Teachers may feel uncertain about how to ensure that all students, including students with identified disabilities, those at risk for learning disabilities, and English learners, achieve the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in vocabulary. At the same time, they are also searching for practical, concrete ideas for incorporating the CCSS in the…

This paper investigates some of the cross-cultural challenges faced by faculty members teaching transnational higher education in a foreign country. It employs the intercultural competence process model and attempts to provide some best practices that are already implemented in an international branch campus (IBC) in Uzbekistan. Hopefully, this…

The purpose of this study was to examine how competency-based learning (CBL) is defined across states in the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands region and gain insight into barriers and facilitators to implementation of this reform. Many states in the region have started to consider and implement competency-based learning as a…

This article provides suggestions for teachers and practitioners on vocabulary activities that can help kindergarteners attain the vocabulary standards proposed by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The activities and examples included in the paper stem from an efficacy study I recently conducted with Dr. Michael Coyne and colleagues with…

This article focuses on writing instruction and the necessity for this instruction to be modified regarding the use of literacy in everyday life. Reviewing literature about standards, motivation, and writing instruction makes the implementation of authentic writing tasks evident as a necessity for increasing student motivation and allowing for…

The Next Generation Science Standards ("NGSS") were developed by teachers, scientists, and leaders in science and science education from around the country and are endorsed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), a partner in the development of the "NGSS." This article presents an example of how to modify a lab to…

Education has a long-standing practice of turning worthwhile learning goals into lists of bits. One might even say that this practice is the original sin in curriculum design: take a complex whole, divide it into small pieces, string those together in a rigid sequence of instruction and testing, and call completion of this sequence…

As teachers begin to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), they are challenged to focus on informational texts across the disciplines and engage children in critical thinking about complex scientific ideas. In this article, we present an integrated science-language arts lesson that explores…

This article argues that the exponential increases in the Grade 12 (Matriculation) passes post 1994 do not necessarily translate to quality because of the low performance norms and standards set for passing Grade 12. It further calls for a serious reflection and interrogation of existing policies on performance, benchmarks, teacher education…

Performance-based assessment clearly represents an indispensable approach for assessing gifted student learning. Challenging performance tasks allow gifted learners to reveal their considerable intellectual capacity and energy. Through performance tasks, teachers gain insights into a gifted student's true level of capability in a domain of…

The authors, two high school teachers, endorse the Common Core State Standards saying they will improve teaching and learning. The Common Core, they say, not only help students acquire the skills for success in life after high school, but they offer consistency in a student's educational journey and let employers know what to expect.…

Most people are familiar with the practice of medical rounds, in which interns and mentoring physicians visit patients in an institutional setting, observe their various conditions, discuss what they observed, and analyze possible treatment options and outcomes. In the medical profession, making these rounds is viewed as a significant and highly…

Purpose: In this article, the author discusses 2 points raised by Kamhi (2014) in his lead article to this clinical forum: (a) the need for speech-language pathologists to consider typical language development as they plan intervention and (b) the importance of addressing complex syntax. Method: A hypothetical scenario of a 7th grade English class…

During the past several years, middle schools and high schools have been shifting their attention to disciplinary literacy. The Common Core State Standards are explicit in requiring teachers to teach the literacy of science, literature, and history, and even states that are not part of Common Core (such as Texas) are making this shift as well.…

This disguised case features a marketing major, Susan Lafleur, who presented Professor Higgins, the Department Chair, with a dilemma. She needed a petition signed to enroll in a capstone course while simultaneously taking a prerequisite course. She received an employment offer from a prestigious overseas corporation, which required a baccalaureate…