In response to national and state trends promoting inquiry-based social studies over the last decade, social studies teacher educators at the University of Kentucky revamped their pre-service program to create alignment around the key inquiry concepts of questions, tasks, and sources. Part of the program revision involved the creation of a new…

Shenandoah Valley Governor's School is an Academic-Year Governor's School sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education. In addition to state funding, three local school districts support the school's STEM and Arts and Humanities programs. Juniors and seniors from seven high schools attend this shared-day, selective regional school. This…

This report explores the extent to which states (and several large cities) are positioned to provide high quality preschool education on a large scale. States and cities that are already doing so or that could do so with modest improvements offer opportunities for advocacy to advance access to high quality early education as well as for rigorous…

This article presents generalisations drawn from experience gained designing and renewing study programmes so that the use of learning outcomes became the underlying principle of curriculum organisation. Conceptions of a purpose (profile), aim and outcomes of a study programme are presented, their formulation requirements are discussed and…

The purpose of this "Handbook" is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the "2010 School Improvement Grant" (SIG) program--section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--in order to achieve the program's clear goal--rapid improvement of persistently…

In this article, relevance of practice during university studies is highlighted, as well as the main stages of its organisation, qualitative parameters, as well as criteria and indicators that validate them are defined. Discussion on the idea that taking into consideration qualitative parameters of organising practice as a component of studies…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the reading success of children in the elementary grades: reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria included use of…

The Masters Level Opportunities and Technological Innovation in Vocational Teacher Education project (http://motivate.tmpk.bmf.hu/) aims to develop the use and management of virtual learning environments [VLEs] in the area of vocational teacher training, drawing on a well established international partnership of institutions providing both…

In this paper it is argued that the current trend of making assessment criteria more explicit in higher education may have a deleterious effect on students' learning. Helping students to concentrate on assessment criteria paradoxically means that they may take a strategic approach and end up focusing on the superficial aspects of their assessment…

PRECEDED BY SUMMARIES OF THE RATIONALE AND CURRENT STATUS OF ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION, 12 GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING EXISTING CURRICULUMS ARE PRESENTED AND DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOKLET. THE GIVEN GUIDELINES CONSTITUTE A CANON OF CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM AND ARE CONCERNED WITH (1) THE EXISTENCE OF CLEAR AND…

Examines the growing body of demonstrations of performance of Black Studies programs and criticizes unattended measurement and conceptual confusions. Proposes quantitative and qualitative models for evaluation of programs. (Author/KH)

This paper discusses the role of the Speech Communication Association regarding issues of assessment and testing in speech communication in the public schools. The paper describes the genesis of the 1990 summer assessment conference for oral communication skills (held in Denver, Colorado), outlines the goals undertaken, enumerates the resolutions…

Career programs should be designed as instructional systems, with strategies and instruments for assessing student performance and outcomes developed early in the program development process, as soon as the exit abilities of graduates are defined and before the curricular and instructional patterns are established. (MSE)

In this article, the author discusses two major conclusions about initial preparation programs in the United States. On the upside, a good deal of energy and hard work is being poured into attempts to revitalize preparation programs. On the downside, people are not seeing much in the way of real improvement; that is, most of the change is on the…

National Evaluation Systems, Inc., has developed curriculum evaluation techniques, in terms of learner verification, which may be used to help the curriculum-development efforts of publishing companies, state education departments, and universities. This document includes a summary of the learner-verification approach, with data collected about a…