Purpose: Writing is an essential skill that secondary students need to establish for success in their further education, careers, and lives. However, most secondary students in the United States do not achieve the level of writing proficiency expected to ensure academic and future success. One approach that is emerging more in the research…

Statistics courses for prospective teachers are being developed in response to recent K-12 curriculum recommendations. As these courses are developed, it is important to design accompanying assessments. This manuscript describes a strategy for assessing aspects of statistical knowledge for teaching. The strategy involves analyzing and responding…

English Language Learners (ELLs) are among the fastest-growing demographic group in U.S. public schools. There are numerous recent reports documenting this phenomenon. Some reports estimate the numbers of ELLs enrolled in U.S. public schools, and other reports approximate the growth in ELL enrollment over the past five to ten years. Still, there…

The purpose of this study was to examine science assessment data as generated by the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and through the analysis of four research variables: teaching practices, teacher background characteristics, school conditions, and student characteristics, determine their relationship to science…

The authors present an analysis of portfolio entries submitted by candidates seeking certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the area of Early Adolescence/Mathematics. Analyses of mathematical features revealed that the tasks used in instruction included a range of mathematics topics but were not consistently…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is mandated by the United States Congress to survey the educational accomplishments of U.S. students and monitor changes in those accomplishments. For more than 25 years, NAEP has assessed the educational achievement of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students in selected subject areas, making it…

Intended as a companion document to the "NAEP 1994 Reading Report Card for the Nation and States" and the "NAEP 1994 Reading State Report," this compendium presents fourth-grade cross-state results of the National Assessment in Educational Process (NAEP) 1994 Trial State Assessment in reading--no interpretations of the data are…

In 1996, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed the knowledge and skills of students in the areas of earth science, life science, and physical science. It also collected information related to the background of students (grades 4, 8, and 12), their teachers (grades 4 and 8), and the schools they attended (grades 4, 8, and…

This publication contains a sample of the 59 indicators in "The Condition of Education 2001." Since 1870, the federal government has gathered data about students, teachers, schools, and education funding. As mandated by Congress, the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) annually publishes a…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data, which are necessary to monitor the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 59 indicators of important developments and trends…