How do we determine if incoming students are ready for college-level work? California's community college system is currently working to address this complex question in a more nuanced, comprehensive, and equitable way. This research brief offers insights that can inform these efforts resulting from the Student Transcript-Enhanced Placement Study…

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

Developing a community of people interested in improving student reading achievement is an ongoing trend in education. Time and effort need to be put forth to become engaged in studying and promoting reading achievement. With high stakes state-mandated testing, it becomes even more important for teachers, school administrators, and the lay public…

Research with preadolescent hearing-impaired children has found that the quality of specific family behaviors and interactions is associated with increased achievement in reading and mathematics. Recommendations are made for parents and practitioners regarding home/school interaction, attitude clarification, and use of the teacher as model.…

To explain reading level clearly to parents of learning disabled children, teachers must focus on two broad areas: the differences between standardized tests, and the occasional mismatch between sequence of instruction and the test items, per se. (CL)

Mentors need to be carefully selected to assist new teachers in making a successful transition from student teaching to being fully licensed and certified to teach in the regular classroom. During the school year, the mentor may help the new teacher in a variety of ways--one is to build confidence in the new teacher for teaching and another is to…

Summative evaluation of student achievement in reading emphasizes determining learner progress at the end of a unit of study, end of course, or end of the school year. Generally, state mandated tests stress an end of the school year percentile which is to indicate the present state of learner achievement. This paper discusses and analyzes…

Intended for new and experienced teachers in grades K-8, this book takes readers through a process of thinking about how to put portfolios into action. The book models a process for making decisions about the type of portfolio, what to place in it, how to structure the interactions with it, and how to use it to evaluate student progress and report…

Following the journey of one elementary school as its teachers strived to provide appropriate and authentic learning activities for all students, this book explicates the development and use of rubrics and how they fit into an effective and authentic assessment program. After a preface, chapters are: (1) Introduction to Rubrics; (2) Developing and…

A review of research data focused on the effects of parental involvement on children's reading achievement and ways in which parents can help promote children's reading achievement. The review included 35 studies (which are briefly summarized) of (1) parents' attitudes about their involvement in their child's education, (2) the positive effects of…

Noting that parents have considerable influence on their children's learning during the process of general socialization, this paper reviews literature from primary and post primary schools about involving parents with their children's reading development. Following an introduction which summarizes the pertinent literature, the first section…

This report examines the correlates of successful social and educational strategies of a dropout prevention program for minority children in an urban school district. In 1986, Fordham University's Graduate School of Education and Social Services became partners with a heavily-populated minority public school district in New York City. This paper…