The initiatives to enhance adult learning program accountability and assessment systems of the following states are described in this paper: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, Washington, West Virginia.
The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies is a multi-domain adult skills assessment designed to understand how individuals’ education, workplace experiences, and other background factors relate to cognitive skills in the domains of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. This brief highlights differences between several countries ...
A recent challenge to maintaining NAEP trends has arisen with the exploration of new testing methods and question types that reflect the growing use of technology in education. The purpose of this white paper is to provide a framework for considering device and interface features that may affect student performance ...
State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Many states are just beginning to consider whether to modify existing science standards, adapt standards being used in other states, or develop new ones. This document is intended to guide state boards of education through ...
As California approaches a new system of academic standards, instruction, and assessment, it enters familiar territory. The use of multiple modes of assessment, tight alignment between assessments and expectations for student learning, and a focus on assessment for formative (as well as summative) purposes—all with an emphasis on students’ understanding ...
As NAEP transitions from a paper-based to a digitally based assessment, the question arises: Are all children are ready for the transition—and would any of them would be disadvantaged by it? To investigate these issues, AIR developed a new set of survey items related to digital technology for the 2015 ...
Building on existing external school support literature, this brief offers a set of indicators for assessing the quality of support provided to low-performing schools, with respect to the No Child Left Behind Act.
Alignment between apprenticeship and workforce development systems benefits both systems, as well as their business and job seeker customers. This brief identifies the key dimensions of alignment, shares promising practices, and provides a checklist to assess and strengthen alignment.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, requires that states develop and submit a State Plan to the U.S. Department of Education. To ensure a solid foundation for State Plan development and further stakeholder engagement, the Pennsylvania Department of Education asked AIR summarize ...
Each year, when states release assessment results, new schools join the ranks of those identified for improvement under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Associated with this identification are mandated actions which have the potential to derail or redirect existing school reform efforts. The question remains of how to reconcile the implementation ...