Over the past decade, national initiatives have shifted States' attention to the challenge of turning around low-performing schools. The lack of consistent, dramatic improvements in the lowest-performing schools reflects the severity of the school turnaround challenge, but also suggests the need to continuously evaluate and refine turnaround…

Background: To improve global health, the workforce capacity of health promotion professionals must be strengthened through the provision of competencies necessary to deliver effective programs. Purpose: This study provides an updated analysis of the validity of the worksite health promotion (WHP) professional competencies developed in 2000 by the…

In America, there is a growing consensus that educational video games should be used in the classroom to meet the needs of 21st Century learners. According to the American Federation of Scientists (2006), students that "have grown up with digital technology and video games are especially poised to take advantage of the features of educational…

In this study, we evaluated the differential effects on racial/ethnic, family income, and gender groups of using ACT® College Readiness Assessment Composite score and high school grade point average (HSGPA) for predicting long-term college success. Outcomes included annual progress towards a degree (based on cumulative credit-bearing hours…

For nearly a decade, ACT has measured student progress in the context of college readiness. This report is ACT's annual report on the college readiness of the high school graduating class of 2013. The data in this report provides insights to catalyze and guide efforts to improve college and career readiness for the next generation of young people…

International comparatives studies in education provide a fresh perspective on K-12 education policy be enabling countries to learn from each other's approaches. The recently conducted Teacher Education and Development Study-Mathematics (TEDS-M) provided us with a world-wide lens to examine some of our practices related to the preparation of U.S.…

The 2011 NAEP-TIMSS linking study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was designed to predict Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scores for the U.S. states that participated in 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics and science assessment of eighth-grade students.…

This article describes how a purposeful sample of 62 elementary schools from 17 states implemented a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework for reading. School informants answered surveys and were interviewed about differentiated instruction in Tier 1, screening/benchmarking, where Tier 2 interventions were located, typical group size and the…

This publication follows the tradition of publishing selected papers from Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives and Museums (PIALA) annual conferences. This 19th annual conference was held in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, November 16-21, 2009. The volume begins with a listing of the members of the PIALA 2009 Planning…

In 2001, the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act intensified the pressure on school districts to raise test scores, close achievement gaps, and turn around low-performing schools. In response, a large number of school districts have adopted interim or benchmark assessments to be administered periodically throughout the school year in…

The current study proposed to determine the level of spiritual transformation in students at conservative Wesleyan-Arminian Bible colleges and the association of spiritual transformation with selected Bible college activities. A quantitative survey was designed, validated, and implemented to measure students' self-reported levels of spiritual…

A comprehensive assessment system is one in which three types of assessments: summative, benchmark, and formative assessments are routinely administered to all students in K-12 classrooms. The first part of this report summarizes the research on comprehensive assessment systems and provides clarity in terms of how each individual assessment type…

This report provides, for the first time, an overview based on inspections of all 32 local authority educational psychology services. The picture it presents is broadly a very positive one although it also points to areas in which there is certainly scope for further improvement. The report shows that services are making a positive difference to…

This study investigated slope bias on student background variables for both Curriculum Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM-R) and Curriculum Based Measurement Maze Reading (Maze). Benchmark scores from 1,738 students in Grades 3 through 8 were used to examine potential slope bias in CBM-R and Maze. Latent growth modeling was used to both…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report innovative research aimed at ascertaining whether standards for school leaders could be applied to the process of selecting senior secondary school principals for appointment. Specifically, psychometrically robust measures of performance are sought that would sufficiently differentiate performance to…