Students learn at varying rates, and if a misconception in mathematics develops early, it may be carried from year to year and obstruct a student's progress. To identify fallacies in students' preconceived ideas, "Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics" offers educators a powerful diagnostic technique in the form of field-tested assessment…

This book was written to be a comprehensive snapshot of the field of curriculum trends over time. The information included in the book was guided by three criteria: (1) The trend must have been present in some form for 5 to 10 years or longer; (2) the trend had to be of interest at federal, state, and local levels; and (3) the trend had to…

A member of the Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network, a national organization of rural teachers interested in school reform, discusses the challenges that rural teachers face in creating criteria for evaluating student performance. Suggests that bringing teachers', students', and parents' voices into a community discussion about how to measure…

Head Start, special education, and general preschool teachers (n=586) completed a survey designed to examine their use of assessments and curricula. They provided a range of responses, including reported use of 21 commercial assessments and self-developed and program-developed checklists. A majority listed curriculum-based measures acceptable in…

Explored the relationship between the developmental appropriateness of kindergarten classroom instruction and first-grade overall and individual subject area reading test averages. Found that first graders from more appropriate kindergarten classrooms had higher reading averages than children from less appropriate kindergarten classrooms. Gender…

Twenty general education teachers participated in a project that combined curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and peer tutoring (PT) for students with learning disabilities in the regular classroom. In interviews, the teachers specified a large number of academic, social, and instructional benefits of the methods, and they also identified several…

Describes an alternative, multicomponent assessment model that increases the probability of early identification of at-risk children who demonstrate the potential to be gifted. The model combines the use of traditional intelligence tests with nontraditional assessment strategies, including behavioral observations and curriculum-based assessment.…

A study involving 24 special educators and 31 regular educators found that special educators using transenvironmental programming who received curriculum-based measurement information about their students' academic progress were more likely to plan and implement academic interventions in preparation for students' transition than those who did not…

Twenty-nine elementary special education teachers each monitored 2 students with mild disabilities using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) for 16 weeks. Students whose teachers implemented CBM more accurately made significantly greater math gains than students whose teachers either implemented CBM less accurately or who did not use CBM. Adequacy…

Discusses six themes related to inequalities in education and their impact on student achievement: Social inequities, curriculum and assessment, teacher expectations, teacher allotment inequities, social choice, and funding inequities. (Contains 48 references.) (PKP)

Analyzes the outcomes of a learning assessment approach used at a Midwest community college. Reports that data were obtained from students' scores on prompts and the college's student information management system. Finds that: (1) 76% of prompts were scored at a level that indicated students met general education achievement levels; and (2) 55% of…

Increasingly, elementary schools across America are adopting prereferral intervention models that follow a structured problem-solving consultation process to reduce referrals to special education and to improve student academic outcomes. One feasible and affordable systems-level solution for a school that must deliver reading interventions of high…

Although many behaviorally-based instructional practices have been shown empirically to promote student achievement, it is unknown to what extent teachers receive adequate training in these methods. This study surveyed master's-level elementary, secondary, and special education students about their coursework and applied training in 25 behavioral…

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…

This is the second part of a two-part report of a study about the instruction of children who are learning or using both braille and print simultaneously (dual media). It explores the instructional methods and curricular decisions of teaching dual media to students with low vision and reports the students' current literacy levels and reading rates…