As states, districts, and schools plan to return for the 2021-22 school year, questions are raised about whether and how to test children with disabilities, including children with the most significant cognitive disabilities and English learners with disabilities. This FAQ addresses some common questions and provides links to useful resources.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to many changes to education in England. Schools closed to almost all students starting March 20th, 2020, and the government cancelled most assessments including GCSEs, A levels and many vocational qualifications. The interruptions to schooling and assessment continued during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic…

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools can facilitate teachers' analysis of and feedback on students' writing. However, increasing evidence indicates that writing instructors experience challenges in implementing AWE tools successfully. For this reason, our development of the Writing Analytics Tool (WAT) has employed a participatory approach…

Specifications Grading is a system of course-long student assessment based on the division of learning objectives into clearly defined skill tests or assignments. Each skill is evaluated at a mastery level, with opportunities for students to learn from their mistakes and then be re-evaluated for skill tests, or resubmit assignments. Specifications…

The results of Australia's first national research assessment, excellence for research in Australia, provoked considerable discussion about the state of educational research in Australia. Understanding the nature of this field of research became the focus for empirical research and analysis that was intended to inform strategic planning. This…

The primary purpose of this publication is to provide those involved in special education teacher preparation and professional development with a set of high-leverage practices (HLPs) that were identified through consensus among special educators. These HLPs may be used to design a cohesive set of practice based opportunities to support teacher…

The number of people attempting and passing the GED has plummeted. The Ohio economy is tough on low-wage workers with limited formal education. Without a high school diploma, it is virtually impossible to get a family-supporting job. But the GED has become a barricade, blocking Ohio workers from career goals, instead of a launching pad. Employers…

Quantitative literacy has been recognized as an important skill in the higher education and workforce communities, focusing on problem solving, reasoning, and real-world application. As a result, there is a need by various stakeholders in higher education and workforce communities to evaluate whether college students receive sufficient training on…

New Jersey is preparing to implement a statewide educator evaluation system in the 2013-14 school year. As part of this process, an Evaluation Pilot Advisory Committee (EPAC) was convened in September 2011. The EPAC consisted of 22 appointed members from various stakeholder groups. Its charge was to make recommendations to the New Jersey…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Measuring What Matters": Report Evaluates States' Progress on Developing High-Quality Data Systems; (2)…

Brown Medical School developed a comprehensive curriculum in which enriched aging content increased from 22 to 80 hours in preclerkship courses and was also added for clerkships, residencies, and nongeriatrician physicians. Innovative evaluation strategies are also described. Highlights include "treasure hunts" in the anatomy laboratory, a…

This article introduces a waka tino whakarawea model for evaluating programmes and services for Maori learners. It is based on a set of underlying principles identified in the author's PhD study (Bevan-Brown, 2002). Explanations are provided for eight principles: kaupapa Maori; importance, relevance and beneficence; participation; empowerment,…

In this article, the author describes the ASE Annual Conference 2010 which was held at Nottingham after a gap of 22 years. As always, the main conference was preceded by International Day, an important event for science educators from across the world. There were two strands to the programme: (1) "What works for me?"--sharing new ideas…

This paper introduces five commonly used approaches to analyzing multiple-choice test data. They are classical test theory, factor analysis, cluster analysis, item response theory, and model analysis. Brief descriptions of the goals and algorithms of these approaches are provided, together with examples illustrating their applications in physics…

U.S. Department of Education studies reveal that, by various measures, almost 75 percent of college students today are "non-traditional." While the "non-traditional" label used to refer mostly to students beyond the 18-to-22 age range (about 40 percent of college students are older than 22), the phrase now connotes students of all ages who are…