Defective College Preparation
The Iowa–based ACT testing agency reported yesterday that only 23% of the 2009 high school graduating class had sufficient knowledge and skills to attain a C in college freshmen courses as revealed by the ACT examination. This means that more than 1 million high school students graduated who were poorly prepared for college. The figure [...]
Courts and School Spending
Podcast: Michael Rebell talks with Education Next about the role courts can play in ensuring educational adequacy
Cash for Test Scores
The impact of the Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program
The impact of the Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program
Accountability Left Behind
U.S. Court of Appeals sides with the NEA, would free districts from NCLB requirements
U.S. Court of Appeals sides with the NEA, would free districts from NCLB requirements
The Mismeasure of Learning
Poorly designed high-stakes tests may undermine the standards movement
Poorly designed high-stakes tests may undermine the standards movement
Cooking the Questions?
The 33rd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
The 33rd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
High Stakes in Chicago
Are Chicago’s rising test scores genuine?
Illustration by Noah Woods. As the first large urban school district to introduce a comprehensive accountability system, Chicago provides an exceptional case study of the effects of high-stakes testing-a reform strategy that will become omnipresent as the No Child Left Behind Act is implemented nationwide. One of the most serious criticisms of high-stakes testing is [...]
Accountability Unplugged
Time to actually try standards-based reform
Illustration by Stuart Bradford. A Nation at Risk foreshadowed the modern accountability movement. While the word “accountability” never appears in Risk, its call for higher academic standards and its focus on student achievement as the main barometer of quality laid the intellectual groundwork for the rigorous curricula and tests envisioned by the promoters of standards-based [...]
Ticket to Nowhere
In the wake of A Nation at Risk, educators pledged to focus anew on student achievement. Two decades later, little progress has been made
In the wake of A Nation at Risk, educators pledged to focus anew on student achievement. Two decades later, little progress has been made
Learning to Earn
How higher standards affect graduation and employment
How higher standards affect graduation and employment
Disabling the SAT
The College Board undermines its premier test
The College Board undermines its premier test
To Catch a Cheat
The pressures of accountability may encourage school personnel to doctor the results from high-stakes tests. Here’s how to stop them.
The pressures of accountability may encourage school personnel to doctor the results from high-stakes tests. Here’s how to stop them.
The Gentleman’s A
New evidence on the effects of grade inflation
New evidence on the effects of grade inflation
Competition Passes the Test
Vouchers improve public schools in Florida
Vouchers improve public schools in Florida
Inadequate Yearly Progress
Unlocking the Secrets of NCLB
As almost everyone knows by now, the central aim of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law is to make every public-school student proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. It is a laudable goal, as the overwhelmingly bipartisan congressional support for the legislation in 2001 proved. The law’s drafters even had the [...]
