Educators and laymen have always expressed opinions with respect to the efficiency of our schools. In recent years there has been developed, along with a refinement in the technique of investigation in education, a remarkable public interest in the attempts to evaluate our educational practice. School inquiries, investigations, or surveys have…

This document contains the September 1958 through May 1959 issues of "School Life," a monthly publication of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Office of Education. The journal issues cover a variety of topics across education sectors, enrollment projections, national school physical-plant needs and economics, state…

Discusses problems related to urban education and suggests ways that classrooms may be restructured. Concludes that educators must draw on both environmental factors such as the home and the classroom social group, and academic and organizational alliances in order to effect meaningful change in urban schools. (MW)

Describes the first administration of the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) to fifth-grade students. Discusses the history of CLAS, types of questions employed, content coverage, methods of scoring, and reporting on tests results. Presents sample questions, student responses, and commentary on student performance. (CFR)

Five short articles and sidebars present elementary classroom tips, a Westward Movement simulation, technology in the classroom, parental involvement, student assessment, celebrating National Book Week, celebrating Geography Awareness Week, writing contests, antiviolence programs, map making, selecting software, monthly celebrations, a mathematics…

Data from the Canadian Test of English for Scholars and Trainees (CanTEST) are compared to data from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to establish CanTEST as a valid admissions tool for English-as-a-Second Language college applicants. Data are taken from four groups of examinees who took both tests. (eight references) (LR)

Describes the development of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) tests which predict student success in mathematics on the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) and readiness for college mathematics. Institutions wishing to expand ethnic diversity in teacher education must help minority students prepare for tests like the TASP. (SM)

Explores the cumulative impact of repeated standardized testing on student attitudes and motivation. By high school, a large number of students, especially low achievers, become disillusioned about tests, are less motivated to give genuine efforts, and increasingly use inappropriate test-taking strategies, undermining test validity and genuine…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is the use of a "real world" problem or situation as a context for learning. The present study explores the use of PBL in an online biotechnology course. In the PBL unit, student groups dealt with the ethical, legal, social, and human issues surrounding pre-symptomatic DNA testing for a genetic disease. Issues…

Training preservice teachers to develop a predisposition toward constructivist instruction is a major goal for many faculty in teacher education. One critical attribute of a constructivist teacher is a strong hold on pedagogical content knowledge. This study examined the prior knowledge of preservice science teachers and how that knowledge aligned…

In this paper the authors identified the size of America's home market as a crucial component of its historical comparative advantage. The authors showed that over the last four decades nearly 60 percent of per capita U.S. growth has been dependent upon growth in the domestic consumption. Thus, a comprehensive demand side strategy also must target…

The fundamental principles underlying the "No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001" focus on high standards of learning and instruction with the goal of increasing academic achievement--reading and math in particular--within all identified subgroups in the K-12 population. One of these subgroups is the growing population of English…

"Minding the Gap" argues that in today's highly competitive, global economy, all young people need a postsecondary education. Yet only one in ten students from the lowest economic quintile in the United States currently earns a postsecondary credential. This timely and instructive book from Jobs for the Future explores policies and…

A program to train volunteer teachers of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) is described and evaluated. The program was designed to enrich skills for teaching listening, reading, and speaking, and increase volunteers' appreciation and understanding of the multicultural backgrounds of the students in one adult basic education center. The…

This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the…