Science teacher educators in the United States are currently preparing future science teachers to effectively implement the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) and, in thirteen states, to successfully pass a content-specific high stakes teacher performance assessment, the edTPA. Science education and teacher performance assessment…

This paper provides insights into teacher and school-based administrators' responses to policy demands for improved outcomes on high-stakes, standardised literacy and numeracy tests in Australia. Specifically, the research reveals the effects of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), and associated policies, in the state…

This Special Issues Brief from the "Center on Great Teachers and Leaders" (GTL Center) introduces an approach to creating coherence among three potentially transformative instructional reforms: implementation of the Common Core State Standards for student learning, new standards-based teacher evaluation systems, and job-embedded…

Historically, educational policymakers have focused on and invested heavily in accountability testing of "learning" to leverage improvement in student learning. Through accountability testing, policy makers aim to communicate standards, establish performance goals, provide data through which educators can analyze and improve school…

This report focuses on the progress made and challenges faced by the nine states in achieving the first three objectives for which they were held accountable for use of their Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTTELC) funds. It discusses discrete findings related to these objectives in relevant chapters of the report: Tiered Quality Rating…

This article argues for developing linked courses in technical communication where the instructor facilitates a service-learning curriculum and then serves as faculty advisor within subsequent internships. In these linked courses, students write technical documents before moving into internships where they write similar documents. Specifically,…

Through ongoing rapid-fire changes in the nature of communications, the social, professional, and political landscapes of our time are rapidly transforming. But the prevailing paradigm in most schools and school systems is a relic of the industrial revolution. Schools and school systems must adopt a new paradigm for learning if they are to remain…

In this study we analyze the extent to which policy documents that include standards and expectations for the preparation of school principals (i.e., head teachers) influence democratic practices. This comparative research examines educational policies that influence the work of principals both in Sweden and in the U.S., the state of Texas asking:…

Background/Context: From two decades of research on the grading practices of teachers in secondary schools, researchers discovered that teachers evaluated students on numerous factors that do not validly assess a student's achievement level in a specific content area. These consistent findings suggested that traditional grading practices evolved…

Grading is one of the most enduring features of schooling. No matter what other reforms occur in a school, grading remains as one of the cornerstones of educational practice. But recently this long-standing tradition has come under scrutiny with some alarming results. Many traditional grading practices actually "depress" achievement, and may, in…

Thirteen years after being adopted, the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL's) "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" are due for a retrofit. The current "Standards" do not account for the post-Google information landscape in which a blizzard of emerging technologies and unprecedented…

The first PA Forward Information Literacy Summit was held in State College at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. This summit brought together K-12 and academic librarians from Pennsylvania to discuss current issues in information literacy. This text is a transcript of a discussion between Ellysa…

Concern about rigor is not new, but its importance has been raised with the advent of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, the CCSS are only the beginning on a journey to increasing rigor in school. Equally important is the instructional rigor that supports the standards. Instructional rigor focuses on the how--what actually happens in…

Research Findings: We are in the midst of a revolution. Prior to the onset of the 21st century, mathematics education in the United States was deemphasized (Geary, 1996), and mathematics as an instructional subject has traditionally been considered above the preschool and kindergarten levels. However, the old regime--the knowledge and philosophies…

Although writing plays an important role in the academic, psychosocial, and economic success of individuals, typical writing instruction and assessment in the United States generally does not reflect evidence-based practices. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) place a great deal of emphasis on written expression and may encourage an increased…