Increase In Test Scores Research Articles

Exit Exams Harm Students Who Fail Them — And Don't Benefit Students Who Pass Them

A generation ago, high school students earned their diplomas by showing up for classes, keeping up their grades, and staying out of trouble. Since the late 1970s, a growing number of states have also required aspiring graduates to pass exams--standardized tests that assess mastery of basic skills--in order to graduate. This spring, about two in three American high school students will have to pass an exit exam on their way to earning their diplomas. After evaluating the effects of high school exit exams on a variety of student outcomes using nationally representative data spanning nearly 30 years, we conclude that exit exams hurt students who fail them without benefiting students who pass them--or the taxpayers who pay for developing, implementing, and scoring them. Exit exams are just challenging enough to reduce the graduation rate but not challenging enough to have measurable consequences for how much students learn or for how prepared they are for life after high school. Political pragmatism rather than academic benchmarks have led states to implement fundamentally flawed exit exam policies. Policy makers should either revamp exit exams to be sufficiently challenging to make a real difference for how much students learn or abandon them altogether. ARGUING ABOUT EXIT EXAMS Proponents of exit exam policies say too many students simply get credit for seat time, graduating without basic literacy and numeracy skills. With the decline in manufacturing and growth of the information economy, architects of exit exam policies have sought to bolster the value of the diploma. Supporters say these policies have increased pressure on students, parents, teachers, and school systems to boost academic achievement and to better prepare young people for college and the global economy. Critics contend that such policies are fundamentally counterproductive and unfair. First, they assert, exit exams deny diplomas to some students and lead others to drop out of high school without offering much in the way of improved academic outcomes. Second, exit exams force educators to narrow the curriculum by teaching to the test, neglecting to devote adequate time to subjects not covered on the exit exam. Third, these policies are expensive to develop, implement, and score, diverting resources from instruction. Finally, critics argue that these policies are unfair to students who haven't had sufficient opportunity to master the tested material, either because of disabilities or limited English proficiency or because of inequities in educational resources. Besides the similarity of the rhetoric and claims for and against exit exam policies over time and across states, these debates have also typically proceeded in the absence of sound empirical evidence on either side. DO EXIT EXAMS LOWER GRADUATION RATES? At first glance, it seems obvious that exit exam policies should reduce high school graduation rates, at least during the initial years of their implementation. By design, these policies deny diplomas to students who don't meet basic proficiency standards in core curricular areas and who, presumably, would have earned diplomas before the exit exam requirement. On the other hand, there are reasons to suppose that exit exams may have very minimal consequences for graduation rates. First, it may be that the only students who can't exceed the low bar imposed by exit exam policies would have dropped out anyway. Second, it may be that the basic proficiency standards set by most states are so low that nearly all students who continue in high school through their senior year would eventually be able to meet those standards. Third, schools and districts may game the system to artificially increase test scores and graduation rates by selectively exempting students for whom exit exams would present a serious barrier to graduation. Our analyses indicate that state exit exams reduce high school graduation rates (Warren, Jenkins and Kulick 2006). …

Racism, Assessment, and Instructional Practices: Implications for Mathematics Teachers of African American Students

Couched within a larger critique of assessment practices and how they are used to stigmatize African American children, the authors examine teachers’ instructional practices in response to demands of increasing test scores. Many mathematics teachers might be unaware of how these test-driven instructional practices can simultaneously reflect well-intentioned motivations and contribute to the oppression of their African American students. The authors further argue that the focus of assessing African American children via comparison to white children reveals underlying institutionally-based racist assumptions about the competencies of African American students. Strategies are suggested for helping teachers resist test-driven instructional practices while promoting excellence and empowerment for African American students in mathematics.

