Given the rapid growth of diversity in schools across the country, teacher educators are turning to innovative ways to redesign their programs. In this article, we describe efforts of a dual licensure program in which undergraduate teachers-in-training acquired knowledge and skills in core content, as well as evidence-based pedagogy and discipline…

Two case studies describe the development of alternative assessment within urban North Carolina elementary schools, examining each assessment development process, identifying commonalities and differences, and relating real-world endeavors to the change process. The studies argue for placing alternative assessment on the school reform agenda,…

This report represents part of a total effort to initiate better management techniques for state-local educational planning. It involves a three-year cycle of assessment in grades 3, 6, and 9, to include information from teachers and principals as well as students. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive report of the entire assessment program. It…

An essay to test writing skill has been administered to North Carolina sixth and eighth graders for 10 years. In 1992-93, fourth graders were also tested. Each year compositions are graded by readers trained to apply a uniform set of criteria to the essays. Composition criteria are main ideas, supporting detail, organization, and coherence. A…

This state assessment at the third-grade level is the first stage of a proposed three-year evaluation cycle of third, sixth, and ninth grades in North Carolina to aid personnel in making accurate decisions regarding improvement in the social studies curriculum. Students were randomly selected to represent the third-grade population in the state…

The North Carolina Project for Reform in Science Education, which is part of the National Science Teachers Association's Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project, and the importance of student test scores as an evaluation tool were evaluated. Seven North Carolina schools participated in the project's first year (1991-92), with 21 teachers, and…

The project was developed in the fall of 1969 to field test and evaluate prototype social studies units for kindergarten, and grades one, two, and three. The units focused on major concepts drawn from the social sciences, expanding horizontal organization of content, shifting from a basal textbook to a series of supplementary materials, and using…

This brochure is intended to be a useful tool for assessing students' development along a continuum of oral language growth as well as for providing information about the competencies that students are expected to learn in second-fifth grades. On the continuum in the brochure, descriptors list specific behaviors that detail students' development…

Explores the power of implicit and explicit metaphors to inhibit or prompt school change, using 5 years of case study data from a North Carolina elementary school to illustrate the shifting interpretations of an arts-based reform as implemented in one urban elementary school. The paper asserts that metaphors gave school personnel and researchers…

Addressing issues, concerns, and practices surrounding how children use spelling and become competent, confident spellers and writers, this booklet provides practical information, personal stories of practicing North Carolina teachers, strategies, and helpful suggestions for transitioning from textbook spelling to spelling in use. Sections of the…

Reports the evaluation of the Right to Write Project, a program of the Burlington City Schools in Burlington, North Carolina. Results indicate that the program, serving 97 teachers and all students in fourth through ninth grades, had a significant effect on students' writing performance and their recognition of correctly written prose. (RH)

Study tested the validity of a high inference principal-administered rating scale, the North Carolina Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument. Researchers examined the relationship of its ratings to student achievement, nonachievement student variables, and teacher variables. Results indicate principals can become valid raters of teacher…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title III Project described in this evaluation report was conducted in predominately rural Wilkes County, North Carolina. The project's major objective was to develop a program which would identify the learning problems of the students involved and to develop educational programs which would eliminate…

The purpose of this "Written Language Developmental Continuum" brochure for second through fifth grades is to provide helpful information for parents, teachers, and other adults as they work with young children to advance and refine written language (writing) competence. The brochure is intended to be a useful tool for assessing…

Explores how deeply held cultural assumptions influenced one urban elementary school's efforts to implement a voluntarily- adopted arts-based initiative. While school staff members embraced the reform, there was little or no change in teaching practice. The article examines how staff constructed meaning around the program and its interaction with…