In 1998, the Kentucky legislature made adjustments to the assessment and accountability system established by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 to create a new system, the Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS). The Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT) are a component of CATS. KCCT assessments are given in grades 4, 5, 7, 8,…

This document comments on the future of educational testing in the United States and the plans of the Bush administration for increased use of testing for educational accountability. The "achievement gap" does not appear to be closing. One of the keys to closing the gap is having the data to understand it so that teachers can use test…

A number of trends are pushing states and communities to bring together traditionally separate services and programs and to create more integrated and responsive initiatives for young children and their families. Program directors and policymakers are devising new strategies for coordinating the funding for these initiatives. This strategy brief…

This document describes the North Carolina Open-Ended Assessment for grades 4 and 8 and presents results for the 2000-2001 administration. The assessment emphasizes higher level thinking skills and requires students to apply or demonstrate skills and knowledge beyond the recall level on challenging subject matter. The open-ended assessments were…

This matrix provides information on eight early childhood programs offered in Illinois. Presented in grid form, the information can be compared across programs. The programs described are: (1) Head Start and Early Head Start; (2) Illinois Department of Children and Family Services child care; (3) Illinois Department of Human Services child care;…

This document is designed to show the connection between the required state-written curriculum (courses of study) and the state-tested curriculum (the Alabama High School Graduation Examination and the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition [Stanford 9]) in Science. The document illustrates that courses of study content standards embody both…

Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) assessments are criterion-referenced performance tests designed, developed, and implemented by the Maryland State Department of Education in collaboration with classroom teachers and other Maryland educators. MSPAP is the major strategy for implementing Maryland's educational reform…

Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) assessments are criterion-referenced performance tests designed, developed, and implemented by the Maryland State Department of Education in collaboration with classroom teachers and other Maryland educators. MSPAP is the major strategy for implementing Maryland's educational reform…

Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) assessments are criterion-referenced performance tests designed, developed, and implemented by the Maryland State Department of Education in collaboration with classroom teachers and other Maryland educators. MSPAP is the major strategy for implementing Maryland's educational reform…

This document presents a profile of the development of Alaska kindergarten and first grade students in fall 2001. Alaska teachers completed reports for 13,688 kindergarten and first grade students at that time. Most were found to exhibit important behaviors associated with school successes on the Alaska Developmental Profile Recording Form.…

This report summarizes survey data collected from responding Departments of Education in all 50 states concerning the planning and financing of public school facility design and construction. The survey was conducted as part of a study for the New Mexico Public School Capital Outlay Equity Task Force. It does not attempt to address every possible…

The experience of Maryland in implementing large scale assessment in the context of school reform is explored. The ways in which the state Department of Education has worked with divergent groups to build a continuing and strong school reform program are discussed. In 1987 Maryland's governor created a Commission on School Performance. This was…

L. Cronbach has made the point that for validity arguments to be convincing to diverse audiences, they need to be based on assumptions that are credible to these audiences. The interpretations and uses of high stakes test scores rely on a number of policy assumptions about what should be taught in schools, and more specifically, about the content…

This document discusses a project undertaken as a way to accurately identify, develop prevention strategies for, and treat the underlying causes of some 20 "symptoms" experienced in the communities of Louisiana. The information presented provides a means for diminishing the associated human and financial costs of these symptoms. The…

Before the educational reforms of the early 1990s, Kentucky was in the bottom 10% of the states on most indicators of educational quality. Educators and policymakers in Kentucky approached educational reform in a thoughtful and systematic way and developed a state law mandating an education system that now serves as a national model. The education…