Examining Attendance, Academic Performance, and Behavior in Obese Adolescents

Although academics and safety continue to rank as high-priority issues in public schools, educators and administrators are beginning to recognize the importance of student health on school success. This move toward a holistic approach suggests that efforts to improve a student's physical, social, and emotional well-being are as important as efforts to increase test scores. Adolescent obesity is epidemic, and it is a complex integration of social, psychological, and physical factors that exacerbate the turbulent transitional years of adolescence. Adolescents are vulnerable to issues related to weight, and they are at risk for suffering obesity's negative effects, thereby resulting in unfortunate school outcomes such as decreased rates of attendance, poor academic performance, and school suspensions. Disparities related to overweight and obesity exist; therefore, the negative effects of obesity may disproportionately affect minorities and poor schoolchildren. Examining school outcomes for the overweight or obese adolescent is crucial and may provide valuable insight into constructive changes required for a responsive school environment.

Primary teacher identity, commitment and career in performative school cultures

The research reported here maps changes in primary teachers' identity, commitment and perspectives and subjective experiences of occupational career in the context of performative primary school cultures. The research aimed to provide in‐depth knowledge of performative school culture and teachers' subjective experiences in their work of teaching. Themes in the data reveal changed commitments and professional identities. The teachers who had an initial vocational commitment and strong service ethic were the older teachers in the sample. While some of the younger teachers expressed vocationalism in the form of wanting ‘to make a difference’, they also stressed the importance of time compatibility for family‐friendly work and child care. In the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of school life a number of factors supported some of the teachers' initial commitments, thus, providing ‘satisfiers’ in their work. However, some factors impacted negatively on teacher commitment. The psychic rewards of teaching provided the main basis of commitment and professional work satisfaction. Teacher strategies in performative school cultures highlighted the impact and saliency of testing regimes. There was evidence, however, of teacher mediation of policy and their investment in a more creative professional identity in their involvement in nurturing programmes and creative projects. Whether the schools and teachers developed creative approaches to increase test scores or to ameliorate the worst effects of testing they demanded increased effort and commitment from the teachers. Teachers in the contemporary context, who had in many cases experienced a career in another occupation prior to teaching, seemed much more adept and realistic in both recognising and managing their range of parallel commitments and identities. They have become more strategic and political in defending their self‐identities. Some evidence suggests their priorities have been to hold on to their humanistic values and their self‐esteem, while adjusting their commitments.

Nutrition Education Intervention among Children Decreased Body Mass Index and Increased Test Scores in Nutrition Knowledge, Behavior, and Intention

Nutrition Education Intervention among Children Decreased Body Mass Index and Increased Test Scores in Nutrition Knowledge, Behavior, and Intention

Expected Test Scores for Preschoolers With a Cochlear Implant Who Use Spoken Language

The major purpose of this study was to provide information about expected spoken language skills of preschool-age children who are deaf and who use a cochlear implant. A goal was to provide "benchmarks" against which those skills could be compared, for a given age at implantation. We also examined whether parent-completed checklists of children's language were correlated with results of standardized language tests and whether scores increased linearly with decreasing age of implantation and increasing duration of cochlear implant use. Participants were a nationwide sample of 76 children who were deaf and orally educated and who received an implant by 38 months of age. Formal language tests were administered at age 4.5 years. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) instrument was completed by parents when children were ages 3.5 and 4.5 years. Based on regression analyses, expected scores for each age at implant were provided for 2 commonly administered language tests at 4.5 years of age and CDI subscale scores at 3.5 and 4.5 years. Concurrent test scores were significantly correlated on all measures. A linear relation was found that predicted increasing test scores with younger ages at implantation for all scales administered. While the expected scores reported here should not be considered as normative data, they are benchmarks that may be useful for evaluating spoken language progress of children with cochlear implants who are enrolled in spoken language-based programs.

Jon Stewart Comes to Class: The Learning Effects of America (The Book) in Introduction to American Government Courses

This project posits that incorporating political humor into the classroom can have a positive effect on learning in higher education. Specifically, we present preliminary findings from a quasi-experiment in which a humorous, “mock” textbook titled America (The Book) (Stewart, Karlin, and Javerbaum 2004) was incorporated into Introduction to American Government curricula in conjunction with a standard textbook. Our hypothesis argues that humorous presentations of politics and government can enhance the learning process and increase test scores by way of Matthew Baum's (2003a) “gateway” or “incidental by-product” effects. Our empirical findings show no such learning effect. Our qualitative evidence, however, suggests that humor-based teaching is clearly more engaging and interesting for the students.

