This study investigates aspects of validity reflected in a large and diverse sample of published measures used in educational and psychological testing contexts. The current edition of "Mental Measurements Yearbook" served as the data source for this study. The validity aspects investigated included perspective on validity represented, number and…

Alternatives to vertical scales are compared for measuring longitudinal academic growth and for producing school-level growth measures. The alternatives examined were empirical cross-grade regression, ordinary least squares and logistic regression, and multilevel models. The student data used for the comparisons were Arabic Grades 4 to 10 in…

Co-teaching occurs when a special educator and a general education teacher teach together in an inclusive classroom. Co-teaching has been adopted across the United States as the solution to meet the legal mandates of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act. These pieces of legislation require schools to have…

The national shortage and exceptionally high attrition rate of special education teachers are impediments to serving students with special needs. Given that only 64 percent of special education teachers have access to a mentor compared with 86 percent of general education teachers, this book meets an essential need for attracting, retaining, and…

The findings of Education Scotland's sectoral programme of inspections, which sample the providers of education at every stage from the early years to adult learning, provide a key source of evidence on how effectively one of its core public services is performing. The last published summary of inspection findings was produced in 2009 when Her…

The "Montana K-12 & School Choice Survey" project, commissioned by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and conducted by Braun Research, Inc. (BRI), measures Montana registered voters' familiarity and views on a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. The author and his colleagues report response levels…

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is the nation's oldest and largest urban school choice program, offering private-school scholarships to low-income students in the city of Milwaukee since 1990. In the early years of the program, voucher schools were not required to test their students, though many of them did so using nationally normed…

This hands-on guide shows elementary school teachers how to create multilingual classroom communities that support every learner's success in reading, writing, and general literacy development. The author provides a practical overview of key ideas and techniques and describes specific literacy activities that lead to vocabulary and oral English…

Educational improvement can be measured over time and against benchmarks in four key areas: (1) mastery of basic reading and math skills; (2) high school completion; (3) preparation for postsecondary education; and (4) adult educational attainment. The first three reflect how the school system prepares students for postsecondary education. The…

Since 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has gathered information about student achievement in mathematics. Results of these periodic assessments, produced in print and web-based formats, provide valuable information to a wide variety of audiences. They inform citizens about the nature of students' comprehension of the…

This report uses NAEP background data to track time and learning since the mid-1990s in three areas: student absenteeism; classroom instructional time in mathematics, reading, music and the visual arts; and homework time expected by teachers. Key report findings are: (1) Students with higher rates of "monthly absenteeism" score…

The current main world university rankings broadly group the leading research universities of nations. Australia's Go8 universities are generally within the top 250 ranked universities, with several institutions in the top 50-100 on some measures. This recognition is commendable, however imperfect the individual rankings may be. Use is made of…

The 44th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools showed some sharp divisions among the public's attitude toward the public schools, but also some hopeful signs of broad agreement in some areas. Satisfaction with President Barack Obama declined in the last year, but remains ahead of two years ago and the public…

Qualitative inquiry has gained importance in the evaluation of educational settings because it provides in-depth information, shedding light on context, situations, or processes. In this study, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken in order to evaluate a pedagogical course from the prospective teachers' points of view. In this case study, data were…

Using the nationally representative, cohort-based data of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:02), this study employs multiple regression to examine the effects of exit exams on student achievement and school completion. This study finds that exit exams as a whole do not have substantial effects on student achievement in mathematics,…