The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Family Engagement." Contents include: (1) Solving the Digital Divide Requires…

Twenty years after the publication of "Inside the Black Box," the landmark review of formative classroom assessment, international education experts Christine Harrison and Margaret Heritage tackle assessment for learning (AfL) anew, with fresh insights gained from two decades of research, theory, and classroom practice. "The Power…

Evidence-based practices are backed up by research evidence. This means there is broad consensus from rigorously conducted evaluations that they work. Teachers, educators and policymakers need to determine how applicable education evidence is to their context when considering adopting new evidence-based practices. Research conducted in different…

This book provides prospective and practicing teachers with research insights into the mathematical difficulties of students with learning disabilities and classroom practices that address these difficulties. This linkage between research and practice celebrates teachers as learners of their own students' mathematical thinking, thus contributing…

This book provides an introduction to what it means to be numerate, and how numeracy can best be developed and nurtured in children and in adults. It also presents a cohesive coverage of numeracy development from early childhood to adulthood. This book draws on international research and practice to provide a comprehensive overview on the topic.…

Public school teachers in the United States are famously difficult to dismiss. The reason is simple: after three years on the job, most receive tenure--after a brief and subjective evaluation process in which few receive negative ratings. In recent years, some school districts have experimented with changes in tenure rules. They seek the power to…

The world needs great individual educational changemakers capable of identifying problems and creating bold, scalable solutions. But the world also needs Dream Teams--groups of talented administrators, teachers, staff, students, and community members who are passionate about making things better for kids, believe that school-based change is the…

Chemistry education focused on learning outcomes is increasingly practiced, providing new opportunities for international comparisons. The interest in intended learning outcomes and constructive alignment has grown in many parts of the world due to both research in higher education and political decisions. In an International Union of Pure and…

Many models of planning and lesson construction in the United States advocate an objective-driven approach whereby teachers create performance-based goals that their students should accomplish by the end of the lesson. Teachers then evaluate lessons by determining if students have accomplished these objectives. Often, this model of planning…

This paper explores online instructors' perceptions on teaching experiences occurring in their own countries. The interviewees are instructors who have taught online courses for more than two years. Eleven interview transcripts, obtained from online instructors from six countries (Australia, Canada, China, United Kingdom, United States and Taiwan)…

In general, people associate college and university teaching with lecture-based methods, in which an expert (the teacher) delivers information to a group of nonexperts (the students), who subsequently show their newfound "knowledge" by answering examination questions. Because of the common notion that knowledge and intelligence are…

The current spotlight on assessment in education raises ethical issues as practices evolve. This study documents ethical conflicts faced by teachers in the United States regarding assessment of students. Critical incidents generated by practising teachers revealed a majority of reported conflicts related to score pollution, and conflicts…

"Finnish Lessons" is a first-hand, comprehensive account of how Finland built a world-class education system during the past three decades. The author traces the evolution of education policies in Finland and highlights how they differ from the United States and other industrialized countries. He shows how rather than relying on…

The lesson study model of professional development that originated in Japan is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. At its core, lesson study is a means of bringing teachers together to carry out the process of planning a lesson, implementing and observing it, and then examining it during a debriefing session. The debriefing…

This study presents an experiential exercise designed to heighten students' awareness of overconsumption in the United States and allow them to see how their own consumption habits are linked to larger social factors. Students engaged in the "Not Buying It" project--which involved refraining from purchasing all but essentials for a set…