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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
New England Journal of Public Policy
On December 3, 2013, when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, the ranking of the United States as number 27 on the global scoreboard elicited little surprise among teachers, educational professionals, academics, and educational policymakers. The usual platitudes were trotted out—no mention that the United States’ standing was getting any worse, just which other countries were passing us by. We were stuck at a perennial average.
The results are in a sense a metaphor of the slow decline of the United State since the 1970s from a position of …
School District Performance Under The Mcas, Jie Chen, Thomas Ferguson
School District Performance Under The Mcas, Jie Chen, Thomas Ferguson
New England Journal of Public Policy
Education reform has spawned efforts to test learning across the nation. This paper analyzes the determinants of Massachusetts’ school district test scores under the state’s high stakes testing program, MCAS. The study is the first to demonstrate direct links between improvements in MCAS scores and state aid to school districts. The authors estimate “value added” for each school district in the state. The list of schools with high value added produces real surprises — while some affluent districts do well, others rank at the very bottom. Additionally, the study analyzes how teacher maximum salaries, district superintendent salaries, per capita income, …