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The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is the most sweeping policy legislation in the history of public education in the United States. It is an umbrella for many federal government initiatives impacting public education, including ESEA, Title I, the large federal compensatory education program that began as part of President Johnson's “Great Society” program in the mid-1960s. A brief review of selected interventions to improve public education and social justice for poor African-American public school students, whose education was heavily impacted by decades of slavery and other forms of racism are discussed. Specific requirements of NCLB are presented in detail, including a review of advantages and disadvantages of this legislation. Since its implementation, NCLB has been unpopular with many public school districts and professional education organizations because it seeks to hold them accountable for results obtained with different subgroups of students. Several recent challenges to NCLB are discussed as well as concessions to reduce requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) recently negotiated between the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) and state departments of education will permit more school to make AYP. Parents views of NCLB and public education in general are presented. Finally, a discussion of poverty, as seen through the revealing lens of Hurricane Katrina, and its impacts on achieving the laudable goals of NCLB are presented in this chapter.

Purpose – To provide a resource for educators and graduate students that contains information about using formal assessment data to plan literacy instruction and intervention.

Design/methodology/approach – Several aspects of formal assessment are presented, including a definition of formal assessment, types of formal assessment scores, commonly used formal assessments, and recommendations for using formal assessments for individuals and groups. Information about formal assessment is informed both by documented sources and the experiences of the authors.

Findings – The authors provide an overview of common, commercially available assessments designed to measure literacy achievement in either individuals or groups. Reviews of formal assessments include scores, number of forms, literacy domains measured, and published reliability figures. Recommendations for formal assessment use include using assessment data to plan instruction and intervention for both individuals and groups. In addition, a case study is presented demonstrating the efficacy of using formal assessment data to plan instruction and intervention in a K-6 elementary school in the United States.

Research limitations/implications – The review of commercially available individual and group literacy assessments does not constitute an exhaustive list.

Practical implications – Information about formal assessments, assessment score types, and formal assessment uses is consolidated in one location for easy access by graduate students and other educators.

Originality/value – This chapter provides graduate students and others in the field of education an overview of formal assessments and how formal assessment data can be used to make instructional decisions for both individuals and groups.

This study, a post hoc observational one, attempted to determine if career and technical education (CTE) students in the state of Mississippi would academically benefit from taking multiple formative assessments in an online format prior to completing their summative exams. Most CTE students in the state of Mississippi are required to take an end-of-course exam cataloged as the Mississippi Career and Planning Assessment System (MS-CPAS). Previously, MS-CPAS test score results did not impact school-wide accountability scores, but in recent years, some of the guidelines were changed so that these summative test scores now play a vital role in school accountability and rankings.

This study examines both formative and summative online exam scores for more than 13,000 students who have taken an MS-CPAS assessment in the 2018 and 2019 school years.

The results of this study revealed that there were significant differences in summative exam scores for students who took two online formative practice tests when compared to groups of students who did not take any formative practice tests. This study also illustrated a positive correlation between those students' final online practice test scores and their summative exam scores.

These results would prove very beneficial to both CTE teachers and directors in helping them understand the benefits of introducing formative practice tests into their programs to boost student understanding.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two years of results for one state’s performance-based assessments for principal licensure Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL). This includes the field trial (2014–2015) and first year of statewide implementation (2015–2016) when passing score requirements and fees were added. Survey results on candidates’ career aspirations provide concurrent validation.

Two years of PAL submissions (n=569 candidates) were scored by trained, certified scorers. Task and total score results were compared by year, preparation pathway and gender. Online feedback survey results on career aspirations for (n=146 candidates) were compared by year.

The results show that PAL assessments measure independent dimensions of leadership, differentiate candidates on leadership knowledge and skills, and confirm PAL’s internal validity. Implementation year scores were higher than field trial scores, and preparation program candidates scored better than non-program candidates did. Candidate career aspirations were stronger in the implementation year than during the field trial.

The study is limited to one state’s candidates, but findings are generalizable based on the wide range among candidates’ districts (demographically and economically).

The results are promising for the leadership preparation and assessment field, demonstrating the effectiveness of performance assessment for authentic evaluation of leadership candidates’ knowledge and skill and overall readiness for initial leadership work.

This is the first large scale performance assessment for aspiring leaders designed for state licensure decisions. It is being replicated in another state and shown promise for both formative and summative leadership assessment.

Although NCLB and IDEA 2004 require that all students participate in state and district assessments, special arrangements can and should be provided for students who have special needs or circumstances. NCLB requires that school districts provide students with disabilities access to appropriate accommodations if necessary to take the statewide assessment. Students with disabilities are to be held to the standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled, although in some situations, accommodations or modifications may be needed to get a true picture of a student's achievement.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an American healthcare organization's experience creating the first multi-facility trauma system managed by a private, nonprofit organization.

