Sample records for state learning standards

  1. Recommendations for Implementing the New Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards to Affect Classroom Practices for Social and Emotional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zinsser, Katherine M.; Dusenbury, Linda

    2015-01-01

    The state of Illinois in the central United States has long been a trendsetter both in the development of learning standards and in addressing social and emotional learning in education settings. With a recent revision to the state's early learning standards, published in 2013, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) fully aligned its…

  2. Analyzing How Formalist, Cognitive-Processing, and Literacy Practices Learning Paradigms are Shaping the Implementation of the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beach, Richard

    2011-01-01

    This paper analyzes the influence of three different learning paradigms for learning literacy--formalist, cognitive-processing, and literacy practices--on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. It argues that the Common Core State Standards are based largely on a formalist paradigm as evident in the emphasis on teaching text…

  3. Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards Alignment with Wisconsin Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2011

    2011-01-01

    Wisconsin's adoption of the Common Core State Standards provides an excellent opportunity for Wisconsin school districts and communities to define expectations from birth through preparation for college and work. By aligning the existing Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards with the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards, expectations can be…

  4. State Testing Standards versus Creativity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ediger, Marlow

    The balance between conformity to state standards and creativity in providing for individual differences in the classroom is discussed. With the current emphases on accountability and standards, learning opportunities for students are supposed to be aligned with state-mandated objectives. This may lead to a situation in which rote learning,…

  5. Setting Clear Learning Targets to Guide Instruction for All Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Konrad, Moira; Keesey, Susan; Ressa, Virginia A.; Alexeeff, Maggie; Chan, Paula E.; Peters, Mary T.

    2014-01-01

    As more states adopt the Common Core State Standards, teachers face new challenges. Teachers must unpack these standards and develop explicit learning targets to make these rigorous standards accessible to their students. This task can be especially challenging for special educators who must balance standards-based education with individualized…

  6. Comparison of Virginia's 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia Department of Education, 2011

    2011-01-01

    This first draft of the "Comparison of Virginia's 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2009 Mathematics SOL are aligned to the CCSS. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for supporting…

  7. Grade Expectations for Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities, Summer 2004 (Arts)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vermont Department of Education, 2004

    2004-01-01

    In the fall of 1996, the State Board of Education adopted Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. Over the years, the aim has been to make the standards more useful as guides to curriculum development. In 2000, the standards were formally revised and again adopted by the State Board. In 2004, another chapter in the standards,…

  8. Comparison of Virginia's 2010 English Standards of Learning with the Common Core State Standards for English and Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia Department of Education, 2010

    2010-01-01

    The "Comparison of Virginia's 2010 English Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy (ELAL)" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2010 English SOL are aligned to the CCSS for ELAL. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for…

  9. World-Class Ambitions, Weak Standards: An Excerpt from "The State of State Science Standards 2012"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Educator, 2012

    2012-01-01

    A solid science education program begins by clearly establishing what well-educated youngsters need to learn about this multifaceted domain of human knowledge. The first crucial step is setting clear academic standards for the schools--standards that not only articulate the critical science content students need to learn, but that also properly…

  10. High School Mathematics: State-Level Curriculum Standards and Graduation Requirements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reys, Barbara J.; Dingman, Shannon; Nevels, Nevels; Teuscher, Dawn

    2007-01-01

    In a continuing effort to improve student-learning opportunities in mathematics, state departments of education have focused on articulating standards or learning goals at all levels, including high school mathematics. A review of K-8 mathematics curriculum standards (many of which have been published since 2002) compiled by staff from the Center…

  11. Crosswalk Analysis of Deeper Learning Skills to Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conley, David T.

    2011-01-01

    The Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) conducted a crosswalk between the Deeper Learning Skills (DLS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The purpose of the crosswalk was to understand the ways in which strategies for deeper learning relate to the CCSS. This comparison was not solely or simply an alignment study, although some…

  12. 34 CFR 300.309 - Determining the existence of a specific learning disability.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child's age or State-approved grade-level standards: (i) Oral... solving. (2)(i) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved grade-level...

  13. 34 CFR 300.309 - Determining the existence of a specific learning disability.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child's age or State-approved grade-level standards: (i) Oral... solving. (2)(i) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved grade-level...

  14. 34 CFR 300.309 - Determining the existence of a specific learning disability.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child's age or State-approved grade-level standards: (i) Oral... solving. (2)(i) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved grade-level...

  15. A Comprehensive Analysis of High School Genetics Standards: Are States Keeping Pace with Modern Genetics?

    PubMed Central

    Dougherty, M.J.; Pleasants, C.; Solow, L.; Wong, A.; Zhang, H.

