The testing of many American Indian children using standardized exams (achievement, aptitude, ability, and intelligence tests) developed for the majority American society represents a case of cross-cultural testing which is likely to produce invalid results in the form of underestimation of student performance. Requirements for obtaining accurate…

Although evaluation plays many roles in schools--support for administrative decision-making, curriculum improvement, staff development, public relations, instruction, counseling, diagnosing problems for students and staff, planning--recent studies of school district evaluation practices indicate that little overall consistency exists in the form…

This ERIC Digest on teaching about the Bill of Rights in the schools examines the status, the deficiencies, and means to improve citizenship education. Currently, the Bill of Rights is taught at least four times during the elementary and secondary grades. Constitutional rights and liberties are stressed in K-12 curriculum goals for social studies…

Poor, minority, and low ability students suffer most from the general lack of sustained opportunity to study mathematics in American public schools. Studies indicate that preschool and kindergarten students show only minor social class or racial differences in mathematical thinking and that differences in mathematical performance among older…

"Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs," which was published jointly by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) in 1988, is the most recent in a series of efforts to articulate and encode professional program and practice standards that have…

A growing number of educators are focusing their efforts on improving the work environment of teaching. In place of the typical school's norms and practices that isolate teachers from one another, collaborative schools have norms that encourage teachers and principals to cooperate for school improvement. Such schools are characterized by frequent…

Turning around a low-performing school is a complex process in which cause-effect relationships are difficult to isolate. But recent interest in helping low-performing schools--spurred on by the reforms mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act--has generated some useful research and thoughtful analysis. This digest explores some of the key…

Traditionally an urban problem, gang involvement is growing on Native American reservations. This digest examines common factors in gang development and one tribe's response through a Native-centric education and juvenile justice system. The sum of handicaps associated with gang involvement has been termed "multiple marginality," and…

This Digest discusses provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that require functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavioral intervention plans (BIPs) to be conducted prior to a change in placement or suspension for more than 10 days, based on inappropriate behaviors for students with disabilities. It presents…

This digest discusses comprehensive training planning for students with disabilities and ways educators can facilitate the involvement of students with disabilities in helping to formulate the Individualized Transition Plan component of the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Strategies for encouraging student participation include: (1) begin…

State policies greatly affect the decisions rural districts make about building or renovating school facilities. State, federal, and local mechanisms for funding school facilities are briefly described. Some states require a specific percentage of growth or decline in student population or a minimum number of students as a prerequisite for…

This digest summarizes the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) as they relate to the interests of K-12 science teachers. TIMSS student achievement results for science are presented along with a brief discussion of how to interpret the scores. The findings of the TIMSS curriculum study and their implications are…

There are two essential social systems with which virtually all children and families have routine, significant contact: school and health care settings. Schools are being asked to address the needs of children and youth at a time when fundamental transformations of schooling structures and outcome expectations are also being demanded. To address…

While the overall effect of the impact of technology on health, physical education, recreation, and dance education (HPERD) in the areas of research, classroom, teaching, and distance education is not yet fully assessable, the presence of technology in so many different aspects of the profession makes it important to more clearly recognize and…

Not since the development of the objective paper and pencil test early in the century has an assessment method hit the American educational scene with such force as has performance assessment methodology in the 1990s. Performance assessment relies on teacher observation and professional judgment to draw inferences about student achievement.…