Research suggests that students who participate in formative assessment perform better on measures of academic achievement than students who do not. To raise school and systematic performance, teachers need access to high-quality, rigorous tools designed to provide timely and individualized feedback for student learning. According to a report…

In Fall and Winter 2022-2023, the NSCAS assessments were administered in ELA and mathematics for grades 3-8. In Spring 2022-2023, the NSCAS assessments were administered in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics for grades 3-8 and in science for grades 5 and 8. The purposes of the NSCAS assessments are to measure and report Nebraska students'…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) updates its Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Elementary and Secondary Education each year, as required by Public Act 93-1036 (the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004). This annual "Strategic Plan Progress Report" details actions the agency is taking to fulfill the Board's mission,…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) develops and maintains a continuing five-year comprehensive strategic plan for elementary and secondary education in accordance with Public Act 93-1036. Agency staff members revisit the plan each year to review the agency's accomplishments and to refine the agency's strategies. The State Board amended…

The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) has been supporting selected districts in the planning and implementation of PreK-3rd Grade systems. NYSED is supporting the use of the Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches developed by Kauerz and Coffman (2013). Recognizing the ultimate goal of PreK-3rd…

Each year, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) updates its continuing, five-year comprehensive strategic plan for elementary and secondary education, per the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004. ISBE's Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Elementary and Secondary Education provides a comprehensive review of how the agency…

Packed with ideas for both new and veteran teachers of K-8 students, this book touches on a variety of topics that are especially relevant to the first week of school. The author provides critical information that includes arranging and navigating the classroom, setting basic expectations, communicating routines, and understanding your students'…

Children understand the natural world in ways that make sense to them before they learn any science in school. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue helps students connect scientifically correct ideas to what makes sense to them.

The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at SEDL, an affiliate of American Institutes for Research (AIR), partnered with the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) in 2014 to assist in evaluating Alabama Plan 2020, mainly focusing on learners and the graduation rate. SECC provided professional development and analytic technical assistance…

Public Act 93-1036 requires the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to develop and maintain a continuing, five-year strategic plan for elementary and secondary education. The 2016 Comprehensive Strategic Plan is the agency's 12th such report. The first plan focused on ISBE's three primary goal areas: (1) enhancing literacy; (2) improving…

Collaboration is one of the most important aspects of the role of the school librarian in the twenty-first century, but, for many reasons, collaboration is challenging to implement. Some classroom teachers may not know how students benefit from the classroom-school library collaboration. Others may be unwilling to relinquish control of their…

The University of Minnesota Extension's 4-H and Forestry Afterschool program combined the 4-H structure and various forestry curricula to foster positive attitudes towards the environment and stewardship-related behaviors as these may serve as precursors to later choices that benefit the environment. Evaluation of third through fifth grade club…

This article focuses on a cooperating teacher in Norway and her approach to mentoring first-year student teachers in their process of planning the mathematics teaching of third-graders. The purpose of the text is to show how the cooperating teacher's mentoring assists the student teachers' performance in a teaching form that is acknowledged as…

In this article, the author uses Gary Saul Morson's concept of sideshadows to attend to the multiplicity of narratives that occur in a third-grade classroom. The author advocates for experiential learning in order to make more visible to teachers children's internal thinking within language arts, especially English-language learners. Additionally,…

Educators know there is a disconnect between students' technology experience outside of school and what they use in the classroom. At home many students play and learn with an array of tools that are restricted, banned, or, in many cases, just not available at school. They also know that effectively infusing technology into the classroom does make…