From 2006 to 2008, Educational Testing Service (ETS) produced a series of reports titled "A Culture of Evidence", designed to capture a changing climate in higher education assessment. A decade later, colleges and universities already face a new set of challenges resulting from societal, technological, and various other influences. ETS…

Competency-based education (CBE) programs are growing in popularity as an alternative path to a postsecondary degree. Freed from the seat-time constraints of traditional higher education programs, CBE students can progress at their own pace and complete their postsecondary education having gained relevant and demonstrable skills. The CBE model has…

Extensive education research on the contribution of teachers to student achievement produces two generally accepted results. First, teacher quality varies substantially as measured by the value added to student achievement or future academic attainment or earnings. Second, variables often used to determine entry into the profession and…

Defines the Transitions Endorsement program as a school improvement model based upon the credentialing of individual students. States that schools pursuing the endorsement must focus on helping students make successful transitions from school to school and from school to career. Outlines credentialing requirements and criteria for the endorsement.…

Mounting pressure in the policy arena to improve teacher productivity either by improving signals that predict teacher performance or through creating incentive contracts based on performance--has spurred two related questions: Are there important determinants of teacher productivity that are not captured by teacher credentials but that can be…

Value-added models in education research allow researchers to explore how a wide variety of policies and measured school inputs affect the academic performance of students. Researchers typically quantify the impacts of such interventions in terms of "effect sizes", i.e., the estimated effect of a one standard deviation change in the…

This paper assesses the present state of training, licensing, and certification of early childhood personnel in Pennsylvania. Assessment is based on assumptions requiring conceptualization of (1) certification based on competency or performance, (2) education and training that includes both formal and informal experiences, and (3) planning and…

The Central Educational Center (CEC) is a unique educational experience worth replicating in Georgia and nationally. It is a bold experiment--offering required academic courses and state-of-the-art technical and occupational courses to high-school students with the opportunity for dual-enrollment college credit while still in high school. Open to…

For the first time, a state has developed standards for noncredit continuing education. The model developed by the state of Ohio measures achievement in terms of goals and objectives rather than in terms of fixed characteristics. It also emphasized institutional self-study and self-assessment. The standards are intended to enable noncredit…