Reflecting the ideas of many diverse individuals and organizations involved in reading education, this booklet presents Reading Framework for the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which provides the guidelines and theoretical basis for the 1992-2003 reading assessments. The first chapter, What Is the NAEP Reading…

Intended for teachers of grades 4-8, this book is designed to challenge students to think critically about the books they are reading. Projects in the book incorporate creative writing skills and artistic and oral development. The book is designed so that teachers can choose the projects that best connect with their students' interests and…

This book provides many diverse ideas for creating a learning environment that is alive with discovery and discussion, but peaceful and respectful, too. The book offers activities and practices from classrooms all over the United States that focus on year-long practices that promote a sense of community: 20-minute class meetings, effective…

This book is intended for middle and high school teachers who are committed to the process-writing model and are eager to encourage their students in the last step of the process--publication. The book offers specific writing ideas and classroom activities that help students develop the confidence and ability to publish in a wide market, and it…

This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the…

This book reports on several studies of the attitudes of college students in the 1990s, tracing the differences which have developed in the last decade. A representative sample of 9,100 undergraduates was surveyed in 1993, and interviews and small focus groups were conducted with student body presidents, student newspaper editors, and student…

Many times, college students are exposed to the communication discipline solely through the basic public speaking course, allowing limited opportunity to experience critical thinking and writing within the discipline. This paper examines the importance of teaching critical thinking and writing skills in the basic course, encouraging educators to…

Portfolio design is integrated as an early project in the teacher education curriculum at the University of Idaho. The project provides students with a first experience in gathering and organizing data for the purpose of tracking professional growth and development. It also provides faculty with an authentic assessment tool. The portfolio causes…

This history of service learning traces the work of 33 advocates, scholars, and practitioners since the early 1960s. Chapter 1 defines service learning and identifies a representative and influential group of "service learning pioneers." Chapter 2, titled "Early Connections Between Service and Education," by Seth S. Pollack, offers a conceptual…

This document consists of the four quarterly issues of the journal "Understanding Our Gifted" published during 1997. Each issue of this journal generally has a single theme in the education of gifted and talented children around which all the articles are focused. The themes of these four issues are, respectively,…

This document is a collection of eight position papers on a research agenda in higher education. The papers are based on a three-year analysis of trends and feedback deriving from conferences and Website presentations. Each paper ends with a list of specific proposed research questions. Following an introduction by Cynthia S. Johnson, the papers…

This report summarizes assessment activities and indicators of institutional effectiveness at Trident Technical College for 1998-99. The college measures institutional effectiveness through Goal Attainment Scaling, a flexible measurement process designed to develop criteria for assessing each program, student service, and academic unit. The…

Students need democratic models operating in their daily lives and opportunities to exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities. From 1995-1997 an action research project studied the effect "Judicious Discipline," a democratic citizenship model for school and classroom management, had on students, educators, and parents.…

This report details the development of a student outcomes assessment of general education by faculty members at Coconino Community College (CCC) (Arizona). This assessment project consisted of three major components: (1) The General Education Assessment Pilot Project (Faculty members dedicated a semester to measuring student achievement of course…

The purpose of New Jersey's Visual and Performing Arts Standards is to improve student achievement in arts education, not arts-as-entertainment, not art-assembly projects, not art-as-activity. An education in the arts requires curricular scope and sequence and the intellectual rigor of experiential learning. The Visual and Performing Arts…