In this article, the author focuses on how names affect children's performance on tests and cites the study of a University of Florida researcher regarding teacher's expectations for children. Economics professor David Figlio says children with unique or unusual sounding names do worse on standardized tests than their siblings who have more…

This article discusses how to help minority students prepare for tests and help them do better on math tests in general and on the mathematics section of college entrance exams. According to experts, the number of black and Latino students taking college entrance exams grew by about 50%, but their scores are lagging. It shows that white students…

Society knows well that males outperform females on mathematics portions of college entrance examinations. In 2003, for example, males scored an average 537 points on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, while females averaged 503. Less well known is that males also show a slight advantage on the verbal portion. These gaps…

The goal of Chapter I programs is to enable disadvantaged children to attain grade level success in school. This study attempts to determine the extent to which students in a predominantly African American school achieve grade level success as a result of their Chapter I reading supplementary participation. The reading gains of the Chapter I…

This exploratory study illustrates the differences in achievement between Latino college-bound students compared to their White counterparts with respect to key background and achievement variables. This research presents the gaps in "inputs" that Latino students possess regarding disparate income, parent education levels, access to Advanced…

A primary problem with special education placement is that it is a solution that comes too late for children who are first noticed by their kindergarten teachers as lacking prerequisite skills. It is of critical importance that these students, whose reading skills are low in comparison to their peers, be accurately identified through universal…

This article explores the complex, hierarchical relation among school characteristics, individual differences in academic achievement, extracurricular activities, and socioeconomic background on performance on the verbal and mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Using multilevel structural equation models (SEMs) with latent means, we…

This paper uses extensive student-level micro databases of three international student achievement tests to estimate heterogeneity in the effect of external exit examinations on student performance along three dimensions. First, quantile regressions show that the effect tends to increase with student ability--but it does not differ substantially…

The mathematics achievement of a cohort of 955 students in 42 classes in six schools in London was followed over a 4-year period, until they took their General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (GCSEs) in the summer of 2000. All six schools were regarded by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) as providing a good standard…

Parents want validation of the quality of education their children are receiving, but education is complex, non-linear, and to a great extent unquantifiable. This article discusses two current trends that are said to be indicative of educational quality: standardized tests and school rankings. This author argues that while standardized tests may…

All successful organizations, including successful high schools, have employees who go beyond their formal job responsibilities and freely give of their time and energy to succeed. Organ was the first to use the phrase "organizational citizenship behavior" (OCB) to denote organizationally beneficial behavior of workers that was not prescribed but…

In May 2001, students in the author's Advanced Placement (AP) United States History class were embroiled in a controversy surrounding the AP exam, in particular, having access to the exam's Document Based Question (DBQ) and free response portion prior to the test's administration. Prior to the exam, the College Board had provided a fifty-year time…

The current study investigated written language skills of children and youth with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Sixteen children and youth with AS and 16 neurotypical peers were compared on a standardized test of written language skills and legibility of handwriting. To investigate more detailed characteristics, informal analyses were also made for…

The effect of block scheduling on high school student achievement in mathematics and reading was investigated in this study through the use of an ex post-facto, longitudinal research design. Specifically, student scores from 9th and 11th-grade standardized tests were matched and sorted by junior high and high school attended. Outcome measures…

At a time when many states are poised to roll out new standardized tests to evaluate English-language proficiency in unprecedented depth, California is balking at carrying out a federal requirement to test the literacy of young children who are learning English. Recently, the California board of education decided to ask the U.S. Department of…