Last fall, "Science and Children" invited kindergarten to grade eight teachers to participate in a study investigating students' ideas about plants and plant growth (Barman et al. 2002). Two hundred twenty-seven individuals from 16 states in the United States, one U.S. Territory, and one Canadian Province responded to this invitation and…

Recent events, such as the anthrax scares and the SARS outbreak, have forced teachers to focus on issues such as disease control and bioterrorism in their own backyards. Students are aware of the current biological issues in the news and are curious about infectious diseases and the issues relating to biological warfare. In order to address the…

The discourse on teacher quality has centered on issues of teacher knowledge and teacher skill, yet a third element that is central to all professional standards is teacher dispositions. Although there is no consensus about a definition of teacher dispositions, there are several models in use regarding how dispositions are being addressed. Most…

This study investigated the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' (NBPTS) assessment process in order to identify, quantify, and substantiate learning outcomes from the participants. One hundred and twenty candidates for the Adolescent and Young Adult Science (AYA Science) Certificate were studied over a two-year period using the…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

While school leaders have long sought a definitive tool for assessing teacher affect and dispositions, a practical method for measurement has proven elusive. This book presents a conceptual framework that helps educators understand what "appropriate dispositions" are, why it is important to measure them, and how to implement an assessment process…

This book presents a diverse set of unusual and significant departures from customary educational policies and practices. These "radical" ideas range from calling for national standards, to enacting statewide legislative initiatives, to implementing decentralized local initiatives such as charter schools, local school councils, and privatization.…

This document provides basic information about the establishment, mission, and principal tasks of the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB), which was established as a key part of Goals 2000 and charged with the responsibility of creating a national system of voluntary skill standards to be available for use by employers, workers, unions,…

The final work of the National Skill Standards Development Project (NSSDP) is to create a model for developing and administering a certification program for electronics technicians based on already developed skill standards. During its first 2 years, NSSDP has developed over 300 standards for work-ready, entry-level electronics technicians;…

This document records the written and oral testimony of witnesses at a hearing on the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The act has three main components: (1) to provide grants to states and local schools for comprehensive educational reform; (2) to promote the establishment of voluntary national education standards to assist states and local…

This booklet explores the use of national standards to structure work-based initial teacher training for teachers working within British further education colleges. Section 1 examines the following aspects of the use of Training and Development Lead Body (TDLB) and Management Charter Initiative (MCI) standards for initial teacher training: reasons…

The world of science education is rich with guidelines on what the science curriculum should include, but impoverished in time and money to create real programs for students that reflect these guidelines effectively. This handbook is designed to assist teachers and administrators in charting a course through the maze of new national and state…

This book, which is for K-12 teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and staff developers, explores concept-based learning. Chapter 1, "Interpreting and Aligning National, State, and Local Standards," reviews the national content standards through a set of concept-based questions to highlight the differences between concept-based and…

This guide for teaching a course to prepare emergency medical service (EMS) trainers focuses on the skills necessary to present any of the Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) EMS courses. Course topics are as follows: (1) introduction; (2) instructor roles and responsibilities; (3) legal…

The Bureau of Indian Affairs developed language and literacy standards for schools serving American Indian students, based on the draft national language arts standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of English. Standards for grades K-4 list abilities and knowledge that Indian students should have by the end of the fourth grade with…