Empowering educators
Assessment data can be an important tool for educators to inform instruction and support student learning. Our research seeks to improve reporting and support data-informed decision making.
Using a nationally representative dataset with thousands of measures, I employ data reduction techniques to identify a handful of variables that are the strongest predictors of college readiness and understand what they measure.
By: James Soland
Concurrent validity of the independent reading level assessment framework and a state assessment
This study investigates the use of screening assessments within the increasingly popular Response to Intervention (RTI) framework, specifically seeking to collect concurrent validity evidence on one potential new screening tool, the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) framework.
By: Beth Tarasawa, Nicole Ralston, Jacqueline Waggoner, Amy Jackson
Topics: Empowering educators, Measurement & scaling, Reading & language arts
Get it right: Common sense on the common core
In this podcast, Nate Jensen discusses the value of assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the misconceptions that accompanied the implementation of new assessments in some states.
Learning First Alliance, Get It Right podcast
Increasing parental involvement of English language learner families: What the research says
The nearly 10 million English Language Learners (ELLs) represent the fastest-growing segment of the US’s public school student population. While research continually finds that ELL parents, generally speaking, place a high value on their children’s education, many immigrant, refugee, and ELL parents experience their relationships with their children’s schools very differently from mainstream English-speaking families.
By: Beth Tarasawa, Jacqueline Waggoner
Is Moneyball the next big thing in education?
Predictive analytics in education can offer a benefit as long as educators heed the differences between how the tools are used in industry and how they should be used differently in schooling. Perhaps most important, teachers already know a great deal about their students ā far more than an investor knows about a stock or a baseball scout about an up-and-coming pitcher.
By: James Soland
Making teacher goal setting more powerful
Most of us believe that when individuals have goals, their performance improves, and this belief is being put to the test in schools today. In an effort to create alignment between district and school improvement efforts, teachers are more likely than ever to have formal performance goals.
By: Andrew Hegedus
Topics: Empowering educators, High-growth schools & practices
Developing more meaningful definitions of college readiness
Complementing traditional quantitative measures with more qualitative tools can help determine college and career readiness.
By: John Cronin, Michael Dahlin