The Teaching of History-Social Science: Left Behind or Behind Closed Doors?

This descriptive study reports results from surveys and interviews to extend a 2004 study of K-5 elementary teachers. Results show the continued trend of teachers spending a minimal amount of time teaching history-social science compared to reading/language arts and mathematics. Teachers are pressured to focus on reading/language arts and increase test scores on standardized tests and history-social science is being marginalized in the elementary curriculum. In the 2006 data collection, teachers reported their commitment to teaching history-social science and related their struggles in teaching it. Many of the surveyed teachers are finding creative ways to carve out time in the school day to focus on history-social science. The article concludes with an appeal to social studies educators and professional organizations to reaffirm the importance of history-social science in the elementary curriculum with a clear articulation and dissemination of the goals and benefits of history-social science education.

Optimism Can it Increase Academic Success

Balogh, Roy Charles, 2007, BrainSMART Action Research Project, Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services.Increasing the Optimistic Thinking and Academic Success of Sixth Graders through the Implementation of Optimistic Thinking Skills, Self Reflection Journals, Teacher Modeling and Meditation. The Art of Optimism is one that has been utilized in eastern Asian cultures for centuries. This Action Research Project was, therefore implemented to increase the optimistic behaviors and thinking levels of students from a unique and diverse school. One goal of the project was to increase the positive thinking abilities of the learners through self-reflection. Another goal of the project was to increase test scores by using the practice of meditation before any given test. The goal for test scores during the course of this project was to have seventy-five percent of all students pass every test with a minimum test score of seventy-five percent. The research project, Improving Education through Optimism, was constructed using current brain based research. The students that participated in this research project practiced a wide variety of optimistic strategies and ideas over the course of the school year. The strategies and techniques developed and implemented by the author reflect the vast knowledge he has learned through research and the BrainSMART program. The skills presented by the author to the research participants were built upon the fundamental principle of Self-Reflection. The methods and highways used to achieve the goals of this research project were precise and direct. The author used the basis of all education, modeling, for his main vehicle to achieve optimistic behavior in his subjects. The author further used self-reflection and meditation to aid in the process. The art of self-reflection was used to achieve the goal of elevating the optimistic levels of the subjects through their ability to reflect and learn from experience. Meditation further aided in the increase of optimistic thinking by aiding in the relaxation stage prior to testing. The author's findings as posted in the scoring sheets posted in the classroom and grade book demonstrate the increase of optimistic thinking and positive mindset. Seventy-five percent or more of all sixth grade students scored a seventy-five percent or better on the majority of all tests taken thus far this school year. The results of the scoring last year were even better; with eighty percent to ninety percent of all sixth graders scoring seventy-five percent or better on their testing.Action Research Project: Optimism can it Increase Academic Success activities such as Reflection Journals, Meditation and Happy Chairs. The writer believes the program will be embraced by educators and administrators. The ability to reduce behavioral issues among the students is a strong point of positive thinking. Presenting the findings increased test scores, reduction in behavioral occurrences and positive sharing will be in the writer's opinion a great benefit to any educator. The use of this positive, optimistic program is currently being reviewed by the administration for adoption school wide during the 2008-2009 school year.

Quantitative and qualitative change in children's mental rotation performance

This study investigated quantitative and qualitative changes in mental rotation performance and solution strategies with a focus on sex differences. German children ( N = 519) completed the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) in the 5th and 6th grades (interval: one year; age range at time 1: 10–11 years). Boys on average outperformed girls on both occasions ( d T1 = 0.45; d T2 = 0.35). Strong quantitative change was reflected in increased test scores from time 1 to time 2. The increase was equivalent for girls ( d = 1.04) and boys ( d = 1.05). Qualitative change was investigated in a multigroup latent transition analysis (LTA) of the MRT items. LTA confirmed findings from prior studies showing that children used different solution strategies to solve the MRT problems. Girls tended to use less efficient strategies than did boys. Moreover, LTA revealed that participants showing inefficient solution strategies at time 1 tended to improve their performance less than students who already showed more elaborate strategies at time 1.

