The specifics of how growth models should be constructed and used to evaluate schools and teachers is a topic of lively policy debate in states and school districts nationwide. In this paper we take up the question of model choice and examine three competing approaches.

The U.S. Department of Education has released a report examining approaches to setting criteria for measuring the progress of English learners in classrooms as part of a four-year project led by AIR. The report, National Evaluation of Title III Implementation Supplemental Report: Exploring Approaches to Setting English Language Proficiency Performance Criteria and Monitoring English Learner Progress, provides examples of various ways states can use enhanced data systems to address key questions.

This report answers two basic sets of questions about children's knowledge and skill acquisition during the kindergarten year. What gains are children making from the fall of the kindergarten year to the spring of the kindergarten year in their overall reading and mathematics knowledge and skills? What gains are children making in specific knowledge and skills (e.g., recognizing letters, recognizing numbers)?

Using data from the final two rounds of the ECLS-B, a longitudinal study begun in 2001, this First Look provides a snapshot of the demographic characteristics, reading and mathematics knowledge, fine motor skills, school characteristics, and before- and after-school care arrangements of the cohort at the time they first began kindergarten.

This special analysis examines the performance of U.S. students in reading, mathematics, and science compared with the performance of their peers in other countries that participated in PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS in terms of students’ average scores and the percentage of students reaching internationally benchmarked performance levels.

This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other G-8 countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom.

This First Look presents information about the biological fathers of children born in the United States in the year 2001.

This report describes kindergartners’ early education experiences in each of the four regions of the United States. Findings from this report indicate that kindergartners’ preschool experiences and kindergarten program type vary by the regions in which their schools are located and by the regional characteristics of these kindergartners, their families, and their schools.