The work students create should help them develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed in the adult world. In this article, the authors identify adult roles essential for young people to develop and outline ways teachers can use curriculum standards to create assignments and assessments that prepare youths for those adult roles in society.…

Schools that encourage teachers to do excellent work, as Boston Arts Academy (BAA) does, are "professional learning communities." A professional learning community exists when the entire faculty and staff, including the administration, work together towards a shared set of standards and assessments that are known to everyone, including…

This study explored the use of case-based pedagogy to promote preservice teachers' problem-solving proficiency. Students in a web-supported course called CaseNEX learned to use a problem-solving approach when analyzing multimedia case studies. Their performance was compared with students in two groups who had no exposure to case methods--other…

The purpose of this action research project is to motivate elementary students in writing, specifically in the areas of creativity, detail, and accuracy. The teacher researchers wanted to develop self-motivated and knowledgeable writers. This project was conducted from September 2nd, 2008 to January 30th, 2009. The targeted students enjoyed…

Two experienced teacher educators describe a framework for effective teaching that can be applied in any subject area and grade level. Their detailed review of the structures, processes, and content of effective practice provides you with lots of practical tips you can use right away, including: (1) How to teach both the depth and the breadth of…

Despite the growing interest in teaching second language (L2) pragmatics, the issue of assessment of learners' pragmatic skills, particularly in the context of the classroom, seems to be less prominently discussed, even though the assessment is an integral part of the instruction. This qualitative case study aims to demonstrate an…

Quality Matters[TM] (QM) is a set of standards to measure the quality of instruction and design in online or hybrid courses. Adopted by a growing number of institutions nationwide, QM is based on best practices and instructional design research. To meet or exceed QM standards requires that resources and learning activities in an online course…

A study was conducted to develop a technical skills assessment tool for the training and development of challenge course facilitators. Researchers accessed two professional on-line listserves to collect a sample size of twenty-seven currently used technical skills assessment tools. The assessment tools were critically analysed by three independent…

Curriculum design gurus Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, authors of "Understanding by Design," coined the term "backwards design." They recommend educators to begin with the question: What would we accept as evidence that students have attained the desired understandings and proficiencies--"before" proceeding to plan teaching and learning…

Accreditation is a mark of distinction indicating that an institution has met high standards set by the profession, and an increasingly important feature of the accreditation process in higher education is "outcomes assessment." This article presents two rubrics for evaluating the quality of an institution's outcomes assessment system. One rubric…

In this article we present an instrument to be used by students and professors to evaluate classroom dialogue. We begin with an explanation of the classroom community of inquiry and why we value it as a pedagogical approach. We then describe our different reasons for evaluating classroom dialogue--including institutional, professional and…

Several benefits of using scoring rubrics in performance assessments have been proposed, such as increased consistency of scoring, the possibility to facilitate valid judgment of complex competencies, and promotion of learning. This paper investigates whether evidence for these claims can be found in the research literature. Several databases were…

One way to help students learn to read science and teach the content simultaneously is by incorporating classroom strategies that actively engage students in thinking, talking, reading, and writing about science. To maximize the probability that strategies will be effective is to use a learning cycle as a guide when designing lessons. This article…

This article introduces an activity based on Standard 12 of the "Standards for Technological Literacy" that will help students develop good writing skills. It also describes the elements of a writing prompt and of a rubric, the advantages of using rubrics, and the writing development process itself. It provides an activity through which students…

The Reading, Engaging, and Learning project (REAL) investigated whether a classroom intervention that enhanced young children's experience with informational books would increase reading achievement and engagement. Participants attended schools serving low income neighborhoods with 86% African American enrollment. The longitudinal study spanned…