This article is the third of four articles in the PE Metrics series related to the value of using national assessments to inform teachers, students, parents, and administrators about student progress at the elementary level toward achieving the National Standards for Physical Education (NASPE, 2004) for Standard 1. The first article focused on the…

The National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) is committed to providing teachers with the support and guiding principles for implementing valid assessments. Its goal is for physical educators to utilize PE Metrics to measure student learning based on the national standards. The first PE Metrics text provides teachers with…

After years of debating the idea of national content standards, representatives from 37 states were set to convene in Chicago last week in what organizers hoped would be a first, concrete step toward common guidelines in mathematics and English language arts. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers--the…

The author reports on the U.S. Department of Education's "What Works Clearinghouse" that goes beyond "gold standard" research and sets standards for accepting other types of studies. As part of the Institute of Education Sciences' push to make research more relevant to educators, the federal clearinghouse has devised standards by which it can…

The opportunity for individualized instruction in the college studio allows the studio teacher to be a strong influence on the development of music students. The private studio can be an arena for standards implementation, bringing all aspects of a comprehensive music education to fruition. The college studio teacher is often the only teacher who…

The "2003 National Science Teachers Association Standards for Science Teacher Preparation" (NSTA-SSTP) were developed to provide guidelines and expectations for science teacher preparation programs. This article is the fourth in a special "JSTE" series on accreditation written to assist science teacher educators in meeting the "NSTA-SSTP". In this…

According to "A Report on the State of U.S. History Education, State Policies and National Programs as of September 2008," "Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have established academic standards to address academic achievement in history, the social sciences, or social studies. The sole exceptions are Iowa and Rhode…

Models-Based Instruction (MBI) is a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning. In MBI, a teacher becomes familiar with multiple ways (called models) to plan, implement and assess instruction, and then selects the model that can best promote specific kinds of student learning in each unit. By using several models within the same curriculum, a…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

One physical science topic that is difficult for middle school students is the transfer of thermal energy: Research indicates many have trouble understanding that thermal energy naturally transfers from the "warmer" object to the "colder" object until both objects reach the same temperature (Driver et al. 1994; Keeley, Eberle, and Tugel 2007).…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the value of "Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership" ("JCEL") in teaching the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards. In this article, the authors discuss the process of how a department of educational leadership developed an appreciation for the journal by aligning…

As the world works towards 2015 when it will finally assess the progress it has made towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals it set for itself at Jomtien in 1991, it has become clear that important gains have been made in education. Equality of access has been, understandably, at the top of the world policy agenda for the last 20 years or…

The National Science Education Standards are designed to provide a vision of scientific literacy for "all" students--regardless of age, race, ethnic background, English-language proficiency, socioeconomic status, disability, or giftedness. One of the most powerful strategies in science instruction--which aligns with the Standards--is the use of…

In the past eight years, the design standards of classrooms have improved significantly. This movement was instigated by the introduction of the classroom acoustics standard in 2002 from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), in collaboration with the Acoustical Society of America. The standard, formally known as ANSI S12.60, has become…

This article describes the Dallas-based Camp Thunderbird, an enrichment program that brought together minority students in special education and students from general education for a summer of physical activity and the arts. Among the camp participants were students who functioned at a high level in the areas of autism spectrum disorders, mental…