The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

This article describes an elementary science summer day camp at East Palatine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, for students in grades K-4, aided by high school (grades 9-12) student mentors. The school's Outdoor Area for Studies in Science (OASIS) is used for formal and informal studies in science for an elementary science camp week. The camp…

One way to probe students' misconceptions about science during instruction is by using formative assessments. Described as assessments "for" learning rather than assessments "of" learning (Black and Wiliam 1998), they provide teachers with information about student understanding during instruction. Examples of formative…

One of the most powerful strategies to support next generation science instruction is the use of instructional models. The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) instructional model is arguably the most widely used version of a learning cycle in today's classrooms. The use of the 5Es as an…

In this article, the author discusses a graphic narrative or comic book writing assignment in greater detail to demonstrate the pedagogical benefits of teaching comics in the writing classroom. She argues that by assigning students a comic book project, writing instructors can promote competence in academic discourse by helping students learn and…

Teacher evaluations are often designed to serve two purposes: to measure teacher competence and to foster professional development and growth. A teacher evaluation system should give teachers useful feedback on classroom needs, the opportunity to learn new teaching techniques, and counsel from principals and other teachers on how to make changes…

Researchers demonstrated a quarter century ago that schools could effectively employ value-added statistical methods. At the time, only a few states and districts had accumulated the necessary annual assessment data to take advantage of the breakthrough. Today, every state has the capacity to provide educators with value-added data. Yet most…

We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have strong negative feelings toward the area of knowledge…

As the American immigrant population continues to expand, immigrant children and children of immigrants are entering the public school system. To be most effective, new teaching pedagogies must take cultural diversity into account. "Cross-Cultural Considerations in the Education of Young Immigrant Learners" explores some of the…

This study involved 107 teachers assessing their apprehension in communicating within group settings, one-to-one, in meetings, and in large public speaking circumstances. Those involved in the study were teachers pursuing graduate degrees in teacher leadership. School administrator's acknowledging the talents and gifts of teaching faculty, and…

The grade-level instruments that comprise this social studies component of the model competency-based education (CBE) assessment package for Ohio have been constructed to assist teachers in assessing student attainment of competencies with the best assessments possible. The package notes that the individual district may use these instruments as…

Rubrics are tools that formalize the process of evaluation by explicitly stating the criteria to be used for grading. Rubrics help students to evaluate the quality of their work as they progress through a class. They may be very helpful to Ohio adult educators in helping to evaluate the Uniform Portfolio that must be kept on every student within a…

This Handbook, "Identification of Children Who Are Gifted in the Visual Arts: Implementation Handbook for Educators" provides arts specialists and gifted coordinators with procedures for identifying students who are gifted in art. To be effective, the screening and identification process requires participation by personnel with expertise…

This issue paper builds on an earlier ECS publication that reviewed five leading pay-for-performance models or proposals at the time titled, Pay-for-Performance: Key Questions and Lessons from Five Current Models (2001). The Education Commission of the States and The Teaching Commission have joined together on this issue paper to provide: (1) An…

This individualized inservice packet provides teachers with guidelines for the meaningful selection and assessment of print materials, so that they may locate and utilize the appropriate reading content for individual students. It is one of a nine-part series of booklets--Teaching Teen Reading--in self-instructional format, intended as a practical…