As an outgrowth of the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, districts are increasingly implementing "interim" or "benchmark" assessments. This report investigates various stakeholders' original purposes in adopting interim or benchmark assessments, ensuing implementation efforts, and actual assessment…

In today's school reform discussions, the teaching profession is often mistakenly viewed as a singular activity. Evaluating teachers for their performance in the classroom assumes that the focus should be on each individual teacher. Merit pay and performance pay both assume that student achievement is the result of only the individual teacher. But…

In the study reported here, the authors examined the LEs (learning expectations) related to Grades 1 to 8 number and quantity in mathematics across several US states and high performing TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) Asian countries, including Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. The general strategy used is based on the topic…

The United States' Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce is growing slower than in the past, in comparison to demand, and in comparison to other countries. Competitive talent conditions require the United States to develop a strong pipeline of STEM talent within its own citizens. Given the number of female college…

Are children's statements about their futures related to outcomes in middle age? In 1966 almost 13,500 children ages 12-13 were asked whether they thought their futures would be worse, similar or better as compared to others of their own age. It was shown that children with low, and surprisingly high, expectations did suffer from increased…

Cooperating teachers play a vital role in the professional development of student interns. Although they serve as mentors, most cooperating teachers do not receive comprehensive or coordinated preparation for their role as effective mentors. This article presents findings from a qualitative research study exploring the perceptions of nine…

With education's ever-changing and increasing expectations, including response-to-intervention, schools are required to make significant changes in practice to meet the needs of all students. The effectiveness and efficiencies garnered in implementing prevention-oriented, schoolwide approaches to instructional delivery provide the necessary…

Men's body image problems may manifest as an unhealthy drive for muscularity and propensity to use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Aspects of objectification theory were integrated with literature on men's drive for muscularity and AAS use to identify correlates of these problems. The resultant model was tested with path analyses of data from…

When it comes to academic achievement, many parents in upper- and middle-class communities have gone overboard, hiring tutors for their preschool children and going to enormous lengths to secure a spot for their child in a prestigious college. Even though poor children face many hardships, teenagers in affluent families suffer emotional and moral…

Trying to figure out the promotion and tenure system is one of the major stressors for new Extension faculty. To help new county-based Extension faculty, their supervisors, committee chairs, and other mentors evaluate progress in the probationary years, a Roadmap with specific guideposts delineating expectations for pre-tenure years was developed.…

Students often play a passive role in large-scale lectures in undergraduate mathematics courses: they observe the lecturer demonstrate mathematical procedures, but they rarely engage in authentic mathematical activity themselves. This study uses semi-structured interviews of undergraduate students to investigate the implicit and explicit social…

This study used a desktop virtual environment (VE) of 15 large-scale residential streets to test the effects of environmental mystery and surprise on response. In theory, mystery and surprise should increase interest and visual appeal. For each VE, participants walked through an approach street and turned right onto a post-turn street. We designed…

This study investigated the impact of emotion expectancies on adolescents' moral decision making in hypothetical situations. The sample consisted of 160 participants from three different grade levels (mean age=15.79 years, SD=2.96). Participants were confronted with a set of scenarios that described various emotional outcomes of (im)moral actions…

This study of a large sample (n = 3035) examined relationships between study-related burnout and components of the teaching-learning environment, achievement motivation and the perceived meaning of life. The overall model, tested with structural equation modelling, revealed that the factor of the teaching-learning environment correlated with both…

As ideas and personnel flow across borders, there are many opportunities for instructional designers to collaboratively design online modules with international teams. These collaborations can take many shapes, as varying levels of localization and within-team communication are employed. This paper looks at ten guiding principles that are shaping…