Blog Posts
Major Changes Coming to the NAEP Reading Assessment
2026 is a NAEP year, with 4thand 8thgrade assessments given between now and the end of the school year. In addition to the usual assessments in reading and math, 8thgraders will also be tested in civics and U.S. History. You can find the NAEP calendar of upcoming assessments here .
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Getting Ready for PISA
The latest scores from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) will be released on December 5 at 11:00 AM Paris time (5 AM in New York City and 2AM in Los Angeles).
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The U.S. Homework Load Continues to Plunge
In short, yes, homework continued to decline. Like so many trends in education that began before covid--public school enrollment losses, stagnant test scores, reports of disruptive students, chronic absenteeism--the pandemic seemed to magnify, but not initiate, trends that had started earlier.
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More Evidence that the CA Math Framework Cites Flawed Research
In Education Next I criticized the proposed California Math Framework for basing recommendations on bad evidence. The State of California now seems to agree that using a particular assessment, going by the acronym of MARS (a collection of math tasks) to evaluate student achievement is unwarranted. In May, the California State Board of Education considered and rejected the test when issuing a List of Valid and Reliable Assessments required by California Education Code Section 47607.2.
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