Following a set of state meetings held throughout fall 2020, the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) decided to offer a mini-conference in November 2020 to round out offerings and to buttress conversation around topics of high need and interest to Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). Leveraging the familiar process of the…

Prompted by changing demographics, economic pressures, and global competition, Texas and members of the Southern Regional Education Board adopted policies to boost minority enrollment and success in higher education around the turn of the century. This study draws upon IPEDS graduation rate data for a benchmark year, 2002, and for 2006 through…

This annual newsletter contains updates on the latest Community College Research Center (CCRC) research, new publications and details of upcoming presentations at major conferences. The feature article in this issue, "Improving Community College Assessment and Placement," by Thomas Bailey, discusses how the process of assessment and…

Current National Assessment of Educational Progress results continued their 40-year pattern with two-thirds of U.S. 8th graders not proficient in reading, yet formal reading and literacy instruction ends in elementary school. Lack of reading proficiency can undermine academic progress in high school. Elementary literacy instruction provides…

The purpose of this study was to analyze a prominent alternative education practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia through an analysis of the Virginia Department of Education's Individual Student Alternative Education Plan (ISAEP) program and the alternative education environment it provides. This was a descriptive study using non-experimental…

Distance writing programs still struggle with assessment strategies that can evaluate student writing as well as their ability to communicate about that writing with peers at a distance. This article uses Kim, Smith and Maeng's 2008 distance education program assessment scheme to evaluate a single distance writing program at Old Dominion…

Through the "Strengthening Statewide College/Career Readiness Initiative" (SSCRI), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) has collaborated with states on state policy goals and actions needed to improve high school students' academic readiness for postsecondary study and reduce the need for remedial work. SREB created and implemented…

As part of a multiyear research study on the preparation of educators to use assessment data for instructional improvement, the present study is a pilot test of a research-based professional development intervention for career-technical teachers. Forty-eight educators at nine sites in five states participated in a 1-day workshop followed by…

More public institutions are now required to assess student learning outcomes. A look at Virginia and New Jersey shows these requirements vary, but mandated assessment may not produce needed improvements. Inadequate assessment methodologies, faculty resistance, and a lack of clarity about the use of results make this movement uncertain.…

The processes and effects of state performance audits of postsecondary academic programs are illustrated by case studies in Wisconsin and Virginia. Main problems are: the difficulty of establishing legislative intent; lack of appropriate performance indicators, measures, and standards, and issues of timeliness and impact. (MLW)

Since 1988, state governments have been required to collect quarterly from private sector employers gross earnings by Social Security numbers, industry of employment, and county of employment. A study was conducted of 13 states' efforts to use this wage record database as a tool for improving educational accountability and assessing the impact of…

This 1982-83 annual report on vocational education in Virginia is organized under four major categories: (1) recommendations for improving the state's vocational education programs, services, and activities; (2) extent to which Council recommendations have received consideration; (3) review of the vocational education annual program plan…

In March 2003, the Education Commission of the States, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education established a collaborative project to help states improve higher education performance by assisting with examination of state higher education policies and with…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

In a follow-up study of secondary school students who completed vocational education programs in the Roanoke City Public Schools during the 1975-76 school year, students and their employers were asked to rate the effectiveness of the vocational instructional programs in relation to twelve aspects of employment. Questionnaires were sent to 381…