Six anomalies in achievement test scores encountered by the Austin Independent School District are described. These include crossing gaps with uninterpolated medians; total group median declines while all subgroups' medians rise; outlying total percentiles; percentile and grade equivalent growth antithesis; same grade equivalent earning a…

In North Carolina, businesspeople and legislators are concerned that students are inadequately informed about the free enterprise system. State law requires instruction in economics and businesses have provided educational support, but teachers and superintendents must become convinced that economics education is important before a comprehensive…

Feedback from assessments should be the foundation for improvements students make in their lab work. Therefore, in this study, a standard rubric that reflected the scientific method was employed as an intervention to assess student lab write-ups. Students preformed three labs all based on consumer research. The first lab was completed without the…

Total School Writing is a comprehensive program which assesses the writing skills of every student. The objectives of this program include: assessing the writing ability of the entire school population; diagnosing weaknesses and strengths in the teaching methods; developing specific teaching strategies; and measuring students' writing improvement…

Discusses, and presents sample materials from, bulletins published by professional newspapers to improve the quality of their employees' writing. Notes that their technique of printing examples of good and bad writing submitted by reporters can be used by journalism teachers to point to common student errors and effective student writing. (GT)

Better organization and more efficient use of time are the key elements of a plan to boost student achievement at a Virginia district. Teachers focus almost all classroom time on direct instruction, guided practice, core courses, and applications to the real world. At the secondary level, teachers now also emphasize critical thinking and problem…

The "Problems in Time" survey is a 35-item questionnaire assessing common time management difficulties in 7 general categories: academic goal setting, work overload, procrastination, poor planning and organization, inadequate speed, distracting activities, and irrational thinking. This survey is appended. The survey's use in college…

Argues that the first and primary focus of assessment should be the learner and that student feedback on their learning process and the inclusion of any presentations, products, or exhibitions produced along the way are essential. The author presents personal experiences using this assessment practice involving an English class. (GR)

Argues for the necessity of rethinking the relations and mutual interactions among the sciences, technology, and the humanities, both in theoretical as well as practical aims. Analyzes various authors and tendencies in order to detect guidelines to facilitate the formation of college graduates who can confront the real world. (CMK)

Explains that concerts provide the perfect opportunity for showing the community the importance of the school music program and also enable students to demonstrate what they have learned in performing groups and classes. Provides different activities that involve the audience in the concert and promote audience education. (CMK)

In a collaborative classroom, teachers combine their strengths to work together, coach one another, and provide the best possible environment for their students. Similarly, peer coaching provides educators with a chance to utilize a natural support system at their school. When peer coaching is used in conjunction with collaborative teaching, it…

Theoretical background for researching student learning, engagement, and collaboration through the development of electronic portfolios is described in this article. After providing an overview of the limited research on portfolios in education, the author discusses the accepted definitions, multiple purposes, and conflicting theoretical paradigms…

In view of students' alternative conceptions about basic concepts in astronomy, we conducted a series of constructivist activities with future elementary and junior high school teachers aimed at changing their conceptions about the cause of seasonal changes, and of several characteristics of the Sun-Earth-Moon relative movements like Moon phases,…

This document profiles locally developed programs that have proved effective in specific schools. The material is presented in a manner that is useful to other schools and/or districts. On-site coordinators worked with schools, districts, and departments in the Pacific region to define their problems, determine which of the practices held promise…

The paper discusses the Global Awareness Test administered to 6,396 grade 9 students in New Brunswick, Canada at the beginning and end of the 1987 school year. The test was designed to better assess the impact of the grade 9 social studies program and the activities of New Brunswick's Global Education Centre. By comparing the results of the pre-…