Gaps in teacher communication can cause confusion, especially when it comes to grades. To reduce asymmetries of information when grading performance tasks and projects, teachers should seek to honor each student's unique learning trajectory. Here, authors Eric Carbaugh and Kristina Doubet, present five ways to improve communication--and…

In "The Fifth Season," the Afro-futurist and speculative fiction writer N.K. Jemisin (2015) describes a world upended by massive climactic events that end typical seasonal cycles--introducing a fifth season of climatic emergency--and require a reorganization of society. As our planet Earth rapidly accelerates climatic change, educators…

Global competence requires more than knowledge and skills; it also requires that students know when the situation calls for using these abilities and an ongoing, long-term inclination to do so. Boix Mansilla describes a number of global competence thinking routines, developed by her research team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which…

For centuries, education has been seen as an antidote to intolerance and conflict. In a world rocked by violence, much of it across cultural borders, developing students' cultural understanding has become more important than ever. In this article, Asia Society vice president Anthony Jackson discusses how two high schools in the Society's…

Competency testing can provide helpful information to educators and the public. (Author)

Establishing a strategy for staff development avoids pitfalls involving the definition of goals, the analysis of evaluation data, and the identification of essential competencies. (Author/MLF)

Competency-based education asks educators and the public to give up decades of habits and assumptions regarding the structures and methods of schooling. (Author/IRT)

College-level "grade inflation" may result not from flabby standards but from more effective instructional strategies such as mastery learning. (Author/JM)

Three-fourths of the states have mandated some form of testing. Problems are discussed and practical recommendations about implementation are offered. (Author/MLF)

The minimum competency testing issue raises basic questions--who controls public education and what should be taught? (Author)

The issue of adopting information technology (IT) based education and performance-based education in schools is debated. The arguments supporting each of the education policy are presented.

Neither desegregation nor testing programs are sufficient to guarantee equal opportunity. A comprehensive effort will be required if both equity and quality are to be achieved in public education. (Author/MLF)

Examines the Oregon program in which each school district establishes and measures its own set of competency standards. (Author/IRT)

An interview with the director of the recently established International Center on Outcome-Based Restructuring explains that outcome-based education focuses on defining, pursuing, and ensuring success with the same high-level outcomes for all students. (MLF)