This embedded-single case study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the 8th-grade music curriculum through the lens of Eisner's Educational Connoisseurship and Criticism Model. An initial survey involving 146 music teachers was conducted to determine the middle school grade-level music curriculum for evaluation. Subsequently, 15 music teachers, six…

In this paper we present data from one-on-one interviews conducted with students who have taken intermediate and advanced inquiry-based mathematics courses in a program that prepares future preK-8 teachers. Many of these students entered college with a fear of math, but then gained confidence from a required introductory math course and chose to…

This case was developed for use with future school leaders in an educational setting. There are several topics of discussion that can be developed, including but not limited to policy implementation, the efficacy of professional learning communities, and improving student learning outcomes. The setting is a solidly performing middle school in the…

Description: Effective with the 2014/15 school year, Mississippi adopted new academic standards and courses aligned to these new standards. The new courses included both a subject-specific mathematics sequence (that is, algebra I, geometry, and algebra II) as well as an integrated mathematics sequence (that is, integrated I, integrated II, and…

The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the states that have designed strong history standards and note what has made them exceptional so other states might do the same. They include Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. The report draws on interviews with individuals from each state who sat on…

Each year, the Rennie Center collects state-level indicators in our Data Dashboard to provide context on the condition of education in the Commonwealth. This data is collected from the MA Department of Early Education and Care; MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; MA Department of Higher Education; U.S Census Bureau; and U.S.…

Helen Murray, Rachel Burney and Andrew Stacey-Chapman show how they strengthened three goals of their practice--secure knowledge, narrative shapes and conceptual analysis--by securing strong connection between them. The curricular focus that drew all this together was "historical continuity", a property crucial to narrative, but often…

In March 2014, The National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education, convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) of practitioners to provide input on research needs in education and how research could be more…

Over the past decade, national initiatives have shifted States' attention to the challenge of turning around low-performing schools. The lack of consistent, dramatic improvements in the lowest-performing schools reflects the severity of the school turnaround challenge, but also suggests the need to continuously evaluate and refine turnaround…

Background: Several states have implemented childhood obesity surveillance programs supported by legislation. Representatives from Idaho wished to develop a model for childhood obesity surveillance without the support of state legislation, and subsequently report predictors of overweight and obesity in the state. Methods: A coalition comprised of…

Intent on building inquiry-based digital science learning experiences for K-5 students, this research study began with the formation of a tight partnership between state and local educational agencies, higher education, and university scientists and researchers. The primary focus of this partnership was to deliver high-quality, inquiry-based…

An early warning system is a data-based tool that helps predict which students are on the right path towards eventual graduation or other grade-appropriate goals. Through such systems, stakeholders at the school and district levels can view data from a wide range of perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of student data. This "Statewide…

The Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley is an educational consortium with four members: Clarkson University, State University of New York at Potsdam, State University of New York at Canton, and St. Lawrence University. Access to higher education at the Associated Colleges has been a special ongoing interest and mirrors a national…