This paper challenges Hanushek and Woessmann's (2008) contention that the quality and not the quantity of schooling determines a nation's rate of economic growth. I first show that their statistical analysis is flawed. I then show that when a nation's average test scores and average schooling attainment are included in a national income model,…

Some of the challenges that test publishers face in constructing educational assessments that meet high technical quality as prescribed in the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" (AERA, APA, NCME, 1999) are examined. Federal educational initiatives are used to illustrate demands on technical quality that challenge the efforts of…

In the context of reviewing an article for this journal (van der Linden & Sotaridona, this issue, pp. 283-304) the topic of unconditional and conditional hypothesis testing came under consideration. While this is hardly a new issue (consider, for example, arguments regarding the chi square vs. Fisher exact test of independence for a 2 x 2…

In "Holding Accountability to Account: How Scholarship and Experience in Other Fields Inform Exploration of Performance Incentives in Education"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, argues educational…

A new report published by the Manhattan Institute for Education Policy, "The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence from Florida's McKay Scholarship Program," attempts to examine the complex issue of how competition introduced through school vouchers affects student outcomes in public schools. The…

Twenty-six papers concerning Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I program evaluation--presented at the 1978 American Educational Research Association/National Council on Measurement in Education meeting--are summarized. Speakers from the federal government are: C.T. Cross (see ED 156 695); R.L. Fishbein; and D. Ozenne. State department…

In describing several pitfalls associated with research on school and teacher effectiveness, the following aspects of effectiveness research are considered: correlation-causation relationship, controlling for background factors, statistical and practical significance, instrumentation problems, regression effects, measurement of change, nonlinear…

Notes that the most common educational research methods (large-scale surveys and field observations) have failed to examine the processes by which school participants create school structures. Advocates constitutive ethnography as a new approach and presents examples of its application in examining classrooms, lessons, educational testing, and…

Discusses the use of standardized achievement scores to measure the quality of practice-oriented school improvement activities in school districts. Focuses on four areas of concern: the multiple functions of schooling; documentation and data collection; real world complexities; and ethics. Recommends that cautions be taken against exclusive…

Empirical Bayes methods are shown to provide a practical alternative to standard least squares methods in fitting high dimensional models to sparse data. An example concerning prediction bias in educational testing is presented as an illustration. (Author)

Effective schools research problems (unreliable descriptions and definitions, over-dependency on tests, research limited primarily to elementary schools) result in narrow formulas leading to increased standardization, neglect of nonacademic areas, and failure to improve in schools with high test scores. Author urges using broader, more complex…

This article defends research evaluating similarities and differences in psychometric performances of students with learning disabilities (LD) and students with low achievement (LA), which concluded that psychometric test performance alone was an insufficient basis for differential diagnosis. Recent criticism of the research by Kenneth Kavale and…

Two analyses are provided to demonstrate that the population of students with learning disabilities is distinct from the population of low-achievers. Reasons for different interpretations of Bob Algozzine and colleagues' research are suggested. Assumptions surrounding the reality of learning disability are explored, as are differing perceptions…

Project TALENT, a large scale, long range, longitudinal study, is designed primarily to provide insights into the characteristics and development of American adolescents. In order to compare trends in test results, a comprehensive battery of Psychological, educational, and personality measures were administered to participants in the 1960, 1970,…

A program is described for the evaluation of the basic skills policy of the State Board of Education in Massachusetts. The 1978 policy of the Board is to take effect in 1980-81 and will require annual assessment of student skills at three grade levels in all schools in five curriculum areas, but leaves the setting of standards to local option.…