbia University, she was puzzled by the praise and criticism NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg received by taking over the city schools. Jennings, a sociology major and statistical nut, was troubled that the city wasn't doing a serious analysis of data to back up reform claims. So she started Eduwonkette, an anonymous blog, using school data to question assumptions. Jennings didn't expect 'her little blog' would cause such a fuss today.
New York Magazine - Diana Schemo, 8/24/2008

Two F's reinforce school's stigma
by Laura Green
It was a recipe for success at other schools: a committed principal, an extra period in the day, more teacher training and mandatory reading classes for students with the lowest test scores. But at Glades Central High School, it didn't work. Last week, the state gave therural Belle Glade school a second F grade, which means state monitors will be visiting and the staff will be under even more pressure.
The Palm Beach Post, 7/15/2008

Growing hesitancy over a military test
by Dan Hardy and Dylan Purcell
Every school year, at hundreds of high schools across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, students are asked - and sometimes required - to take a vocational aptitude test with a strange-sounding name - the ASVAB, which stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Since Vietnam, the test has been a powerful peacetime recruiting tool for the Pentagon; hundreds of thousands of student scores have routinely been sent to the military each year, typically leading to follow-up calls from recruiters. But with the nation at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, school districts have in recent years been opting out of the test in droves.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/6/2008