For many middle school students, connections between their lives and concepts like chemical reactivity, microbial contamination, and experimental sampling are not obvious. They may also feel that, even if there were connections, understanding the monitoring and quality of natural resources is something for grown-ups and beyond their…

"Louisiana Believes” embraces the principle that all children can achieve at high levels, as evidenced in Louisiana's recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). "Louisiana Believes" also promotes the idea that Louisiana's educators should be empowered to make decisions to support the success of their students. In…

"It's All Connected" provides teachers of mathematics the support they need to improve their instruction. This in-demand collection of lessons for grades 6-8 explores proportionality, proportional relationships, and proportional reasoning, acknowledging that the ability to reason proportionally is crucial in the middle school mathematics…

This new addition to Math Solutions "Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class series" offers a wealth of lessons and strategies for modifying grades 6-8 instruction. Section I presents an overview of teaching math to English learners: the research, the challenges, the linguistic demands of a math lesson, and specific strategies and…

"The Power of Probability" is a new math program aligned with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and Common Core State Standards, which gives students opportunities to practice their skills and knowledge of the mathematics of probability. Developed by The Actuarial Foundation, the program's lessons and worksheets motivate…

Based upon the models of differentiated instruction (Tomlinson and Edison 2003) and Layered Curriculum (Nunley 2004), the author created the Unit Pages strategy. Just like Layered Curriculum, the pages can be handed directly to students, allowing them to take charge of their own learning rather than requiring the teacher to individually monitor…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

The end of 7th grade provides an important moment to assess how prepared California's students are to succeed in the more advanced math curriculum that starts with algebra. At a minimum, all California students are required to successfully pass Algebra I in order to receive a high school diploma. But Algebra I also functions as the gateway to more…

Since 2005, the National Indian Education Study (NIES) has provided educators, policymakers, and the public with information about the background and academic performance of fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. This report, the second in a two-part series based on the 2009 NIES survey,…

In an ideal world, curricula would be designed in response to the developmental needs of learners, but this may not be the reality of the current situation. States have a variety of standards, and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for student performance on tests that are intended to align with these standards. As a result, student…

The "English Standards of Learning Enhanced Scope and Sequence" for grades 6-8 is a resource intended to help teachers align their classroom instruction with the content found in "English Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools," adopted by the Board of Education in November 2002. The Enhanced Scope and Sequence…

This article looks at a strategy that integrates eighth-grade mathematics, science, history, and English through thematic study. Each of the themes used in the South Carolina Studies project focuses on a particular landform region within the state. (Contains 3 figures.)

Education is the building block of every student's future. To ensure all students have every opportunity to succeed, Indiana adopted world-class academic standards in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies and an assessment system to measure student progress. This booklet clearly spells out what students should know and be…

This planning grid for teaching visual arts in grade 8 in Delaware schools outlines the following six standards for students to complete: (1) students will select and use form, media, techniques, and processes to create works of art and communicate meaning; (2) students will create ways to use visual, spatial, and temporal concepts in creating…

The Idaho State Department of Education gathered teams of exemplary educators from throughout the state to write courses of study related to Idaho Achievement Standards subject areas. In turn, all of the state's school districts received hard copies as well as online access in order to assist them to incorporate the Standards as a more integral…