Outgoing "Voices from the Middle" ("VM") editor and incoming Vice-President Kylene Beers remembers the origins of the National Council of Teahers of English (NCTE), the long struggle to establish the best curriculum and assessment practices possible, and the frustration with the current emphasis on teaching to the test. Leaders…

Contends that understanding history is more than remembering isolated facts: it involves interpreting, hypothesizing, and evaluating. Provides recommendations for preparing elementary students for the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). (CFR)