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Standardized Tests 
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- Stateline Story
High School Grads Miss Mark
Despite improvements across the board, the majority of high school graduates still aren’t college or career ready, according to a report by ACT, which administers the ACT college entrance test. more
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- Stateline Story
State Test Results Questioned
Minnesota education officials this week credited tougher standards and a new online testing system as part of the reason 5 percent more students passed the state’s math test this year than last. Brenda Cassellius, the state’s education commissioner, predicted that those tougher standards, adopted in 2007, will lead to
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- Stateline Story
New State Tests Coming to Schools
TODAY'S TAKE: The Obama administration is continuing its recent effort to make schools across states adhere to the same standards. On Thursday, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan rolled out a plan to prepare common standardized tests for states to adopt. The new tests, which would replace existing state assessments, have already run into some political opposition. more
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More States Drop Out of 'Race'
TODAY'S TAKE: Alaska and Texas raised eyebrows last year when they declined to join the "Race to the Top," the Obama administration's effort to revamp the nation's K-12 schools by handing out $4.35 billion in grants to states that change their education policies. But with 40 jurisdictions applying and only two winners announced in the first round of the competition, more states are deciding not to participate in round two.more -
- Stateline Story
Reading Scores Stall
TODAY'S TAKE: Reading scores for American children have barely budged over the past two years, a new federal report says, an assessment U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls sobering. Scores for fourth-graders nationwide were flat between 2007and 2009, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress, often referred to as the Nation's Report Card. For eighth-graders, reading scores improved by one point on a 500-point scale. Students in grades 4 and 8 take reading and math tests every few years to produce the reports.more -
- Stateline Story
Summary of the Colorado State of the State Address
In his final state of the state address after announcing he would not seek re-election this fall, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) called for an end to "$10 solutions to billion-dollar problems" and asked the Legislature for its help in balancing the state's budget, advancing green energy and creating jobs. more
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- Stateline Story
Do State Tests Make the Grade?
Order your copy today.A lot hinges on how well students perform on their state tests, including the principal's job and a school's reputation. Yet the difficulty of state tests differs widely. See what's at stake in this excerpt from "State of the States 2008," Stateline.org's annual report on significant state policy developments and trends released Jan. 16.more -
- Stateline Story
National Report Card Shows Big Gains in Math
(Updated 2:20 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 25)American parents can breathe a sigh of relief: their children are making substantial strides in math, and slower but still significant gains in reading, according to new national test results released today. The improvements are sure to boost claims that the controversial No Child Left Behind Act is succeeding in raising student achievement.more -
- Stateline Story
Study Finds Dramatic Math, Reading Gains
A new report finds that most states have seen dramatic improvements in math and reading test results since passage of the No Child Left Behind Act five years ago, but it's too early to tell whether the gains can be tied directly to the law.more -
- Stateline Story
Report: Achievement Gap Still Wide
The achievement gap between students who are white and affluent and those who are minority and poor is still high, according to a report that details how each state is doing in educating its neediest students.more -
- Stateline Story
Education reform shows modest results
State efforts over the past decade to improve public education through stricter standards and testing have increased student scores on national math tests but have failed to boost reading scores, a first-of-its-kind analysis shows.more -
- Stateline Story
Students Show Almost No Gains in Reading
In the latest snapshot of how well American schoolchildren are learning, national test results showed a small gain in math proficiency in the past two years but nearly zero improvement in reading scores since 1992 despite more than a decade of focus on boosting student achievement. About 70 percent of fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide still can't read and do math at grade level, new test scores showed. more
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- Stateline Story
Test Scores Up, But Some Students Still Being Left Behind
In its first three years, the federal No Child Left Behind Act has succeeded in raising students' test scores in reading and math in 36 states and is narrowing the achievement gap between white and minority students in half the country, a new study finds. However, educators say they lack the money, tools and teachers to meet the needs of 6,000 of the nation's worst-performing schools.more -
- Stateline Story
High Schools Failing Generation Next
From the White House to all 50 statehouses, a consensus is growing that something is seriously wrong with Americas high schools. The troubling conclusion from a new survey of students, professors and employers is that four out of 10 high school graduates are inadequately prepared to enter college or hold down a job. more
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- Stateline Story
Costly New Testing Program Certifies Few Teachers
More than a year after it was launched, a privately run teacher certification program backed by $40 million in federal grants is recognized in only five states and has certified just a half dozen teachers. Some education experts call the program a waste of money, and congressional Democrats are pressing for an investigation. more
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- Stateline Story
Bush Suggests New High-School Tests
President George W. Bush wants high school students to take even more tests before graduating. His education proposal, part of his re-election campaign agenda, would impose an extra demand on states already struggling with extra costs and testing required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It also would put another strain on high school students already being tested for rigorous courses, college acceptance and graduation. more
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- Stateline Story
High School Exit Exams Set Low Bar
States are setting a low bar for high school seniors and measuring only middle school knowledge on English and mathematics tests required to graduate, according to a new study. Math tests required for high school diplomas in six states measure what students in other countries are learning in seventh and eighth grades, and English exit exams cover material that most U.S. students should have covered by 10th grade or sooner, the report found. more
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- Stateline Story
States Sugar-Coat Graduation, Teacher Data, Studies Find
Some states are using rose colored glasses when they report graduation and teacher qualification requirements to the federal government, according to two new reports released Monday (12/22). more
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- Stateline Story
High School Exit Exams Challenge States
States are forging ahead with high school exit exams despite opposition from irate parents, anxious students and critics who complain the tests tend to flunk poor, minority and disabled students more than whites, a new report said today. more
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- Stateline Story
New England States Lead Nation in Writing Scores
New England states led the country in posting higher writing scores for fourth- and eighth-graders, according to a new federal report released July 10 that serves as a benchmark for how well states are improving their students writing. more