Responses from more than 400 employers indicated that the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) competencies adequately identified entry workers' needs. Over 90% said the following were necessary for entry workers: personal quality skills, basic skills, thinking skills, and interpersonal competencies. Disparities between the…

This theme issue addresses the systemic and institutional barriers that impact urban adult basic education learners and programs in the United States. Focuses on provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (1998) and literacy education. (SLD)

Describes mathematics, skills and understanding as being completely intertwined. No one can acquire conceptual understanding, problem solving skills, or basic skills individually; rather, they go hand in hand. This false dichotomy of skills and understanding impedes efforts to improve mathematics education. Gives several examples to show that deep…

Although physical educators cannot be experts on every sport or activity, there is still a need to include specialized activities in the curriculum that a physical educator may not initially feel comfortable teaching because of inexperience and a lack of expertise. Golf, like other activities such as tennis, requires a specificity of training that…

This paper tests the extent to which the accumulation of basic cognitive skills, as measured by a post-schooling math test, matter for young dropouts entering today's labor market. Based on a sample of dropouts who were age 16-18 when administered a math test in the late 1990s, estimates indicate that a standard deviation increase in the test…

This article focuses on the specific skills and abilities of young children in oral counting and enumeration. Responses to an oral counting task and an enumeration task by a sample (n=93) of 3- and 4-year old children attending a range of pre-five establishments in an urban district of northern England are described. The findings, whilst providing…

This paper reports on a qualitative research project that explored the influence of basic skills on the school-to-work transitions of young adults. Large numbers of young people have poor skills yet it is a neglected area of study. We document how skill competencies act as barriers to learning and labour market opportunities, illustrating that…

Basic education is not only an essential means for eliminating stratification and differences in society but also one of the main reasons for the enlargement of the gap between the rich and the poor. Because it faces pressure in the context of globalization, a balanced development of basic education would be a good way to relieve this pressure.…

Through her work as a consultant, Burns has found that a handful of students in all classes lack an adequate foundation in basic math concepts and lag far behind their peers in both understanding and skills. Students who lack a foundation on which to build new learning are generally not well served even by well-planned, differentiated instruction;…

Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. While the number of learning community…

In this paper, two nationwide assessments for elementary and secondary students' educational achievement in Korea were reviewed for their assessment frameworks and the overall results; the Diagnostic Test for Basic Skills (DTBS) of Grade 3 elementary students and the National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA) for Grade 6, 9 and 10…

In British Columbia, Canada, two population-based databases have been linked at the level of the individual child: the "Early Development Instrument", a Kindergarten school readiness measure; and the "Foundation Skills Assessment", a Grade Four academic assessment. Utilising these linked data, we explored the early school…

The Multi-State Study of Pre-kindergarten by the National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL) offers a first glance at pre-K children, teachers, and classroom quality in six states. This Snapshot overviews three recent articles co-authored by FPG scientists that summarize findings of the study about children, pre-K teachers, and…

This bibliography was compiled for the 2006 Summer Institute at The Centre for Literacy-"Accountability and Public Trust: Restoring the Balance." The selections include lectures, research studies, policy papers, and government documents that describe and analyze recent concepts of accountability in the context of government funding in…

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) measures have become a frequently used assessment tool of school psychologists to assess the academic performance functioning of students in the basic skill areas of reading, mathematics, spelling, and written expression. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the different approaches to CBA,…