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Full-Text Articles in Education
Stakes Increase For End Of Course Exams In 2009-10, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Stakes Increase For End Of Course Exams In 2009-10, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
As of the 2009-10 academic year, high school students in Arkansas will be required to pass socalled “End of Course” (or “EOC”) examinations in Algebra I, Biology, Geometry, and English. Students who fail to meet the requisite passing standard will be required to retake the class or to pass “an appropriate alternative exit course in order to receive credit for the course on his or her transcript and in order to graduate.” In other words, these four EOC tests will become high school exit exams. Thus, as of 2009-10, Arkansas will join some 23 other states that have high school …
Presidential Candidates On K-12 Education, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Presidential Candidates On K-12 Education, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Every four years, our presidential candidates work hard to convince us that they have the best plan to keep us safe, prosperous, and well-educated. While economic challenges have recently taken center stage in the presidential election, education is still a critically important issue to OEP and its constituents. Here, we provide a summary of the views of each candidate on key issues and hope that this information is useful to our readers. In this brief, the OEP does not endorse one candidate over the other. Indeed, there is much to like in each candidate’s platform.
Are All State Exams Equal?, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Are All State Exams Equal?, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Recently, policymakers at the Arkansas Department of Education were pleased to release the results of the 2008 Arkansas Benchmark exams, which indicate more Arkansas students are becoming proficient each year. This is also good news for proponents of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), federal legislation aimed at increasing student achievement through the encouragement of standards-based reform. However, Arkansas, like the other 49 states, sets its own standards for proficient performance. Thus, state by state comparisons of “proficiency” may not be meaningful. With 50 states administering 50 tests to determine whether students are meeting 50 sets of curricular standards, many worry …
2008 Test Scores Show General Improvement With Room To Grow, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
2008 Test Scores Show General Improvement With Room To Grow, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Results of the 2008 Arkansas student assessments were released earlier this summer and revealed that Arkansas students continue to improve with respect to the state standards. On nationally-normed exams, Arkansas students perform at roughly the average level.
Time Spent On Testing, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Time Spent On Testing, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
In an era of standards-based school reform and the No Child Left Behind legislation, standardized testing has figured more prominently in discussions involving K-12 education. In Arkansas, one does not have to look far or listen too intently to hear concerns voiced about the amount of testing going on in public schools. Today's conventional wisdom holds that our students spend far too much time on these exams. However, since the conventional wisdom is not always true, we decided it was a good idea to ask the question: How much time are our students spending on standardized exams? In this brief, …
An Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
An Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Lawrence O. Picus is a professor at the USC Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on adequacy and equity in school finance. He has published numerous books and articles, including School Finance: A Policy Perspective (with Allen R. Odden), and Where Does the Money Go?: Resource Allocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (with James L. Wattenbarger). His consulting firm, Picus and Associates has worked closely with the Arkansas General Assembly over the past few years, making several key recommendations that many state legislators believe have been critical in helping the state achieve educational …
Full Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Full Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Lawrence O. Picus is a professor at the USC Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on adequacy and equity in school finance. He has published numerous books and articles, including School Finance: A Policy Perspective (with Allen R. Odden), and Where Does the Money Go?: Resource Allocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (with James L. Wattenbarger). His consulting firm, Picus and Associates has worked closely with the Arkansas General Assembly over the past few years, making several key recommendations that many state legislators believe have been critical in helping the state achieve educational …
Comparing Arkansas Students To Their National Peers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Comparing Arkansas Students To Their National Peers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
In an attempt to gauge the educational progress of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 in its annual Quality Counts series. The 12th annual report, Tapping into Teaching: Unlocking the Key to Student Success, was released in early 2008 and merges the indicators from the shortened 2007 report, which focused on the “cradle-to-career” framework, with previous indicators such as efforts to improve teacher quality and school finance. To compare states across the nation, the Quality Counts series grades and ranks states based on six broad measures: efforts to improve the teacher quality; …