    2011-01-01

    Science education in the United States will increasingly be driven by testing and accountability requirements, such as those mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, which rely heavily on learning outcomes, or “standards,” that are currently developed on a state-by-state basis. Those standards, in turn, drive curriculum and instruction. Given the importance of standards to teaching and learning, we investigated the quality of life sciences/biology standards with respect to genetics for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using core concepts developed by the American Society of Human Genetics as normative benchmarks. Our results indicate that the states’ genetics standards, in general, are poor, with more than 85% of the states receiving overall scores of Inadequate. In particular, the standards in virtually every state have failed to keep pace with changes in the discipline as it has become genomic in scope, omitting concepts related to genetic complexity, the importance of environment to phenotypic variation, differential gene expression, and the differences between inherited and somatic genetic disease. Clearer, more comprehensive genetics standards are likely to benefit genetics instruction and learning, help prepare future genetics researchers, and contribute to the genetic literacy of the U.S. citizenry. PMID:21885828

  16. History and Social Studies Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia State Dept. of Education, Richmond.

    In 1995, the Virginia Board of Education published Virginia state Standards of Learning in English, mathematics, science, and history and social science for kindergarten through grade 12. The Standards of Learning provide a framework for instructional programs designed to raise the academic achievement of all Virginia public school students. The…

  17. Inside the Content: The Breadth and Depth of Early Learning Standards. Executive Summary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott-Little, Catherine; Kagan, Sharon Lynn; Frelow, Victoria Stebbins

    2005-01-01

    This executive summary describes a study that analyzes the content of early learning standards, operationally defined as documents that articulate expectations for children's development and learning during the preschool period (ages three to five years). Standards from 36 states were collected and analyzed to address the following research…

  18. State-Based Curriculum-Making: The Illinois Learning Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westbury, Ian

    2016-01-01

    This case study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 parallels a study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997." The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use of…

  19. Why Adoption of Standards Matters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Journal of Staff Development, 2016

    2016-01-01

    A total of 39 states have adopted, adapted, or endorsed the Standards for Professional Learning, including the standards issued in 2011 (labeled in red) and those published earlier (labeled in blue). Making a commitment to the standards is a commitment to continuous learning for all educators in a school.

  20. Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Education MUST Begin in Early Childhood Education: A Systematic Analysis of Washington State Guidelines Used to Gauge the Development and Learning of Young Learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Briseno, Luis Miguel

    This paper reflects future direction for early Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, science in particular. Washington State stakeholders use guidelines including: standards, curriculums and assessments to gauge young children's development and learning, in early childhood education (ECE). Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Framework for K-12 programs (National Research Council, 2011) emphasizes the need for reconfiguration of standards: "Too often standards are a long list of detailed and disconnected facts... this approach alienates young people, it also leaves them with fragments of knowledge and little sense of the inherent logic and consistency of science and of its universality." NGSS' position elevates the concern and need for learners to experience teaching and learning from intentionally designed cohesive curriculum units, rather than as a series of unrelated and isolated lessons. To introduce the argument the present study seeks to examine Washington State early learning standards. To evaluate this need, I examined balance and coverage/depth. Analysis measures the level of continuum in high-quality guidelines from which Washington State operates to serve its youngest citizens and their families.

  1. Exploring Pre-K Age 4 Learning Standards and Their Role in Early Childhood Education: Research and Policy Implications. Research Report. ETS RR-16-14

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Bruin-Parecki, Andrea; Slutzky, Carly

    2016-01-01

    Currently in the United States, 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia have established prekindergarten (pre-K) age 4 learning standards that are intended to outline skills and knowledge that set children on a path to success in kindergarten and upcoming grades. These standards are emphasized as a centralizing force in early…

  2. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 6th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  3. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 5th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  4. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your Kindergartner Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  5. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 9th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  6. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 7th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  7. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 11th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  8. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 2nd Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  9. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 10th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  10. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 1st Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  11. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 8th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  12. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 4th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…

  13. VA State Profile. Virginia: Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course Exams

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Center on Education Policy, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This paper provides information about Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course Exams. The purpose of the end-of-course assessments is to measure the achievement of students on the Standards of Learning adopted by the Virginia Board of Education for specific high school courses, and to ensure that students graduating from Virginia…

  14. Professional Learning: Trends in State Efforts. Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Kimberly; Mire, Mary Elizabeth

    2016-01-01

    This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

  15. Professional Development. State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Kimberly; Mira, Mary Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments, through professional learning. SREB researchers examined each state's major professional development efforts around its new standards in order to…

  16. Literature Circles in a Fifth Grade Classroom: A Qualitative Study Examining How the Teacher and Students Used Literature Circles and the Impact They Have on Student Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pambianchi, Laura Claypool

    2017-01-01

    State and national standards, including the Common Core State Standards, state that students should be expected to learn to discuss and analyze texts, comprehend ideas in increasingly complex texts, and justify their thinking. Literature circles are an instructional practice suggested by many educational writers as an instructional practice that…

  17. The Effect of Design Modifications to the Typographical Layout of the New York State Elementary Science Learning Standards on User Preference and Process Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arnold, Jeffery E.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book.…

  18. Leading the Transition from the Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards to the General Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazarus, Sheryl S.; Rieke, Rebekah

    2013-01-01

    Schools are facing many changes in the ways that teaching, learning, and assessment take place. Most states are moving from individual state standards to the new Common Core State Standards, which will be fewer, higher, and more rigorous than most current state standards. As the next generation of assessments used for accountability are rolled…

  19. Linked Learning: Using Learning Time Creatively to Prepare Students for College and Career

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Almond, Monica R.; Miller, Tiffany D.

