Regardless of what one thinks of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the current national education legislation has demonstrated the power and potential of learning standards linked with systems of accountability to influence classroom experiences. Unfortunately, the changes promoted by the legislation have tied the professional hands and suppressed the…

This article responds to comments on the authors' "Educational Researcher" article "Common Core Standards: The New U.S. Intended Curriculum" (April 2011). The authors note points of agreement and difference with the commentators. They observe that Cobb and Jackson, in their response, and Beach, in his, appear to accept the…

Arizona's Vail School District won this year's Sylvia Charp Award because of its revolutionary--and truly collaborative--approach to standards-based curriculum development that it is sharing with the rest of the state. This article takes a look at how they did it.

Since the 2003 release of the AACSB's Assurance of Learning standards, outcomes assessment has been a required practice for business schools wishing to receive their endorsement. While most accredited institutions had been dabbling with the measurement of student learning, the new standards raised the bar considerably. It is now necessary to…

As with other fields in education, career and technical education (CTE) has experienced a dramatic transformation since its inception in the 19th century. Since the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, there has been limited research on the impact, or possibilities, that recent legislation has had on…

This study examined special education teachers' perspectives of the instructional impact of the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Through purposeful sampling, six special education teachers who serve students with significant cognitive disabilities and had experience administering the FAA were…

This study presents an analysis of the consequences for students when performance assessment and differentiation practices are combined, as part of attempts to increase minimum standards within upper-secondary schooling. Recent standards-based curriculum reform in Australia demonstrates how a focus on minimum levels of achievement can limit the…

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists tracks the presence of Latinos in the news. It reports that news stories in which Latinos are the subject most often concern immigration, poverty and crime. And Hollywood does no better in reflecting the broad reality of Latino life. Latino characters are often portrayed as poor and uneducated. In…

This article looks at shifts in pedagogy used to prepare school leaders. "Leaders for America's Schools" is the focus around which the authors build their case, beginning with a recap of the early phases of administrator training. Next, the authors examine "A Nation at Risk" and the impact the educational reform movement had on administration…

For more than a decade, the world history course taught in the public high schools of Texas has provided the only comprehensive overview of the story of humanity to millions of students, most of whom are of Mexican descent. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum standard for world history has been foundational for textbook selection,…

Hunt and McDonnell have provided an excellent overview of one of the most important aspects of planning for students with severe disabilities--an ecological curricular framework that is created with input from the student, family, and needs of current and future environments. The standards-based reform-movement has created tension for educators to…

Educational reform is most likely to be successful when teachers are knowledgeable about the intended reform, and when their concerns about the reform are understood and addressed. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is an effort to establish a set of nationwide expectations for students and teachers. This study examined teacher understanding…

This article uses curriculum-making frameworks to analyse and reconstruct the Chinese curriculum-making model and unpack the dynamics, complexity and constraints of China's curriculum reform since the early 1990s. It argues that curriculum reform is China's main human capital development strategy for coping with the challenges of the 21st century,…

This report, based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of school districts in Common Core-adopting states, examines school districts' efforts to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The report addresses district leaders' views on the rigor of the CCSS and their impact on learning and instruction, progress on and…

Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities embraces a vibrant vision that imagines a quality early childhood education for each and every child that is filled with play, creativity, early literacy and numeracy, music and art, physical activity and time to nurture, support and enhance each child's social and emotional growth. This approach is critical to…