The Education Trust research report "Stuck Schools" suggests a framework for identifying chronically low-performing schools in need of turnaround. The study uses Maryland and Indiana to show that some low-performing schools make progress while others remain stagnant. The report has four serious problems of reliability and validity,…

In this technical report, we provide reliability and validity evidence for the easyCBM[R] Reading measures for grade 2 (word and passage reading fluency and multiple choice reading comprehension). Evidence for reliability includes internal consistency and item invariance. Evidence for validity includes concurrent, predictive, and construct…

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) was established in 1990 as the first urban education reform in the U.S. built around the idea of permitting parents to enroll their children in private schools of their choosing at government expense. In its first year of operation, the MPCP or "Choice" program enrolled 341 students in the…

[Slides] presented at the annual conference of the National Council of Supervisors of Math.

This action guide is intended to assist in the reading of and reflection upon "Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, Second Edition" by Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Richard Eaker, and Thomas Many. The guide can be used by an individual, a small group, or an entire faculty to identify key points,…

Assessing student attainment in the major field of study is increasingly important to employers and accrediting bodies alike. Construction and manufacturing firms do not like engineers who design faulty bridges and airplanes. Marketing firms want to hire students who understand the difference between a niche market and a global market. School…

Some "English Journal" ("EJ") readers may fondly (or not so fondly) remember reading lists for college-bound students, which were once routinely distributed to promote the reading of "The Scarlet Letter," "Pride and Prejudice," "The Pearl," and other noteworthy classics. Today, virtually any English teacher would recognize that a focus on solely…

Much like the shifting landscape in K-12 educational technology, this year's "Technology Counts" issue is changing to address the challenges of covering schools in the digital age. The 2010 report does not issue state report cards or state policy reports. Instead, the report takes a more district- and school-level look at educational…

Harnessing student energy for the positive use of technology in the classroom requires significant change for many educators. Students today exhibit a one-click mentality when using computers in the classroom, and are frustrated when they are not provided with instant gratification. Gone are the reading and higher level thinking skills of the pen…

For quite some time, the call to close the feedback loop has been heard throughout higher education. Faculty and administrators have paid attention, and now they can more easily than ever point to the fact that at their institution, the feedback loop is almost always closed. As reviewers from accreditation teams visit campuses, they often hear…

The implications of the concept of fairness, to the level of the day-to-day business of the educational evaluator is explored. Section 2 presents a brief critical examination of the notion of objectivity in evaluation, and introduces the concept of fairness as an alternative focus for qualitative evaluation. In Section 3, there is a discussion of…

A review of the implementation efforts of the Accountability Act of 1971 is presented with guidelines for judging the effectiveness or potential of any accountability plan. (HMD)

A reply to the preceding article in this issue. (IRT) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Procedures (Evaluation).

The source of most of the opposition to educational assessment is fear on the part of administrators and teachers that assessment will be used as an instrument of evaluation. Assessment plans make it impossible to identify individual teachers or schools. Thus, the fear that someone may be penalized because of a bad assessment is not realistic.…

The author argues that Elliot Eisner's assumptions underpinning his theory of educational evaluation are problematic. Nevertheless, if the role of artistic thinking in the genesis of educational concept were developed more fully, his approach could bear considerable fruit. (MT)