The National Assessment Governing Board (Governing Board) is an independent, bipartisan organization that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as The Nation's Report Card. This paper provides a summary of the history of the Governing Board framework development processes and the evolution of the…

The National Assessment Governing Board (the Board) contracted with Pearson to design and implement a review of the achievement level descriptions (ALDs) for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 8 assessments in Science, U.S. History, and Civics. This document describes the procedural and technical aspects and outcomes of the…

The National Assessment Governing Board has a legislatively mandated responsibility to develop National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement levels. The Board Policy Statement on Developing Student Achievement Levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress provides policy definitions of "NAEP Basic,"…

Background/Context: Regression discontinuity (RD) designs are used for policy and program evaluation where subjects' eligibility into a program or policy is determined by whether an assignment variable (i.e., running variable) exceeds a pre-defined cutoff. Under a standard RD design with a continuous assignment variable, the average treatment…

This three-article dissertation examined how policy choices in three key policy areas -- initial enrollment, service provision, and reclassification -- impact English learner (EL)-classified students. The first article examined the national landscape of state statutes, regulations, and state education agencies' (SEA) guidance that support…

This article considers the impact of a high-stakes testing and reporting requirement on students using publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools. We describe how such a policy was implemented during the course of a previously authorized multi-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which provided us with data on voucher…

Standards-based reform is a trend affecting the educational systems of nations around the world, driven by desires to create educational systems suited to increasing economic productivity. In the USA, The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 includes goals of reducing achievement gaps and getting "highly qualified" teachers in all…

Teacher absenteeism is expensive, disrupts the continuity of educational activities, and results in students attending classes with less qualified substitute teachers. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships among teacher variables, teacher absenteeism, student achievement, and school district policy governing teacher…

The TALPS study aims to build on the existing research base to develop promising methodologies to identify chronically low-performing and turnaround schools, as well as to identify promising strategies for turning around chronically low-performing schools. By looking specifically at schools identified as turnaround, in comparison to nonturnaround…

In this article, the authors tackle the question of whether the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has affected student achievement since its enactment in 2002. They present new research that takes on the challenge of distinguishing the law's effects from the myriad other factors at work over the past eight years. The results suggest that its…

In 2002/03, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools initiated a broad program of accelerating entry into algebra coursework. The proportion of moderately-performing students taking 8th grade algebra increased from less than half to nearly 90%, then reverted to baseline levels, in the span of just six age cohorts. We use this policy-induced variation to…

The watchword of this year's Brown Center Report is caution--caution in linking state tests to international assessments--"benchmarking" is the term--caution in proceeding with a policy of "algebra for all eighth graders," caution in gleaning policy lessons from the recent progress made by urban schools. State and local budget…

With increased emphasis on state standards and assessments in science, one might question whether there is still a role for national science standards and benchmarks. This article makes a case for the importance of national guidelines and identifies key functions performed by the National Research Council's "National Science Education Standards"…