The USA is undergoing tremendous cultural changes as we open the first decade of the 21st century. In this paper the author discusses the need to close the performance gap that exists between White, African American, and Latino/a students. To do so, educators must carefully consider several important cultural forces. The author examines the shift…

We queried Florida elementary teachers about how they perceived their principals' professional and personal inviting leadership behaviors during a time when many teachers and principals felt a lot of pressure due to test-based accountability. Despite the pressure, teachers reported that their principals demonstrated fairly high levels of inviting…

This report presents results from a national survey, conducted in 2005, that examined the educational experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in grades 4 and 8, with particular emphasis on the integration of native language and culture into school and classroom activities. Students, teachers, and school principals all…

The Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) is a multidimensional instrument for school-based practitioners that assesses the social environmental domains of neighborhood, school, friends, and family, as well as the well-being, behavior, and school performance of students in the third, fourth, and fifth grade. This article presents the…

In order to examine trends in educational reform in Kentucky, two studies of student portfolio evaluations as perceived by Kentucky teachers were described and compared. Under the Kentucky Educational Reform Act, student portfolios can serve as a basis for official evaluation of school performance. The first study, conducted in the fall and spring…

The cost of including hands-on tasks in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment was analyzed. In recognition of growing interest in performance assessment in science, the framework for the NAEP science assessment called for the inclusion of hands-on tasks with hands-on activities and questions about the…

After 10 years of teaching rule-driven, procedure-based, algorithm-oriented mathematics, an elementary teacher describes how she began to rethink her teaching style after returning to school for a graduate degree. Her rethinking is based on the first of four student teaching events that spanned an entire school year in which she used the…

Parental involvement is critical to a child's success in school. This handbook provides parents with information about the Grade 4 curriculum in Alberta, Canada. Based on the Alberta Education "Program of Studies: Elementary Schools," the handbook describes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students in Alberta are expected to…

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has launched an initiative called the Cardiovascular Health Promotion Project to teach heart-healthy habits to children. One of the programs developed by this initiative, CATCH, the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health, is the largest…

This manual has been prepared by Ohio educators and the Ohio Department of Education to assist teachers in preparing their students for success in the Ohio Fourth-grade Proficiency Tests in Writing, Reading, Mathematics, Citizenship, and Science. Actual student responses to the April 1994 field test items are used in this manual to illustrate…

A study investigated attitudes and preferences concerning reading among fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students in Portuguese-language schools in the United States. Extrinsic factors influencing students (parents, teachers) were also analyzed. The research took place in 10 schools in 5 states. Data were obtained using questionnaires (students)…

The call for educational reform has caused mathematics curriculum, instruction, and assessment to come under both professional and public scrutiny. The three elements contesting for leadership in assessment reform are the conventional testing agencies, reformers led by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and political agencies…

This publication is designed to provide teachers with Grade 4 activities in mathematics that match the requirements of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The Grade 4 Mathematics Standard and related competency goals and objectives from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and Mathematics Teacher Handbook are reproduced in the…

The Education Resources Center (ERC) is a community-based organization that serves students from various elementary schools united by the Phoenix Coalition for Youth and Families (PCYF). The PCYF Project was authorized to organize agencies and schools in the lower socio-economic areas of inner-city Phoenix into one collaborative arrangement. This…

The degree to which performance assessments meet their dual mandate to evaluate student learning and inform instructional practice is not adequately addressed through traditional concerns for reliability and validity. A possible approach is suggested for examining the cognitive activity students engage in during a performance assessment. The…