"New" school inspections are essential parts of "evidence-based governance" concepts and have been implemented by many European countries as a major strategy to assure and improve the effectiveness and quality of their education systems. However, national inspection systems vary in their composition and in their contextual…

The division of college, career and technical education (CCTE) of the Tennessee Department of Education established the office of postsecondary coordination and alignment in 2012 for the purpose of expanding and promoting early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs) for all high school students across the state. The office is also charged with…

U.S. higher education institutions are being called to question their central nature, priorities, and functions, with prominent and unprecedented attention being given to accountability and the measurement of student learning outcomes. As higher education evolves in how it assesses student learning and leisure studies and recreation departments…

With the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, much emphasis has been placed on the accountability of schools and school districts to ensure higher academic achievement of all students. The achievement gap remains among African American male students in urban school districts. This purposed quantitative study explored the relationship…

Having a well-qualified, effective teacher in every classroom is a cornerstone of current educational reforms. Clearly, retaining these effective teachers is critical to achieving this goal. This brief presents a strategic accountability approach to managing teacher talent retention and turnover. The brief begins with an overview of a strategic…

In the era of globalization, accountability, and benchmarking, university rankings have achieved a kind of iconic status. The major ones--the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU, or the "Shanghai rankings"), the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds Limited) World University Rankings, and the "Times Higher Education" World…

This study compared a value-added approach to school accountability to the currently used metrics of accountability in California of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Academic Performance Index (API). Five-year student panel data (N?=?53,733) from 29 elementary schools in a large California school district were used to address the research…

In response to growing concerns about college readiness, the Kentucky legislature revised the state's assessment and accountability system in an effort to increase the number of students who are ready for college when they graduate. The Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education responded by redefining…

Education officials and journalists frequently track changes over time in the average ACT® College Readiness Assessment Composite scores and ACT College Readiness Benchmark attainment rates of individual high schools. Using standard statistical methods, I examined how often changes in these statistics are unambiguously positive or negative, rather…

This report focused on the extent to which students who are academically far off track in preparing for college can catch up in four years. We studied multiple cohorts of students in eighth grade whose EXPLORE[R] scores were more than one standard deviation below the EXPLORE benchmark scores associated with being on track. We found that 10 percent…

Accreditation is a process of external quality review used by higher education education to scrutinize colleges, universities, and educational programs for quality assurance and quality improvement. In the United States, accreditation is carried out by private, nonprofit organizations designed for this specific purpose. Institutions and…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) "Just Right" Outcomes Assessment: A Fable for Higher Education (Catherine M. Wehlburg); (2) Editor's Notes: Helping Faculty Members Learn (Linda Suskie); (3) Focus on the Bottom-Line: Assessing Business Writing (Michael Cherry and George Klemic); (4)…

The professional standards of school nursing practice provide a framework to help school nurses focus on their unique mission of promoting health and academic achievement for all students. Without the standards, the nurse’s role can become task oriented and limited in scope. By using an evaluation tool that reflects the standards, nurses not only…

The Language and Culture Bureau (LCB) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code. These are: (1) Students become bilingual and…

Concomitant with the rise of rationalizing accountability in higher education has been an increase in theoretical reflection about the forms accountability has taken and the ones it should take. The literature is now peppered by a wide array of distinctions (e.g. internal/external, inward/outward, vertical/horizontal, upward/downward,…