The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…

The Oregon Pre-engineering Learning Outcomes Project was conducted by the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) with grant funding from the Engineering and Technology Industry Council (ETIC). The study sought to improve student preparation and success in pre-engineering programs through the development of the Oregon Pre-engineering Learning…

This paper reports findings from an investigation of the implementation of "assessment for learning" in classroom music instruction in Hong Kong primary schools, focusing on the changes in assessment practice and music teachers' classroom instruction. Qualitative methodology was employed to document the cases of three music teachers. It…

The historical development of teacher education in New Zealand manifests several major contradictions and tensions. One if these involves two conflicting models of teacher education that have historically struggled for dominance. The first model holds teaching to be an essentially practical craft involving classroom management, whilst the second…

This article attempts to showcase how one particularly financially endowed organization is seeking to modify its instructional and organizational practice to better serve its Inupiat (Eskimo) target/client population. This is an extreme and instructive situation of socio-cultural tension that provides interesting contrasts with the issues of…

Drawing on the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), this paper documents the assessment practices of about 250 Queensland primary and secondary classrooms and the extent to which they align with those pedagogical practices described as "productive pedagogies" in the research. In considering the extent of this alignment,…

Community-academic partnership research is a fairly new genre of community-based participatory research. It has arisen in part, from recognition of the potential role of alliances in the development and translation of applied knowledge and the elimination of health disparities. This paper reports on the learning process of academic and community…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program in the period June 2007 through May 2008. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary science instruction…

What is an adequate education and how much does it cost? In 1989, Kentucky's State Supreme Court found the entire system of education unconstitutional--"all of its parts and parcels". The Court called for all children to have access to an adequate education, one that is uniform and has as its goal the development of seven capacities,…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was established in 1987 to develop and operate a system of advanced certification; including a set of high and rigorous standards of accomplished teaching and an assessment system designed to measure these standards. Utilizing a qualitative, case study framework, this research project…

Working with in service science/mathematics teachers at the Aga Khan University Institute of Educational Development, Karachi, Pakistan we find that even though the teachers take aboard innovative ideas, they find it challenging to implement the newly acquired ideas primarily because of their inadequate subject matter knowledge. In this paper we…

Score equity assessment was used to evaluate linkings of new SAT® to the current SAT Reasoning Test™. Population invariance across gender groups was studied on the linkage of a new SAT critical reading prototype to a current SAT verbal section, and on the linkage of a new SAT math prototype to a current SAT math section. The results indicated that…

In Finland, as in other European countries, the Bologna Declaration is having a profound impact on the structure of degrees, and consequently on teaching and learning. Until now, most graduates in Finland completed a Master's without having to take a Bachelor's degree first. The Ministry of Education has set a high objective for the reform of…

Increasingly, states are restricting tuition growth through political pressure and statewide governing and coordinating boards. During the 1990s, California, Virginia, and New York all cut or restrained tuition, and recently Michigan, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey have restricted tuition growth either through legislation or intense…

Software testing is a crucial component in the development of good quality systems in industry. For this reason it was considered important to investigate the extent to which the Information Systems (IS) syllabus at the University of Cape Town (UCT) was aligned with accepted software testing practices in South Africa. For students to be effective…