The classroom assessment process can have encouraging results when it begins with "early assessment" that addresses student learning, as well as the social and emotional needs of student(s) in the classroom. This paper presents a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis for classroom assessment. It will review literature…

Public opinion trends over the last five decades show that lack of discipline continues to be one of America's top public educational concerns. This trend suggests that alternatives to the traditional model are urgently needed. In this traditional model of classroom management, based on behaviorism and still common in some areas, discipline is…

A large body of research has demonstrated the value of fostering peer interaction in the context of collaborative group work as an effective strategy to facilitate learning. The present study attempted to enable teachers in a varied sample of 24 Scottish primary classrooms to improve the quality of collaborative group work interaction among their…

This article explores how teachers manage classrooms to facilitate the intellectual engagement of disengaged students. The author proposes that teachers create an environment conducive to intellectual engagement when students perceive: (a) that there are opportunities for them to succeed, (b) that flexible avenues exist through which learning can…

Don Zancanella challenges us to step away from the everyday tasks of teaching English to reimagine the larger idea, asking, "What should high school English be?" Eight teachers, researchers, and writers briefly answer this question, offering their versions of what high school English could be.

Person-centered instruction recognizes the importance of internal motivation in learning. It is difficult, however, for many teachers to hold on to their early visions of interacting in classrooms filled with internally motivated students. This may be due to escalating demands for test score accountability. It may be due to reliance on packaged…

The aim of this article is to show the importance of literacy practices in the implementation of education policy, using as an example the system of student assessment in adult literacy education. The author reports on an ethnographic study of the practice of planning learning and recording progress through the use of individual learning plans…

We adopted the method of classroom observation and carried out research on five elementary school teachers in western China's rural areas who have shown enormous transformation after receiving training on participatory teaching to investigate the strengths and weaknesses in teachers' practice of participatory teaching. Results indicate that (a)…

Current curriculum initiatives in mathematics call for the development of classroom communities that take communication about mathematics as a central focus. In these proposals, mathematical discourse involving explanation, argumentation, and defense of mathematical ideas becomes a defining feature of a quality classroom experience. In this…

This qualitative study looked at how early childhood teachers talk about and interact with the most powerful children in their classrooms--the student leaders. Relying primarily on interviews with six teachers in early childhood classrooms (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) within a University-affiliated center, this paper reconsidered…

The Classroom Assessment Project to Improve Teaching and Learning (CAPITAL) examined teacher change and development with regard to classroom assessment. The National Science Foundation supported the four-year effort to study how teachers modify their practices to create the conditions for the kinds of assessment that foster learning. The authors…

This study was a pilot effort to examine the relationships among a series of factors within the practice of a teacher who is attempting to implement the Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) curriculum into his/her classroom. The factors included the content being taught, the pedagogical choices made, the "intentionality" of the efforts related to…