A leadership structure was established to initiate the first steps of system development, followed by needs assessments that identified key components essential to creating the interconnected system. The key components were applied as a result of evidence-based system development. After system implementation, early benefits were explored.

Data collection and research, prehospital support, system-wide quality improvement, rural outreach, communication, and system evaluation were identified as key components essential to creating an interconnected trauma system. The system currently connects 12 trauma centers throughout the state of Colorado while working within the parameters of an established statewide system. Early benefits included improved designation review results, the utilization of system-wide best practice protocols, a rich trauma registry, and closer relations with rural, out-of-network facilities.

This study describes the process undertaken to implement a unique medical system that provides regionalized care and complements an existing statewide trauma system. The authors hope their experience may serve as a roadmap for healthcare professionals wishing to develop an integrated, patient-centered model of care.

The development of this multi-facility trauma system within a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization is the first of its kind.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a statewide assessment of worksite health promotion (WHP) programs to identify the number of comprehensive programs and the health needs of worksites in Kentucky.

A random sample of 1,200 worksites in Kentucky was selected to receive the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Worksite Health ScoreCard to collect cross-sectional information on their health promotion practices.

Few worksites in Kentucky have WHP programs and even fewer have comprehensive programs. More businesses rely on health insurance to treat chronic diseases than WHP programs to reduce chronic diseases. Small companies were less likely than larger companies to have WHP programs and less likely to have intentions of starting a program.

The response rate of 37 percent was a potential threat to external validity. Respondents had to recall activities conducted during the past 12 months, which could have led to recall bias. Response bias was a potential, as many of the respondents were human resources personnel who may not be as familiar with WHP programs in their worksites. Lastly, four sections of the survey had yet to be validated.

WHP programs, if accessible and comprehensive, have the potential to improve the working population’s health status.

Very little information on the availability and effectiveness of health promotion programs at worksites is available. A statewide assessment on WHP programs has never been conducted in Kentucky.

The purpose this study was to determine currency of print health materials readily available in North Carolina public libraries, through a statewide assessment. Two subject areas were examined: health reference and diabetes.

In total, 30 randomly selected public libraries were visited and unobtrusive stacks assessments were completed. Some months later, the libraries’ websites were examined for collection development policies, and online catalogs were searched using the keyword diabetes to identify possible discrepancies and additions.

For visits, publication dates for reference books ranged from 1899-2014 and the average number of holdings was 10 (range 0-30). The most common reference item, the AMA Family Medical Guide (2005), was available in 6 of 30 libraries. In diabetes collections, publication dates ranged from 1983-2013; the average number of books was nine (range 0-26). The Atkins Diabetes Revolution (2004) was the most common, available in 9 of 30 libraries. Two-thirds of libraries did not have a collection development policy online. Catalog searches revealed 10 titles prior to 1983 and 18 titles (non-cook books) from 2014-2016.

The study found overall that print health reference books were outdated. In diabetes collections, there were also many outdated items. It appears that regular weeding to assure currency of print health literature is not taking place.

The study demonstrates that public libraries may not be providing optimal print health information. With unprecedented access, it is imperative that librarians in all types of settings aid in health literacy promotion by assuring access to reliable and timely health information.

In the past five years, state education agencies (SEAs) have increased the number of social and emotional learning (SEL) policies, oftentimes engaging stakeholders across the state. However, few use multiple sources of stakeholder engagement data to develop and improve their SEL standards and resources (Yoder, Dusenbury, Martinez-Black, & Weissberg, 2020). This chapter describes the experience of a nonprofit research organization supporting an SEA and a volunteer workgroup in Washington state to gather and use several forms of stakeholder input and feedback in developing statewide SEL guidance for K-12 educators. Operating from a research–practice partnership framework (Coburn & Penuel, 2016), the team assisted the workgroup members in applying both an ecological systems theory perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and an equity lens to their work through an iterative process of data collection, interpretation, and use. This chapter describes the process and outcomes of this research–practice partnership and provides examples of how the workgroup incorporated stakeholder input and feedback into the development of SEL guidance and resources. We offer insights and lessons learned from these efforts to expand the perspectives represented in SEL research and policymaking. Our aim is to highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement to ensure that SEL guidance considers the priorities and values of diverse communities, especially historically marginalized communities. We hope to encourage more research–practice partnerships to investigate and amplify community perspectives in SEL.

Why create another collection assessment tool? One reason is the highly personal nature of the assessment process. Each local library describes and evaluates its own collection in relation to the library's goals for meeting the needs of its local clients. In our times of focusing on local needs, each library wants to customize the assessment process to meet local challenges as closely as possible. These local needs are greatly felt in the data collection step of the assessment process. An intermediate tool is helpful for collecting and organizing appropriate categories of data to prepare information for entry onto the WLN Conspectus worksheets and database, or into other assessment methods if desired.