Science Teachers’ Perceived Benefits of an Out‐of‐school Enrichment Programme: Identity needs and university affordances

Science enrichment programmes housed outside traditional school settings offer unique opportunities to access and use authentic scientific tools and practices, especially for urban students whose school science experiences often lack resources. Yet opportunities to access these tools and practices are realized only when science teachers value them sufficiently to take advantage of them. This study examines how eight urban secondary science teachers evaluated a specific out‐of‐school science enrichment programme—a one‐year partnership with a local university science outreach centre, which culminated in a half‐day laboratory experience for their students. Teachers’ perceptions were captured through interviews and surveys. Findings indicate that these teachers came to identify and value many of the potential benefits for out‐of‐school enrichment programmes reported in the literature as well as some additional ones. The teachers’ also showed a shift over time with respect to their perceptions of the value of the out‐of‐school experience, moving from an initial focus on increasing test scores toward a greater appreciation for its impact on students’ motivation and identity development. The study offers insight into secondary science students’ and teachers’ identity needs, and what universities can offer to address them.

Going Beyond Test-Taking Strategies: Building Self-Regulated Students and Teachers

Since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized tests have been on the minds of students, parents, and educators, who are consistently concerned with how to increase test scores. In this article, the authors suggest that it is time to look beyond tests to enable willing, focused, and persistent - that is self-regulated - students and teachers. Self-regulated students and teachers take control of their learning, set goals, monitor progress, reflect on outcomes, are intrinsically motivated to learn, and demonstrate higher levels of achievement (Harter, 1996; Markman, 1979; Mason, Snyder, Sukhram, & Kedem, 2006; Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003; Zimmerman, 2000, 2002). Supporting such self-regulation not only promotes more independent, competent, and motivated students and teachers, but is also likely to raise test scores (Paris & Paris, 2001). The authors suggest specific strategies for, and benefits of, the development of self-regulation in both students and teachers.

Keeping Accountability Systems Accountable

THE STANDARDS and movement in education has undeniably transformed schooling throughout the United States. Even before President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act into law in January 2002, mandating annual public school testing in English and math for grades 3-8 and once in high school, most states had already instituted their own systems of state linked to state exams. Throughout the country, a battery of tests--the FCAT in Florida, the TAAS and later TAKS in Texas, the SOL in Virginia, the MCAS in Massachusetts, and the AIMS in Arizona, to name a few--awaited students in a few select grades each year. States used the results of those tests to determine their educational health and, in turn, to judge their schools. Now, with NCLB, the number of students tested annually has skyrocketed as all 50 states have exams in operation, with even more grades--seven in all--required to administer tests. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Though critics have denounced so-called high-stakes testing for reducing curricula to circumscribed test content and learning to rote memorization, (1) proponents have countered that the and movement has spurred increased learning, as shown by rising state test scores. (2) Many states have reported test score gains, especially in the early grades, but questions are emerging as to whether these increased test scores really do indicate increased learning--or, for that matter, if the tests measure meaningful learning to begin with. Because these state tests are the measure for schools and students, bringing potential real-life consequences to them both, these questions must be asked and answered. STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY The basic premise behind standards and accountability is quite simple. First, states determine which content and skills--the standards--their students need to learn. Teachers then teach to these standards, and state tests measure whether students have indeed met them. The various players are then held accountable for the results as a wide range of punishments and rewards kicks in. Under NCLB, if schools do not meet their state's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals, as measured by gains in student test scores, they face increasingly punitive actions that can culminate in school restructuring and state takeover, potentially leading to job loss for teachers and principals. (3) As for rewards, NCLB promises public recognition of high-achieving schools as well as monetary bonuses to teachers in schools that make the greatest gains as measured by test scores. (4) Similarly, policy makers in some states provide their own sets of financial incentives to teachers and principals, as well as public acknowledgments of achievement. Then there are always the newspaper headlines, routinely praising or shaming neighborhood schools on the basis of test results. In short, becomes synonymous with a public display of judgment. Many states have also zeroed in on students as targets of their systems. According to the Center on Education Policy, roughly half of the 50 states have enacted, or are in the process of enacting, a mandatory high school graduation test. (5) By requiring such a test, state policy makers demand from students to show that they have met the state standards. Proponents of these high-stakes tests assert that students will work harder, and thus learn more, when they know that their diploma depends on passing such a test. (6) Critics, however, point to a link between state graduation exams and higher dropout rates for lower-achieving students, African Americans, and Latinos, as well as to an increased incentive for schools to push out teens who are academically at risk, effectively limiting these students' futures. (7) Finally, hovering somewhere above this sharp focus on schools, principals, teachers, and students are the policy makers responsible for mandating education policy in the first place. …

