Resources

Resources

• Leadership Insider, July 2004 [PDF 456,888kb]
  In this issue: Career, technical, and vocational education; effective programs and their importance for closing achievement gaps and improving core content.
  
• State High School Exit Exams: A Maturing Reform [PDF 2,410,574kb]
  A publication of the Center on Education Policy. Third in a series of annual studies of the implementation and effects of state high school exit exam laws, the report reviews the impact of exit exams on curriculum and instruction, alignment with state academic standards and other education policies, impacts on students, supports and options for students, and recent changes to state systems.
  
• Pay Now or Pay Later: The Hidden Costs of High School Exit Exams [PDF 1,113,873kb]
  A publication of the Center on Education Policy. The report studies the considerable costs of exit exam policies in three states, highlights where such costs frequently are underestimated, and discusses ways to lessen these costs without pulling back from the academic requirements.
  
• Department of Education issued draft guidance on the standards and testing provisions of NCLB [HTML 1,213kb]
  On March 18, 2003, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued draft non-regulatory guidance on the standards and testing provisions of NCLB.
  
• Testing, Accountability and the State Under NCLB [PPT 125,952kb]
  2002 Power Point overview presentation by NSBA Director of Federal Programs Dan Fuller. Members only.
  
• School Consequences for Failure to Make Progress [HTML 1,773kb]
  Outline of consequences for a school’s failure to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” in student test scores under the No Child Left Behind Act.
  
• Student Testing and Assessment: Answering the Legal Questions
  A 2000 publication of the NSBA Council of School Attorneys, available for purchase. Topics include an overview of state testing laws and federal activity, a framework for making policy decisions about test use, discrimination and due process issues that may arise, considerations for testing special student groups, such as children with disabilities and limited English proficiency, and accountability of educators, schools and districts based on student test scores.
  
• National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest)
  This advocacy organization “works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid, and educationally beneficial,” with an emphasis on “eliminating the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests, and preventing their damage to the quality of education.” Provides information on a range of testing concerns, including in K-12 area.