What pandemic-related test waiver requests suggest about states’ testing priorities

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened tensions around standardized testing policy and prompted the United States Department of Education to allow states to request waivers from federal standardized testing requirements. Paul Bruno and Dan Goldhaber describe the waivers that states requested and received, what they suggest about how state test results might be used for different purposes and by different people, and what uses of testing seem to be most salient to policy makers. They conclude with recommendations for policy makers about how to design testing policy that can both improve educational outcomes and maintain robust political support, objectives achieved at best imperfectly by existing testing policy.

Development and Validation of the Trait Test Anxiety Inventory - Short

We develop and present validity evidence for a new 12-item self-report measure of test anxiety, the Trait Test Anxiety Inventory - Short (TTAI-S), following Kane’s validation framework. Data were collected from three independent samples of college students in the U.S. (N=552; Mage=22.25 years). Scoring validity was evidenced by good internal consistency and confirmed structure as a single factor. Generalization validity was evidenced by scalar measurement invariance based on the sample (Internet v. community) and subgroups (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, and parental educational attainment). Extrapolation validity was evidenced by significant associations between the TTAI-S score and two theoretically relevant constructs (state test anxiety, self-efficacy). These findings support the psychometric integrity of the TTAI-S, which may be used to investigate trait test anxiety in a variety of contexts.

The Longitudinal Effects of School Improvement Grants

School Improvement Grants (SIGs) exemplify a capacity-building investment to spur sustainable changes in America’s persistently lowest-performing schools and stimulate the economy. This study examines both short- and longer-term effects of the first two cohorts of SIG schools from four locations across the country. Dynamic difference-in-differences models show that SIGs’ effects on achievement in Grades 3 to 8, as measured by state test scores in math and English language arts, gradually increased over the three reform years and were largely sustained for 3 or 4 years afterward. Evidence on high school graduation rates, though less robust, also suggests SIGs had positive effects. SIGs’ effects on students of color and low-socioeconomic-status students were similar to or significantly larger than the overall effects.

Stress in Post-Secondary: Toward an Understanding of Test-Anxiety, Cognitive Performance, and Brief Mindfulness Meditation

Premised on cultivating present-moment awareness, mindfulness meditation (MM) programs have been shown to significantly reduce state-anxiety and improve cognitive performance in post-secondary students. With increasing popularity, briefer MM formats have been introduced to post-secondary institutions to combat the rising prevalence of student test-anxiety. However, research examining the efficacy of brief MM on a state-level test-anxiety response and its ability to improve cognitive performance in a testing situation is sparse. The present study examined the immediate effects of brief MM on state test-anxiety and cognitive performance. A sample of 50 undergraduate college students (N = 50) were randomly assigned to a brief MM or a control activity. In the current study, it was hypothesized that there would be lower state test-anxiety levels and higher cognitive performance in the brief MM group than the control group. Results revealed that the brief MM group had greater state test-anxiety reduction than the control group at post-treatment. Consistent with previous work, brief MM, however, did not promote any specific short-term benefits for cognitive performance. Our findings, however, converge with past research to suggest that brief MM may produce immediate, short-term state test-anxiety relief. Immediate anxiety relief may be beneficial for students during stressful academic periods.