The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards calls upon social studies teachers to enhance the rigor of civics, economics, geography, history and the other social studies disciplines while building the critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills of students to help them become actively…

The problematic issues related to standardized assessment of the nonstandard and to multiple ways of knowing in the visual arts motivated the research and first phase development of eLASTIC: electronic learning and assessment tool for interdisciplinary connections. In this article, the author describes the evolution and implications associated…

In this article, the authors argue for a design process in the development of educative curriculum materials that is theoretically and empirically driven. Using a design-based research approach, they describe their design process for incorporating educative features intended to promote teacher learning into existing, high-quality curriculum…

This report examines the ongoing effort to revamp teacher evaluations. After collecting and synthesizing data from 17 states and the District of Columbia, it provides five major lessons for policymakers. New evaluation systems are just one part of sweeping changes in American schools. Because the number and extent of these changes are daunting,…

As teachers in Georgia utilize formative assessments to ensure successful performance on the state mandated Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), it is essential that the data they receive from these assessments are accurate. This study examined the correlation between the computer-assisted instructional program, Classworks, and student…

The objective of this action research study was to explore the use of formative assessment (daily quizzes), including identification of student weaknesses or lack of understanding, along with instructional correctives that are different from previous instruction, to help students attain the intended learning goals. Part of the exploration was to…

Children understand the natural world in ways that make sense to them before they learn any science in school. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue helps students connect scientifically correct ideas to what makes sense to them.

Students were involved in the curriculum design of a statistics course. They completed a pre-assessment of their confidence and skills using quantitative methods and statistics. Scores were aggregated, and anonymous data were shown on the first night of class. Using these data, the course was designed, demonstrating evidence-based instructional…

This article examines the scope for IT-enabled assessments to serve simultaneously both learners and the enterprise of education. The article proposes ways of combining frameworks that come from two different perspectives: 1) a conceptual approach to assessment design for computerized assessment based on evidence-centred design (ECD) and 2) a…

Design-based implementation research offers the opportunity to rethink the relationships between intervention, research, and situation to better attune research and evaluation to the program development process. Using a heuristic called the intervention development curve, I describe the rough trajectory that programs typically follow as they…

A new score report based on a mechanism of formative assessment and feedback is developed to offer individual testees not only their final scores but also their sub-scale scores, their percentile position, as well as corresponding feedback on self-regulation strategies. Structural equation modeling is adopted in the confirmatory factor analysis to…

SEAs, LEAs, and schools need to develop a "Unified and Comprehensive System of Learning Supports" in order to enhance equity of opportunity for all students to succeed at school and beyond. Such a system directly addresses barriers to learning and teaching and re-engages disconnected students. Developing the system requires transforming…

In conjunction with the relaunch of the Digital Learning Transition (DLT) Massive Open Online Course for Educatos (MOOC-Ed) in September 2013, the Alliance and the Friday Institute released "The Digital Learning Transition MOOC for Educators: Exploring a Scalable Approach to Professional Development", a new paper that describes the…

The purpose of this article is to describe passage effects on "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills--Next Edition Oral Reading Fluency" ("DIBELS Next ORF") progress-monitoring measures for Grades 1 through 6. Approximately 572 students per grade (total "N" with at least one data point = 3,092) read all…

Analysis of the impact of professional learning and development (PLD) programmes for educators is complex. This article presents an analysis of a PLD initiative in which classroom teachers learned to use narrative assessment for students with "high" and "very high" learning needs. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory…