The Core Knowledge curriculum is a K-8 curriculum focused on building students General Knowledge about the world they live in that is hypothesized to increase reading comprehension and Reading/English-LA achievement. This study utilizes an experimental design to evaluate the long term effects of attending Charter schools teaching the Core…

Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require…

A new movement in American higher education aims to transform the teaching of civics. This report is a study of what that movement is, where it came from, and why Americans should be concerned. What we call the "New Civics" redefines civics as progressive political activism. Rooted in the radical program of the 1960s' New Left, the New…

Allowing high school students to fulfill a math or science high school graduation requirement via a computer science credit may encourage more student to pursue computer science coursework. This Education Trends report is an update to the original report released in April 2015 and explores state policies that allow or require districts to apply…

What common values do diverse Jesuit institutions share? In what ways are Jesuit colleges and universities working to maintain mission, identity, and traditions within the context of 21st-century higher education? To ground their response to these questions, the researchers first review the historical and ecclesial developments that have…

Opponents of the Common Core State Standards are ramping up legislative pressure and public relations efforts aimed at getting states to scale back--or even abandon--the high-profile initiative, even as implementation proceeds and tests aligned with the standards loom. Critics of the common core have focused recent lobbying and media efforts on…

"enVisionMATH," published by Pearson Education, Inc., is a core curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade 6. The program seeks to help students develop an understanding of math concepts through problem-based instruction, small-group interaction, and visual learning with a focus on reasoning and modeling. Differentiated…

It is not known the extent to which CTE teachers compared to core teachers, student advisors, and administrators perceive the value of CTE programs in relationship to the 21st century skills needed for success in employment and postsecondary endeavors and the professional relationships needed to adequately support and grow CTE programs. The sample…

The common standards are not just for public schools. With all but four states having adopted them since 2010, districts have little choice but to implement the Common Core State Standards. But many private schools are also making the transition. Many Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and other private schools have adopted at least portions of the…

The Common Core is at a critical juncture. While many surveys show that support for the standards themselves remains strong, implementation has not been without major challenges. "State Accountability in the Transition to Common Core," a new policy brief from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, provides cautionary advice about what key…

Internships for academic credit serve as a joint venture between the university and the business communities, helping both groups meet their organizational objectives. Businesses gain qualified, temporary workers with verifiable skills for specific job needs. Administered properly, the academic credit does not merely certify on-the-job training,…

With research indicating that upwards of 50 percent of all new entering postsecondary education students are placed into remedial education and that students placed into remedial education are less likely to earn a postsecondary credential, policymakers and postsecondary leaders alike have committed themselves to transforming remedial education in…

The authors are presently in the fourth year of a six-year, lottery-based randomized control trial (RCT) studying the effectiveness of nine Colorado charter schools that have implemented Core Knowledge®. Core Knowledge (CK) is a comprehensive K-8 curriculum for language arts, math, science, social studies, visual arts, and music that is intended…

"Core-Plus Mathematics" is a four-year curriculum that replaces the traditional sequence with courses that each feature interwoven strands of algebra and functions, statistics and probability, geometry and trigonometry, and discrete mathematics. The first three courses in the series provide a common core of broadly useful mathematics,…

Performing the review and assessment of masters' level degree programs can be an overwhelming and challenging endeavor. Getting organized and mapping out the entire review and assessment process can be extremely helpful and more importantly provide a path for successfully accomplishing the review and assessment of the entire program. This paper…