This lesson asks 12th grade students to imagine that they are special assistants to the Undersecretary of Commerce for a foreign country who must answer a letter from a U.S. company planning to move its manufacturing operations overseas. The lesson also asks them to design a business brochure that will convince the company to come to their…

This Delaware state content standards booklet for teaching grades K-5 social studies in Delaware public schools begins with a one page chart outlining information for the disciplines of civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The booklet addresses standards for civics, lists end of cluster expectations for the end of grade three and the…

The purpose of this document is to support school districts in their efforts to serve the special needs of English language learners (ELLs) in reaching high academic standards as well as in attaining English language proficiency. The materials included should provide educators with information on appropriate and effective services for ELL…

The School Improvement Specialist Project prepared seven modules. School improvement specialists, as defined by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory at Edvantia, are change agents who work with schools to help them improve in the following areas so as to increase student achievement. These modules are intended to provide training materials for…

No population exists where it is more important to produce information literate individuals than teacher candidates, yet few would suggest that practitioners newly entering the field are adequately prepared to model and teach information literacy to their students. Consequently, information literacy has recently been established as a key outcome…

This paper provides a discussion of some of the dilemmas that face teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). The author suggests that end-of-course assessments of ESL students should include a measure of growth, gain, or value-added, as well as measures of students' mastery of the English standards or English course criteria. Research has…

As part of Louisiana's efforts to expand and improve the quality of its early childhood programs, a committee of educators from across the state collaborated to develop standards for programs serving 4-year-olds. This guide presents program standards to assist the ongoing development, evaluation, and improvement of early childhood center-based…

This paper situates the notion of foreign language (FL) standards within a larger culture of standardization grounded in (1) the context of FL education, (2) the larger political and educational context of standards based reform and standardized assessment, and (3) the pervasive linguistic culture and ideology associated with the notion of…

This guide is designed to assist Florida teachers helping students achieve the Sunshine State Standards for Special Diploma. To meet the needs of students with disabilities more effectively and to align with the intent of the Sunshine State Standards and the Florida System of School Improvement and Accountability, the Student Performance Standards…

The Tennessee social studies state standards present a vision of every child matriculating into a civic-minded citizen armed with the six content (culture; economics; geography; government and civics; history; and individuals, groups, and interactions) and four process standards of knowledge (communication; data analysis; historical awareness; and…

In recent years, the Boston Public Schools have generated many successful changes in practice and produced significant improvements in student results, focusing on the improvement of teaching and learning to enable all students to achieve high standards of performance. Steps supporting standards-based reform were taken in the areas of teaching and…

The School BUS (bottom-up simple) model for school accountability uses local standards-based assessment data to improve schoolwide performance during the year, and from year to year. This system derives its ideas from abundant professional literature about successful school renewal. A local accountability process should link changes in school…

These Connecticut Curriculum Trace Maps for music are designed to help curriculum developers and teachers translate Connecticut's K-12 performance standards into objectives and classroom practice. The music Trace Maps provide specific descriptions of what students should know and be able to do at smaller grade level clusters. Connecticut's Trace…

The Connecticut Curriculum Trace Maps for music are designed to help curriculum developers and teachers translate Connecticut's K-12 performance standards into objectives and classroom practice. The Trace Maps provide specific descriptions of what students should know and be able to do at smaller grade level clusters. The elements in the Trace…

This study examined how five high-poverty Texas high schools, which had attained notable achievement levels on selected academic indicators, reached their present levels of performance. The schools shared several characteristics: most students were economically disadvantaged; the location was in a large urban district; there was no selective…