Giant maps offer a potentially useful pedagogical tool for teaching mathematics and map skills. In this pilot study, giant maps were distributed to elementary schools in Colorado and New Hampshire and teachers were provided with guided activities designed to integrate mathematics and geography skills. In an assessment of student skills, it was…

Use of electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) has been advocated to highlight student accomplishments as well as to document program and course outcomes. This use of ePortfolios incorporates information technology, thus aligning the educational process in degree programs to twenty-first-century teaching, learning, and information literacy. Here we…

This article presents a new model of education that works with employers to help their employees gain the skills and credentials needed for promotions and career mobility. Southern New Hampshire University's College for America, a competency-based education model for working adults, increases their access to, and the convenience of higher…

The fact that research has shown that fractions are among the most difficult mathematical concepts for elementary school students to master (Behr, Harel, Post, & Lesh, 1992; Bezuk & Cramer, 1989; Moss & Case, 1999) provides a compelling motivation for research and innovation focused on improving the available assessment and…

Nearly all states have standards for student learning and they have assessment programs to measure students' proficiency on those standards. But schools within each state nonetheless are left to develop their own standards-based student report cards as the primary means of communicating information about students' performance. To address the…

The purpose of this paper was to provide information about the virtual learning environment known as PGDnet (the Spanish acronym for "Plataforma de Gestion Docente" or Educational Management Platform in English), which was developed by the innovative education group at the Technical University of Madrid known as "Nuevas metodologias…

Student success is at the heart of both institutional effectiveness and the community college mission, yet measuring such success at community colleges is problematic. This article highlights three efforts to grapple with this problem--a multistate work group of system- and state-level policymakers to create an improved set of student success…

This article explores the strategic compensation efforts of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Texas, which is piloting a system of supports and rewards for teachers and administrators. The article highlights the key components of this system, what it took to put a 4-year pilot program in place, and what results are emerging from…

The purpose of this document is to describe the US ED growth model pilot program from its inception to the point at which the program was no longer a pilot and was opened up to all states. In addition, the paper is designed to help states in the process of planning to submit a growth model proposal. The information in this document is mostly…

The idea that formative assessments embedded in a curriculum could help guide teachers toward better instructional practices that lead to greater student learning has taken center stage in science assessment research. In order to embed formative assessments in a curriculum, curriculum developers and assessment specialists should collaborate to…

The Bologna Declaration brought reforms into higher education that imply changes in teaching methods, didactic materials and textbooks, infrastructures and laboratories, etc. Statistics and mathematics are disciplines that traditionally have the worst success rates, particularly in non-mathematics core curricula courses. This research project,…

A pilot program based in a freestanding ambulatory surgery center at the Chicago Medical School Department of Surgery is described, its curriculum outlined, and the daily activities of the residents and medical students are detailed. A brief history of ambulatory surgery is given. (Author/MLW)

Deploring standardized testing deficiencies, the author obtained state funding to adapt England's Primary Language Record assessment to U.S. classrooms and piloted the literacy portion throughout California. Now 20 schools and districts across 8 states employ the Learning Record Assessment, accompanied by parental-involvement and…

Dissatisfied with the mismatch between letter grades and their new (state-mandated) curricular emphases, the Tucson (Arizona) Public Schools began experimenting with rubric descriptions of student progress. The prototype progress report assesses students in two general categories: learner qualities and content areas. Frequent communication with…

The objectives, staff and facilities, and programming of a pilot project in education of the deaf at the Horace Mann School are described. Discussed are the project evaluation process, admissions policy, student evaluation, audiological services, the pilot class, consultation services at Horace Mann and in other schools, and the recommendations…