This report summarizes and describes the findings for a number of studies which assess the effects of "Tactics for Thinking," a program designed to teach and reinforce 22 tactics (strategies) for enhancing specific cognitive operations (thinking skills) that aid in the processing, retention, and extension of content-specific information.…

Teachers' actions are thought to produce certain types of student thinking. To devise effective inservice programs, educators must understand four learning principles and five thinking dimensions enabling students to develop positive learning attitudes and acquire, integrate, and extend their knowledge. A new "curriculum" of preservice…

The Mid Continent Regional Educational Laboratory polled 2,500 adults about what schools should teach, based on the McREL Standards database. If a curriculum were designed based on this survey, all health, technology, and work-skills standards would be included. All arts, foreign language, or historical understanding standards would be excluded.…

Implementing standards in the classroom requires two substantial changes. Teachers must translate standards from state documents into homogeneous categories--the basis for setting and communicating specific instructional goals. Teachers must also keep standards-based gradebooks to give students feedback on their progress in meeting topical goals.…

Researchers from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) have analyzed thousands of quantitative studies published over the last 30 years to determine what works in classrooms and in schools. In two earlier meta-analyses, McREL identified teacher and school practices that have the largest effects on student achievement. McREL has…