After the passage of "No Child Left Behind," and especially after Obama-era Race to the Top initiatives, rising accountability for improved achievement and widespread dissatisfaction with the instructional value of statewide test reports led many school districts to purchase computer-adaptive "interim" testing systems. A common…

STEM education was a systematic teaching and/or learning process in the STEM fields and a positive correlation existed between STEM education, and the economic prosperity and power of a nation in the globalized world. In recent years, rising concerns have emerged about American STEM education. Many stakeholders wondered that whether the nation has…

How important is it that every student in a school is excited about learning? Should a student be allowed to use all his/her strengths in learning? Do you know someone who wasn't a particularly good student but has been very successful in life? What these seemingly unrelated questions have in common is an appreciation for the range of talents that…

Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

The field of education has been marked by change initiatives, especially since 2002 and the implementation of No Child Left Behind. Teacher evaluation is a major area of concern in many of these initiatives and the implementation of the Race to the Top in 2009 has place even greater emphasis on Teacher Evaluation. Thirty-seven states made…

Assessment is a hotly contested issue in education today. The education policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emphasizes standardized testing throughout a child's schooling as a major means of assessment. Even at Head Start an attempt was made at standardized testing using the National Reporting System (NRS). Although research indicates that these…

Principals who are determined to help their teachers inspire all students to bold accomplishments while identifying the right strategies for their most complex and struggling learners need to have a relentless focus on making "learning" the core business of school. This isn't the same as emphasizing assessment data, standards, and…

New technology-enabled assessments offer the potential to understand more than just whether a student answered a test question right or wrong. Using multiple forms of media that enable both visual and graphical representations, these assessments present complex, multistep problems for students to solve and collect detailed information about an…

Project-based science (PBS) instruction can simply be defined as a student-centered science teaching approach, in which students produce tangible learning outcomes by posing and answering research questions that are relevant to their own lives and communities. In a PBS classroom, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own…

Childhood is a time when students are naturally curious and want to pursue their interests by learning all they can about the things that intrigue them. This interest-stimulated learning is a valuable template because it is compatible with the research discoveries of neuroimaging--what the brain looks like while it actively processes information.…

Teachers take pride in their autonomy, but there is a downside to the tradition of working independently. If the teaching profession is to advance, Burney suggests, practitioners will need to share their individual craft knowledge with one another, and districts will need to create the conditions that make this possible. In the ongoing effort to…

The discourse on teacher quality has centered on issues of teacher knowledge and teacher skill, yet a third element that is central to all professional standards is teacher dispositions. Although there is no consensus about a definition of teacher dispositions, there are several models in use regarding how dispositions are being addressed. Most…

This brochure highlights key concepts of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) "Thinking Mathematics" courses. Citing adherence to No Child left Behind Act (NCLB) mandates, these courses are: (1) based on scientific research about how children learn mathematics; (2) designed to increase teacher mathematical knowledge; (3) provide a…