In order to improve the accuracy of students' placement into California Community College English as Second Language (ESL) courses and move them more efficiently toward completion, the statewide Common Assessment Initiative (CAI) is developing placement processes for student assessment in credit ESL that contain a multiple measures component. As…

A group of teachers at Clifford Smart Middle School in Michigan's Walled Lake Consolidated School District have broken free from traditional grading in order to embrace a more meaningful grading practice. Using standards-based grading practices, they believe their grading now accurately communicates to students and parents the student's mastery…

In this Brief the authors first report on evidence about the effectiveness (or, unfortunately, in too many cases, the ineffectiveness) of remediation and then provide information about the progression of students through the developmental sequence. They discuss problems associated with the crucial assessments and make a brief statement about…

One model that can help middle school educators provide an effective system of instruction and early intervention is response to intervention (RTI). RTI is a schoolwide process that integrates instruction, intervention, and assessment. The alignment of instruction, assessment, and interventions promotes a stronger, more cohesive program of…

This article describes the steps of moving from state curriculum standards for writing to selecting and teaching a writing strategy to designing curriculum-based assessments in writing. The relationship between assessment and instruction is strengthened as educators monitor student progress in the state curriculum standards, make sound…

A Number of good ideas can help improve the achievement of low-performing students and close the achievement gap, including determining the placement of veteran teachers, purchasing new curricula, and providing after-school tutoring. However, it is the teacher--and what the teacher does in the classroom--that makes the most difference for…

Seven years of industrial experience followed by 30 years of academic research and teaching in structural engineering have led the author to believe that the prime objective of a university design course is not the design project itself but to train students to solve problems, as this will last them throughout their careers. It is shown how design…

Faced with uncertain budgets and increasing pressure from high-stakes testing, among other challenges, educators easily can fall into the trap of equating teaching with the presentation of information and then blaming students when outcomes are inadequate. To move beyond this simplistic approach, educators must continue developing as teachers who…

Social studies teachers face pressures from demands for greater emphasis in the areas of multicultural aspects of the world population, expansive technological changes, citizenship and moral education, and accountability for basic competence. The latter demand offers an opportunity to return to the broad perspective of teaching students not "what…

Prepared for instructors in adult literacy programs, this paper summarizes a reading curriculum designed to meet the needs of a predominantly Spanish-speaking community. The reading instruction curriculum is presented as a sequence of educational objectives under five headings: basic skills, structural analysis, vocabulary, comprehension, and…

This publication presents the foreign language profession's consensus on selected topics and is designed to address areas of interest to instructional leaders and practitioners who are concerned with developing and maintaining effective second language programs. The topics are grouped into four sections: "Preparing for the…