Financial literacy refers to the ability to make informed judgements and to take effective decisions regarding the use and management of money. A baseline survey carried out by the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in 2006 highlighted many issues: (1) 29% of 16-4-year-olds said they would not know how to prepare and manage a weekly budget; (2) 19%…

Government agencies administer exams to appraise educators' effectiveness. However, most teachers and administrators are unfamiliar with how such large-scale tests are put together or polished. A profession's adequacy is being judged on the basis of tools that the profession's members don't understand. As such, educators need to have a dose of…

This article shows how to assess student effort towards success in a basic math class using an imaginary salary as a reward.

The basic goals of most fundamental schools include mastering basic skills; knowing and understanding one's history, heritage, and governmental structure, and reasoning in a logical and objective manner; challenging each child to do his best; ensuring accountability; and reinforcing parental teaching of citizenship, respect, discipline, and…

Some aspects of possible CAI utilization in teaching elementary level basic skills are outlined. (RAO)

An English teacher discusses how she teaches her students to take responsibility, to build a positive attitude, to listen and concentrate, to think, and to study. Only then are they ready to learn English. (MT)

Describes an attack on the study of linguistics and on the National Council of Teachers of English by a back-to-basics comic strip. (DD)

This study, conducted during the 2006/07 academic year, describes how four midsize urban school districts in the Northeast and Islands Region--Worcester, Massachusetts; Nashua, New Hampshire; Yonkers, New York; and Providence, Rhode Island--were providing foundation skills assessments and programs to struggling middle-grade readers. Researchers…

This paper provides information about Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT) and Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT). The purpose of the exams is to: (1) Ensure that students qualifying for a diploma have mastered essential core academic content and skills. All students seeking a Georgia high school diploma must pass the GHSGT in four…

The Rostrum is a quarterly publication of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) The Need for full Time faculty (again) by Jane Patton; (2) Reading May Be the Key to Unlocking Basic Skills Success by Janet Fulks; (3) Diversity Institute on the Right Track by Beth Smith; (4)…

State education departments, in discussions with Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast, identified low reading achievement as a critical issue for their students and expressed an interest in identifying effective strategies to promote the foundational skills in young students that might improve reading achievement. The Mississippi…

Forty-five children with mathematics learning disabilities, with and without comorbid reading disabilities, were compared to 45 normally achieving peers in tasks assessing basic numerical skills. Children with mathematics disabilities were only impaired when comparing Arabic digits (i.e., symbolic number magnitude) but not when comparing…