At the core of standards-based reform are content standards--statements about what students should know and be able to do. Although it is "state" standards that are the focus of much public attention and consume substantial resources, many local school districts have developed their own content standards in the major subject areas.…

This is the first of two papers that develop a framework and encourage discussion of research and programmatic concerns on arithmetic word problem solving. The two papers include a comprehensive framework for expanding the traditional three to five sentence word problem into a scheme that assures problems will be of a variety of structures and…

Facilitating participatory processes in graduate leadership classrooms appears to be a natural precursor to students modeling the development of democratic environments in their future work. Doing so, however, might require the involvement of students in a variety of activities heretofore the domain of professors. One example of such a democratic…

Is it possible for principals/heads to be effective educational leaders? In this study, we compared the work of principals/heads in two policy contexts. In Policy Context 1, standards for student performance were common and well-established, and authority was devolved to the school level for reshaping the school to meet those standards. In…

This paper presents a model for using technology to help fulfill the Council on Social Work Education requirement for international content in the social work curriculum. The literature on including global content and using Web-based technology in social work education is reviewed. Special considerations for international Web-based discussions are…

This article outlines BPRS funded investigations into my own school's and other establishments' practices and processes within data analysis, needs identification and tracking of children's academic progress. It describes the evaluation of my school's then current practices and policies and the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews…

Teacher education in music has its strength in knowledge and skills but is lacking an emphasis on the general purpose of schooling, more attention to the student, greater flexibility in the requirements in music, a focus on scholarship in and out of music, and access to the remainder of the curriculum. In short, the research data in education do…

"Personalised learning" and the value of national assessment data in achieving it have been identified by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills as essential for raising educational standards. Employing multilevel analysis, this paper compares children's end of primary school (Key Stage 2) test scores with those they achieved…

What sorts of instruction do students experience in high school English? Most research findings rely on small-scale, localized contexts. The purpose of this study is to provide a national portrait of high school English by documenting its overall quality on several dimensions that are theoretically important. In addition, the study examines…

As the context of special education has changed in the last quarter century, the role and work of the IEP team also has evolved. Today, the general education curriculum is central to the educational programs of all students. The expectation that is clearly communicated in federal policies and regulations, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and…

In this article, the author analyzes the intertemporal consistency of high school grades as predictors of the academic performance of business administration students over a 2-year period by using data from a university in Germany. This study shows how students' average high school grades and a range of other factors are regressed on the students'…

Teachers' beliefs about science reform have an important effect on how science is taught. This article examines a kindergarten teacher's science curriculum as she seeks to implement five of Washington State's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for core concepts and principles of science. The authors examine factors that affect…

High Schools That Work (HSTW) Assessment data show the need to improve science education in both the middle grades and high school. Science education increases students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This publication is designed to help principals, other school leaders and teachers identify rigorous instruction and successfully…

Teachers can promote long-lasting learning, build higher-order thinking skills, develop individual student accountability, and increase student achievement by incorporating performance learning tasks into the curriculum. In this second edition of "Performance-Based Learning," Sally Berman demonstrates how this model can be modified for learners at…

This study examined the final program approval for new postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and program review policies and procedures for existing programs based on publicly available Web sites and on follow-up interviews with representatives in the final state approving agency. The purpose of the study was to inventory the…