Time to learn? The organizational structure of schools and student achievement

Utilizing parametric and nonparametric techniques, we asses the impact of a heretofore relatively unexplored ‘input’ in the educational process, time allocation, on the distribution of academic achievement. Our results indicate that school year length and the number and average duration of classes affect student achievement. However, the effects are not homogeneous — in terms of both direction and magnitude — across the distribution. We find that test scores in the upper tail of the distribution benefit from a shorter school year, while a longer school year increases test scores in the lower tail. Furthermore, test scores in the lower quantiles increase when students have at least eight classes lasting 46–50 min on average, while test scores in the upper quantiles increase when students have seven classes lasting 45 min or less or 51 min or more.

Sound Field Systems on the Rise in Schools

Sound Field Systems on the Rise in Schools

Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia

Colombia's PACES program provided over 125,000 poor children with vouchers that covered the cost of private secondary school. The vouchers were renewable annually conditional on adequate academic progress. Since many vouchers were assigned by lottery, program effects can reliably be assessed by comparing lottery winners and losers. Estimates using administrative records suggest the PACES program increases secondary school completion rates by 15 to 20 percent. Correcting for the greater percentage of lottery winners taking college admissions tests, the program increased test scores by two-tenths of a standard deviation in the distribution of potential test scores.

Timing Bias in the Psychiatry Subject Examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners

The authors investigate whether the timing of the psychiatry clerkship influences scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject exam as has been reported for other clerkships. The authors attempt to identify which clerkships, if any, offer an advantage when taken before psychiatry. Mean aggregate exam scores over 4 years were calculated according to clerkship sequence. An analysis of variance was conducted to assess the effect of sequence on test scores. Pairwise comparisons (t tests) were performed to determine whether students who completed one particular clerkship before psychiatry scored higher on the subject examination than students who completed the clerkship after psychiatry. Students who take psychiatry near the end of the clerkship sequence score higher than students who take psychiatry as a first clerkship. The differences are small but significant. The mean score for students taking psychiatry first was 72.81, compared to a score of 78.51 for students taking the clerkship last. No single clerkship is more likely than another to increase test scores when taken before psychiatry. Clerkship directors must be aware of the timing bias in subject exam scores. However, the bias may not be sufficient to justify abandoning use of the subject examinations.

A Multi-Institutional Randomized Controlled Trial of Adjuvant Web-Based Teaching to Medical Students

To investigate the impact of an adjuvant Web-based teaching program on medical students' learning during clinical rotations. From April 2003 to May 2004, 351 students completing clinical rotations in surgery-urology at four U.S. medical schools were invited to volunteer for the study. Web-based teaching cases were developed covering four core urologic topics. Students were block randomized to receive Web-based teaching on two of the four topics. Before and after a designated duration at each institution (ranging one to three weeks), students completed a validated 28-item Web-based test (Cronbach's alpha = .76) covering all four topics. The test was also administered to a subset of students at one school at the conclusion of their third-year to measure long-term learning. Eighty-one percent of all eligible students (286/351) volunteered to participate in the study, 73% of whom (210/286) completed the Web-based program. Compared to controls, Web-based teaching significantly increased test scores in the four topics at each medical school (p < .001, mixed analysis of variance), corresponding to a Cohen's d effect size of 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23-1.80). Learning efficiency was increased three-fold by Web-based teaching (Cohen's d effect size 1.16; 95% CI 1.13-1.19). Students who were tested a median of 4.8 months later demonstrated significantly higher scores for Web-based teaching compared to non-Web-based teaching (p = .007, paired t-test). Limited learning was noted in the absence of Web-based teaching. This randomized controlled trial provides Class I evidence that Web-based teaching as an adjunct to clinical experiences can significantly and durably improve medical students' learning.

