background: testing and teaching are interrelated in education process; using various kinds of tests, teachers are able to anticipate the strong and weak points of learning in students, their progress and their accomplishment. the influence of test on teaching and learning is commonly referred to as washback. testing washback is a twisted concept that becomes even more complex under a various i...

The Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory describes a profile of traits that have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, and are thought to encompass a continuum that includes typically developing (TD) individuals. Although systemizing is hypothesized to be related to mathematical abilities, empirical support for this relationship is lacking. We examine the link between empathizing and system...

Historically, one of the most constant features of America’s high schools is the structure of the school day. However, in the 1990s, “The most visible and perhaps significant change in the organization of the high school is the block schedule” (Cawelti, 1997, p. 41). There have been conflicting results regarding the effects of block scheduling on student achievement. Researchers in agricultural...

Does achievement independent of ability or previous attainment provide a purer measure of the added value of school? In a study of 4000 pairs of 12-year-old twins in the UK, we measured achievement with year-long teacher assessments as well as tests. Raw achievement shows moderate heritability (about 50%) and modest shared environmental influences (25%). Unexpectedly, we show that for indices o...

This study examined the relation between adolescent expectancy-value motivation, achievements, and after-school physical activity participation. Adolescents (N = 854) from 12 middle schools completed an expectancy-value motivation questionnaire, pre and posttests in psychomotor skill and health-related fitness knowledge tests, and a three-day after-school Physical Activity Recall. Data were ana...

In recent years, policymakers have sought to close the achievement gap between black and white students in America’s schools. There is strong evidence that ethnic matching strategies result in greater student achievement among African-Americans on standardized tests. However, for all the present evidence, little is known about why ethnic matching leads to higher scholastic achievement. Through ...

We use data on statewide end-of-course tests in North Carolina to examine the relationship between teacher credentials and student achievement at the high school level. The availability of test scores in multiple subjects for each student permits us to estimate a model with student fixed effects, which helps minimize any bias associated with the non-random distribution of teachers and students ...

In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on achievement tests, leading to large differences in the school environments to which students of differing initial levels of achievement are exposed. Using both a regression discontinuity design and rule-based instrumental variables to address self-selection bias, I find that being assigned to a school w...

New Zealand’s compulsory education system produces good outcomes for most students, as evidenced by our strong performance in international tests. However, despite large funding increases, achievement levels remain unacceptably low for some groups. Student achievement can be raised by improving the quality of teaching, which the evidence shows is the largest in-school influence on student outco...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Specific learning disorder WISC-IV General Ability Index Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient Cognitive profile of children with a SLD Theories of intelligence Children with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) are characterized by a poor academic achievement despite an average intelligence. They are therefore typically assessed not only with achievement tests, but ...