Geography education research has identified several concerns in geography education and recognizes several systemic and cyclical issues which serve to impede effective implementation of geography education. A pattern to be recognized in the review of literature is the consistent communicated concerns of ill-prepared geography teachers.…

Despite ongoing efforts to reform schools, the longstanding racial/ethnic achievement gap still persists, particularly for boys of color; in many cases, the gap is widening, particularly for students transitioning from elementary to middle school. The focus of this study was to examine the impact of effective instructional practices for struggling…

Examining the connections among teacher characteristics, instructional decision-making, and student learning in social studies education are both complicated and contentious. In the current study, we shed light on middle grades social studies teaching and learning--a black hole of research in the subject area. Using data from the National…

U.S. students have lost significant learning in mathematics and other subjects since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics scores for students in grades 4 and 8 reflected record declines; the largest decreases were for students experiencing…

Determining what elementary teacher candidates need to know to effectively teach reading will aid in how preparation programs prepare future teachers. To understand state legislation targeting early reading instruction, this study compared the tenets of structured literacy, the reading method used in dyslexia programs, to scientific reading…

New data and analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds significant progress on the science of reading instruction in teacher preparation. For the first time since NCTQ began publishing program ratings in its 2013 Teacher Prep Review, the number of programs in the nation to embrace reading science has crossed the halfway mark,…

Up until 2020, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scores had increased only slightly since the early 1990s with large achievement gaps for students of color and students living in poverty. Modest gains in fourth grade reading proficiency since 1992 were erased during the pandemic. The insufficient progress in reading even…

The 10th anniversary of Common Core's launch offers the opportunity to take stock of the impact these nearly national standards have had on student learning, as well as their future prospects. In this article, Morgan Polikoff shares his view that the standards movement in general, and Common Core in particular, have achieved all they are going to…

Statistics courses for prospective teachers are being developed in response to recent K-12 curriculum recommendations. As these courses are developed, it is important to design accompanying assessments. This manuscript describes a strategy for assessing aspects of statistical knowledge for teaching. The strategy involves analyzing and responding…

This review describes the conditions for teaching economics in the kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) curriculum in U.S. schools. The first section presents data on course-taking in economics in high schools and state mandates for economics instruction. It discusses the value of the infusion approach to teaching economics either in place of…

This study developed twelve instructional modules based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for mathematics content and methods courses for preservice elementary and middle school teachers and examined their impact on PSTs' mathematical content knowledge and self-efficacy beliefs about teaching mathematics. The modules help…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that many US students are deficient in core knowledge in geography, civics and current events. In this paper, a professor of social studies methods describes an action research project developed to assess and improve teacher candidates' knowledge in these areas. The article explains how data…

In this study, we examined the degree to which the requirements in each state's teacher education programs reflect current theory and practice for teachers of ELLs in their coursework, and how these requirements in turn are related to 4th grade Hispanic ELL's reading outcomes on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. We found that…

In this analysis of promising practice, we demonstrate how social studies methods instructors can incorporate data analysis of the 2010 United States History National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP-USH) to facilitate pedagogical aims, engage teacher candidates in critical discourse, and investigate the contexts of teaching and learning.…

While there has been growing interest in the last few years to address the literacy needs of adolescents, this interest comes when alarming numbers of students are challenged by academic literacy demands in high school. Many students entering high school without passing state assessment examinations are required to take developmental reading…