Assessments matter in education. Testing is nothing new; tests have been around as long as school itself. However, over the last 15 years, state assessments have grown to be an increasingly central, and often controversial, part of schooling. As states raise their standards, it is more important than ever to ask: What is a high-quality assessment?…

To ensure a modern bioscience curriculum that responds to the current needs of stakeholders, there is a need to embed a range of generic capabilities that enables graduates to succeed in and contribute to a rapidly changing world, as well as building strong bioscience skills and knowledge. The curriculum must also prepare students for a rapidly…

Auditory perception with cochlear implants (CIs) enables the majority of deaf children with normal learning potential to develop (near) age-appropriate spoken language. As a consequence, a large proportion of children now attend mainstream education from an early stage. The acoustical environment in kindergartens and schools, however, might be…

In this brief, Erik Rice identifies three strategic practices schools, districts, and communities can use to help prepare students for college and career success: (1) To collectively articulate and align a set of student outcomes that prioritize 21st century skills; (2) Transform defined outcomes into functioning frameworks for curriculum and…

The Early Years Evaluation (EYE) program is intended to help teachers to evaluate the skills of children from three to six years. This article discusses two new skills assessments of the EYE program: (1) the Early Years Evaluation-Direct Assessment (EYE-DA); and (2) the Early Years Evaluation-Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA). The EYE-DA evaluates…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an operational definition of college readiness that differs from current representations of this concept primarily in its scope. The paper suggests that, while much has been learned about this phenomenon, particularly during the past 20 years, few systematic attempts have been made to integrate the various…