High school teachers Gallagher and Kittle describe a 9-week unit on writing a narrative they created (and taught at their respective schools) that gave students many chances to practice different elements of writing a story. Their unit "spiraled" students back to key skills at each step, giving extended writing practice often lacking in…

"Writing is a core skill for living, not just for school," writes high school English teacher Penny Kittle. Although it's important to teach students the conventions of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, teachers don't need to approach this task "like scolds, red pens in hand, stamping out sin, and punishing…

Teachers and administrators at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego, California, wanted to create a grading system that reflected understanding while still encouraging students to practice. They developed course competencies, or performance assessments, that teachers use to measure what students know and can do with the concepts…

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the time spent talking about, preparing for, and taking tests has increased exponentially in schools. The authors contend that all this testing has done little to increase achievement or close achievement gaps, but has had unintended negative consequences. "The tests," they write,…

Describes a program in Hauppauge High School on Long Island that has reversed its declining S.A.T. scores. (JM)

Despite a policy focus on educating the whole child, China continues to struggle with a culture of testing, placing a premium on academic knowledge to the detriment of a more well-rounded curriculum. Students are overworked, lack adequate sleep, and have little time for anything beyond school work. The Chinese Ministry of Education has enumerated…

Through her work as a consultant, Burns has found that a handful of students in all classes lack an adequate foundation in basic math concepts and lag far behind their peers in both understanding and skills. Students who lack a foundation on which to build new learning are generally not well served even by well-planned, differentiated instruction;…

In evaluating a private school's incorporation of computers into the curriculum the researcher noted that the use of drill-and-practice programs taught students that computers are boring. They did not get any understanding of the varied uses for computers. (MD)

Abolishing direct-instruction and skill-practice opportunities could have serious consequences for special-needs learners. Teachers should provide explicit and focused, even isolated instruction as needed and integrate it into the larger literacy context. This means conducting ongoing assessments of each student's abilities, skills, and progress…

In Japan, after-school schools prepare students for admittance to "right" colleges. Japanese families spend about $240/month per child for supplementary instruction five days a week and half-days on Sunday. Cram-school teacher salaries range from abysmal to over $400,000 a year. Only few universities are considered first-rate by…

A teacher of Limited English Proficient elementary students in California describes how she put her students through daily timed read-aloud drills to boost their scores on a benchmark assessment of reading rate that her school district required. Corn briefly reviews the rationale behind measuring reading rate as an indicator of fluency. The reason…

Describes the Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Program developed to help Chapter 1 students learn better thinking skills that improve basic skills and social confidence. (MD)

Many South Chicago schools are successfully using older technologies, including photomechanical language-lab consoles, revamped and networked PCs, and "ancient" software packages rivaling today's expensive, repackaged products. Re-use is cost-effective. Schools should differentiate among computers' capabilities. Despite big industry's…