The Rise And Fall Of National Test Scores

The Rise and Fall of National Test Scores examines, in some depth, the nature of test score changes over an extended period of time and in a broad range of subject matters and levels of schooling. The book contains chapters contributed by experts on various aspects of educational tests and score interpretation and uses. The text discusses the interpretations of trends in college admissions test scores and questions about the post-admission performance of ethnic minority students. The book examines general school achievement trends of high school students and the trends observed in broad-based testing programs of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The complexities involved in obtaining dependable data with which to make informed judgments about reading achievement trends are examined. The text further tackles the positive and negative trends in academic achievement in Science with particular emphasis on the effects of curriculum revision; as well as the problems of mathematics testing. The book then describes test score trends and problems in Great Britain and Ireland, with attention given to the similarities and differences of those countries and the United States. Educators, researchers, political leaders, and informed, interested laymen will find the book invaluable.

The Eighty-Third Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I

Aims to shed new light on the issue of literacy in America, providing a social history that broadens the definition of literacy, considering who was reading what, under what circumstances and for what purposes. The book assesses trends in Americans' reading abilities and reading habits.

Originally published in 1995, this volume brings together twenty classic contributions from the work of Desmond Nuttall as an educational researcher, thinker and policy adviser. A full commentary by two of his former colleagues who knew him well accompanies the text. They have set out to explain and explore the essence of his contribution to others. Much in the book is as relevant today as when the articles were written; put together they form a formidable collection. The book was published in the year after Desmond’s death. It is hoped it will remain a fitting tribute to him. It will remind his friends of his classic ideas and brings together in one volume contributions that students of education may have missed.

Research on Exemplary Schools covers significant research works on effective school learning, with particular emphasis on identifying and analyzing a student's abilities and characteristics on the assumption that student learning was primarily determined by differences in individual potential and needs. The information provided is derived from the assumption that the characteristics of the school learning environment may explain the extent to which students master the outcomes desired from the school teaching-learning experience. This text is organized into three parts encompassing 10 chapters. Part I reviews the history of the exemplary schools research movements and the research findings, as well as policy implications concerning the relationships between private and public schools education, both Catholic and nonsectarian. Part II describes the methods for identifying exemplary schools, school climate, and the roles of the teacher and the school principal. Part III describes the policy issues emerging from effective schools research. This part also provide some critical thoughts on the movement from the perspective of an educational psychologist whose specialties are educational measurement and instructional design. This book will prove useful to researchers and practitioners who wish to improve the outcomes of all students in their schools.