The Vortex School District (VSD) utilized CASE benchmark assessments as their accountability tool to measure students' progress on Tennessee's standardized testing. The researchers sought to determine the predictive relationship between math scores on CASE benchmark assessments and math scores on state-mandated standardized tests within the VSD.…

The Vortex School District (VSD) utilized CASE benchmark assessments as their accountability tool to measure students' progress on Tennessee's standardized testing. The researchers sought to determine the predictive relationship between math scores on CASE benchmark assessments and math scores on state-mandated standardized tests within the VSD.…

The Vortex School District (VSD) utilized CASE benchmark assessments as their accountability tool to measure students' progress on Tennessee's standardized testing. The researchers sought to determine the predictive relationship between math scores on CASE benchmark assessments and math scores on state-mandated standardized tests within the VSD.…

As result of several federal policies over the last few decades, accountability measures for student learning and success have increased tremendously. Therefore, many school districts, including East Tennessee School District which was the subject of this study, implemented district-wide benchmark testing such as the Collaborative Assessment…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies or standards derive from SEL frameworks. In this report, the terms "SEL competencies" and "standards" are used interchangeably to refer to statements about "what students should know and be able to do," recognizing that states may use different terms such as…

Academic achievement and absenteeism are two areas that schools are held accountable. Helping families and communities understand the correlation between achievement and attendance is an essential part of improving attendance. The purpose of this research study was to compare student attendance and academic achievement on the CASE Benchmark exams…

The purpose of the study was twofold. The first purpose of the study was to determine if a correlation existed between the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR), created and distributed by Renaissance, and the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement Test in Math and Reading for grade 3, grade 4, and grade 5.…

This publication explores how state accountability systems currently address college readiness and academic and technical career readiness and offers recommendations and examples of policies and practices that incentivize and reward districts and schools for preparing more students to earn credentials and degrees in high-demand career fields.

Since March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed unprecedented stresses on the public education system in the United States. At every level, from the U.S. Department of Education down through local districts and individual schools, the pandemic has presented formidable challenges. Many of these challenges have been…

When randomized control trials (RCT) are not feasible, researchers seek other methods to make causal inference, e.g., propensity score methods. One of the underlined assumptions for the propensity score methods to obtain unbiased treatment effect estimates is the ignorability assumption, that is, conditional on the propensity score, treatment…

Our nation is in the midst of one of the largest education reforms in decades centered on the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and aligned assessments. In an era of rising accountability measures and declining literacy proficiency, it is vital to ensure that educational resources, such as benchmark assessments, are appropriately…

Data from a large suburban school district in Tennessee (N = 910) were used to examine the effects of the Kindergarten Readiness program as measured by third grade End of Year (EOY) benchmark performance assessments in reading and math. The groups of students studied included kindergarteners with summer birthdays ("SK"), kindergarteners…

"The Condition of College and Career Readiness" looks at the progress of the 2016 ACT®-tested graduating class relative to college and career readiness. This state briefing begins with statistics in the following categories for Tennessee: performance, STEM, career readiness, impact, behaviors that impact access and opportunity, pipeline,…

This article is an account of how one small liberal arts university undertook a large scale curriculum integration and assessment project under the auspices of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). After a review of relevant literature, the integration and assessment process is outlined, and the assessment data is analyzed and discussed. The…

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…