Principals' wheelbarrows are full of initiatives: closing learning gaps, preparing for the Common Core State Standards, differentiating instruction, and improving college and career readiness, to name a few. Meanwhile, principals have too few assets in their toolboxes to meet all the hefty demands. Taking the long view, it becomes clear that true…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to demonstrating effective English language communication skills in personal,…

What occurs in most schools and colleges is a ritual pretense lacking substance. Test scores and memorized facts mean little. John Dewey felt that education must be a continuous expansion of a web of connections and understanding that continues throughout one's life. Wisdom is education's true goal. (MLH)

Students' brains are wired to make them natural, curious learners. The mathematical world around them offers a vast classroom, filled with shapes, spaces, quantities, and experiences to discover and explore, all leading to the construction of understanding. Teachers can use this natural curiosity to tap the inborn neural mechanisms that motivate…

This paper describes a technology assessment curriculum developed at Auburn High School (Virginia). The program was used in Honors Biology and General Chemistry classes and is based on Neil Postman's ten principles of interaction between technology and society and Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats," a system of approaching a problem…

This guide for those in the "High Schools That Work" initiative is designed to help teachers use classroom assessment to motivate students to work harder to meet challenging standards; to get students to organize information, make interdisciplinary connections, synthesize new knowledge, and draw conclusions from what they learn; to…

This handbook, which is intended for K-12 teachers in Colorado, explains how to integrate academic content standards and assessments with workplace competencies and school-to-career activities. The handbook is divided into four sections. The first presents the Colorado General Workplace Competencies, which describe the skills and knowledge…