HOTS Revisited: A Thinking Development Approach to Reducing the Learning Gap after Grade 3

Mr. Pogrow, creator of HOTS, updates readers on the past 10 years' worth of research on the program's effectiveness. The findings, he believes, make clear not only what conditions are necessary for this unique intervention to succeed but also why other reforms have not significantly reduced the achievement gap. THE PASSAGE of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 marked the beginning of a federal commitment to provide supplementary help in basic skills directly to disadvantaged students. The funds were used to reteach the concepts that the students had not learned the first time and to continue to reteach them, in essentially the same way, until the money ran out. As simplistic as the idea was, this targeted help reduced the achievement gap substantially between 1965 and 1988. However, a large gap still remained in 1988, the amount of reduction seemed to be leveling off, and the benefits seen in the early grades did not appear to carry over very substantially into the later grades. As a result, Title I policy switched course after 1988 to use the funds to improve the school as a whole. It was believed that an improving school would disproportionately benefit its disadvantaged students. In addition, the focus was on using (supposedly) research-validated, one-size-fits-all comprehensive reform models. So what happened? After 1988, the achievement gap began to widen again, so that by 1999 the white/black gap in reading for fourth-graders had reverted to what it had been in 1975, and the gap was only slightly smaller between white and Latino students. This reversal of progress meant that by 2003 approximately half of the minority students in the eighth grade were reading below basic levels, and only about 13% were proficient in reading. (1) Running counter to these dismal trends were the findings from the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) program. Fifteen years ago, an article about HOTS appeared in this journal. (2) This article updates the findings published then. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOTS PROGRAM The HOTS program was started 25 years ago in the belief that educationally disadvantaged students (Title I and learning disabled) were bright and that the top priority for supplemental aid for these students should be to help them channel that innate intelligence into learning at a higher level. The students were treated as intellectually gifted. The goals of the intervention were to increase thinking and socialization skills in ways that simultaneously increased test scores and overall academic performance--all without extra drill or teaching to the test. HOTS was also designed to work in the years after grade 3, when progress from earlier interventions dissipates, gaps rewiden, and disadvantaged students fall increasingly farther behind. The program was eventually adopted on a large scale, in approximately 2,600 schools, serving approximately half a million disadvantaged students. The approach HOTS took from the beginning was to generate a very creative and intensive conversational environment. This approach was taken because the amount of conversation at home varies dramatically with economic status. A study of home discussion patterns among attentive parents found that working-class parents made half as many statements to their young children per hour as professional-level parents and that welfare parents made half as many statements to their young children as working-class parents. Reduced levels of home conversation not only resulted in more limited vocabularies for low-income students when they entered school, but also stunted their ability to process ideas. We find that this cognitive inhibition primarily shows up as a limiting factor for low-income students after third grade, when the curriculum becomes more integrative--regardless of how well the students have done earlier. This research also showed that children exposed to higher levels of parental conversation did better on a measure of developmental I. …

Effectiveness of Computer-Based Dysphagia Training for Direct Patient Care Staff

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in medical settings are responsible for evaluating patients' feeding and swallowing. Once an evaluation is completed, nursing staff typically provides hands-on care and supervision of meals. SLPs seek to improve outcomes for individuals with dysphagia by educating direct-care staff. This project sought to determine whether a computer-based swallowing safety module could produce changes in knowledge levels of nursing staff. This module was designed to replace inservices conducted by staff SLPs. Nursing staff would be required to complete the training when hired and as an annual assessment. The training module was designed and pilot-tested along with a pre- and posttest to assess changes in knowledge. Participants in the experimental group took the pretest, completed the computer training module, and then took the posttest. Participants in the control group took the pre- and posttest with no intervening training. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups on posttest scores. Participants in the experimental group demonstrated increased test scores, while the scores of the control group did not change significantly. This study indicates that computer-based training for nursing staff related to swallowing safety and dysphagia is effective.