Compared to 2004 issues concerning the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), this year's issues in play are even more complex. First, much more media attention has been paid to testing, in particular to the No Child Left Behind Act and its required Adequate Yearly Progress on state tests. Second, objections to various aspects of testing have increased…

This article introduces the suggested program standards for the next era of NAEYC accreditation and solicits comments on the proposed standards from early childhood professionals. Each standard is a global, evidence- and value-based statement that identifies performance expectations for an area of functioning in excellent early childhood programs.

As a relatively new area of investigation, the study of multicultural education as it relates to science teaching and learning has spawned numerous interpretations by researchers and authors worldwide. The contributors of this international volume--among them are science teacher educators, science teachers, scientists, researchers, program…

The Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training on May 2005 commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research to investigate and report on models and implementation arrangements for an Australian Certificate of Education. There are ten different certificates currently available across the six states and two territories of…

This book describes standards for the English language arts and defines what K-12 students should know about language and be able to do with language. The book presents the current consensus among literacy teachers and researchers about what students should learn in the English language arts--reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and…

The development of the 1997 assessment of arts education marks the third time music and the visual arts have been addressed in a national assessment. Using the consensus process, a framework was produced that describes the 1997 assessment. The process was founded on the vision of a society that believes the arts are essential to every child's…

The mission of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by maintaining high, rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do; providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards; and advocating related education…

This project examines the impact of standards-based and curriculum reforms on the role of materials in educational systems in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Australia. The project focused on identifying activities undertaken by publishing companies and in educational systems to develop, select and use materials in the…

This lesson plan introduces students to the concept of supply and demand by appealing to bodily/kinesthetic intelligences. Students participate in a fitness class and then analyze the economic motives behind making an individual feel better after a fitness activity; i.e., analyzing how much an individual would pay for a drink and snack after a…

This lesson focuses on the American Revolution, which encouraged the founding fathers' desire to create a government that would, as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution, issue domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. The lesson correlates to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Civics and Government…

In 1998, the Australian Research Council provided funding for a three year research project to develop professional standards and assessments for the English teaching profession. The project team is a consortium of researchers from three major universities together with the two national English teaching associations and representatives from state…

This document is designed to be a companion to the "Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000: Theoretical Framework." It builds on the original document with an extensive listing of additional sample task ideas for reading, listening, speaking, and writing benchmarks. The document provides additional examples of tasks for stage I reading…

This brief booklet provides a shorthand key to the national geography standards and related geography themes. The themes represent an instructional approach to give focus to a lesson. The standards comprise the geographic subject matter, skills, and perspectives of geography K-12. The five themes flow through the 18 geography standards and can be…

This paper describes one college faculty member's experiences coordinating departmental preparations for a 5-year, continuing program approval/accreditation visit from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the Florida Board of Regents. It notes that in addition to the…

This brief is designed to help professional developers see what goes into making an effective support program for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards candidates. There is no one best way to construct a support program, though all programs must address two fundamental needs: helping candidates understand and manage the assessment…