A summer school in Science and Technology was held in January 2008 for nineteen Indigenous students commencing year 11 who were identified as having high academic potential in science and mathematics. Known as the Aboriginal Summer School for Excellence in Technology and Science (ASSETS) the summer school was held at the Australian Science and…

Teachers who work together to blend academic and career/technical (CT) instruction have found a key to motivating students to complete high school and prepare for college, advanced training and careers. This newsletter highlights key strategies schools are using to join academic and technical studies to advance student motivation and achievement.…

Each year, Austin Independent School District (AISD) measures students' perceptions of their school environment. This district report examines longitudinal trends in school climate from 2007-2008 through 2009-2010.

This case study of a senior teacher in an Australian high school describes the story of her professional transformation through involvement in the Learning by Design milieu. In so doing, it demonstrates how a pedagogical intervention under particular conditions can transform the learning of students and lead to deep learning. This article…

Growing science apathy at the K-12 education level represents an alarming development with potentially devastating consequences at individual, societal and economic levels. Technology has been incorporated in science education without fundamentally improving test scores or student attitudes. We claim the core of the problem is how technology is…

Despite the growing interest in 1:1 computing initiatives, relatively little empirical research has focused on the outcomes of these investments. The current special edition of the Journal of Technology and Assessment presents four empirical studies of K-12 1:1 computing programs and one review of key themes in the conversation about 1:1 computing…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, project strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Math experts have developed formative assessment lessons (FALs) that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum.…

This issue of the "Progress of Education Reform" features highlights K-12 research on student engagement, a civic orientation and building resiliency. Taken together, they provide a useful, up-to-date look at evidence on the merits of engaging students for achievement and success. It also includes policy implications based on the…

This analysis of data from the Partnership for Literacy Study investigates the relationship among achievement, effort, and grades. Certainly, grades reward achievement, the mastery of material by students. Research has also suggested that grades are used to reward students for exerting effort to learn material, even if students fall short of…

This study adopted a person-centered approach to examine organized patterns of psychological factors and their relations to achievement and engagement in a sample of high school students. Four types of students characterized by unique configurations of cognitive, motivational, and affective characteristics were identified in both the male and…

African-American students in K-12 education experience pervasive disparities in academic outcomes across all areas of the schooling experience. Though racial disparities in education have been widely acknowledged, research must move beyond critiques of individual and student factors to analyze the educational structures and practices that create…

Teachers and administrators in public high schools recognize there is a dropout problem, know they are confronted with daunting challenges in classrooms and in schools, and express strong support for reforms to address high dropout rates. Yet, less than one-third of teachers believe that schools should expect all students to meet high academic…

"High Schools That Work" (HSTW) is the oldest and largest of Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) several school improvement initiatives (which also include "Middle Schools That Work"). The central purpose of HSTW is to engage students so fully in their learning that they stay in school and complete a rigorous, relevant…

In this paper, we follow up the important class size reduction randomized experiment in Tennessee in the mid 1980s (Project STAR) to attempt to further understand the long-lasting influences of early education interventions. While STAR led to large test score benefits during the intervention, these benefits quickly faded at its conclusion.…