    2014-01-01

    American public education is in a constant state of experimentation, with new waves of reforms and education initiatives unveiled routinely--many recycled and some reinvented. Yet few are truly innovative. The newest and most promising reform thus far are the Common Core State Standards, which are rigorous standards in English language arts and…

  20. Beyond the Core: Peer Observation Brings Common Core to Vocational and Electives Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thurber Rasmussen, Harriette

    2014-01-01

    This article describes how a Washington State School District increased professional learning around the Common Core State Standards. The challenge was how to establish a way for career and technical education and electives teachers to learn and apply Common Core in their classes. Weaving Common Core literacy standards into vocational and…

  1. Virginia Standards Predated the Common Core Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knowledge Quest, 2014

    2014-01-01

    The Virginia Board of Education is committed to the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) program and opposed to adoption of the newly developed Common Core State Standards as a prerequisite for participation in federal competitive grant and entitlement programs. The Standards of Learning are clear and rigorous and have won the acceptance and trust…

  2. Addressing Early Learning Standards for All Children within Blended Preschool Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grisham-Brown, Jennifer; Pretti-Frontczak, Kristie; Hawkins, Sarah R.; Winchell, Brooke N.

    2009-01-01

    Preschool teachers working in blended classrooms are faced with identifying which children need intensive instruction as well as being responsible for directly linking individualized learning outcomes with state or federal early learning standards. The series of studies presented were designed to illustrate how teachers working in blended…

  3. Indiana's Academic Standards: Economics--Social Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Indiana Department of Education, 2004

    2004-01-01

    In this standard, students learn how economies, large and small, function. Supply and demand are covered in depth, and students learn to identify the production, consumption, and circulation of different types of resources in local, state, national, and world economies. Students also learn about employment and personal finance, as well as the…

  4. A Process for Developing and Articulating Learning Goals or Competencies for Social and Emotional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoder, Nick; Dusenbury, Linda

    2017-01-01

    Developing and articulating clear goals for student social and emotional learning (SEL) involves a number of important steps. This document focuses specifically on the articulation of learning goals (sometimes called "competencies" or "standards" in state and district policy) and suggests a process for those state teams that…

  5. Enhancing Use of Learning Sciences Research in Planning for and Supporting Educational Change: Leveraging and Building Social Networks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Penuel, William R.; Bell, Philip; Bevan, Bronwyn; Buffington, Pam; Falk, Joni

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores practical ways to engage two areas of educational scholarship--research on science learning and research on social networks--to inform efforts to plan and support implementation of new standards. The standards, the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS; NGSS Lead States in Next generation science standards: For…

  6. Models of Teaching: Connecting Student Learning with Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dell'Olio, Jeanine M.; Donk, Tony

    2007-01-01

    "Models of Teaching: Connecting Student Learning with Standards" features classic and contemporary models of teaching appropriate to elementary and secondary settings. Authors Jeanine M. Dell'Olio and Tony Donk use detailed case studies to discuss 10 models of teaching and demonstrate how the models can incorporate state content standards and…

  7. What's Learned First, What's Learned Together? Developing a Yearlong Plan from the K-12 College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy. From the College and Career Ready Standards to Teaching and Learning in the Classroom: A Series of Resources for Teachers. Updated August 2015

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mancevice, Nicole; Lozano, Maritza; Jones, Barbara; Tobiason, Glory; Heritage, Margaret; Chang, Sandy; Herman, Joan

    2015-01-01

    This resource is part of a series produced by the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) to assist educators as they use College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) to plan instruction for diverse learners. Although the processes described in this resource use the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association…

  8. Just the Facts: Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Cheryl Scott

    2012-01-01

    In this article, the author talks about the Common Core State Standards and what they mean to teachers and their students. The Common Core State Standards Initiative provides an opportunity for classroom practitioners across the nation to hone their skills, focus on student learning, and ensure that all the students they serve will be working…

  9. Understanding the Skills in the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blosveren, Kate

    2012-01-01

    As defined on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) website, "the Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn... reflecting the "knowledge" and "skills" that our young people need for success in college and careers." While the "knowledge" defined within the CCSS is apparent--the…

  10. A Comprehensive Analysis of High School Genetics Standards: Are States Keeping Pace with Modern Genetics?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dougherty, M. J.; Pleasants, C.; Solow, L.; Wong, A.; Zhang, H.

    2011-01-01

    Science education in the United States will increasingly be driven by testing and accountability requirements, such as those mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, which rely heavily on learning outcomes, or "standards," that are currently developed on a state-by-state basis. Those standards, in turn, drive curriculum and instruction.…

  11. Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments. Grade 8 Released Test Items, 1998.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia State Dept.of Education, Richmond. Div. of Assessment and Reporting.

    Beginning in Spring 1998, Virginia students participated in the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments designed to test student knowledge of the content and skills specified in the state's standards. This document contains questions that approximately 79,000 students in grade 8 were required to answer as part of the SOL assessments. These…

  12. Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments. Grade 5 Released Test Items, 1998.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia State Dept.of Education, Richmond. Div. of Assessment and Reporting.

    Beginning in Spring 1998, Virginia students participated in the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments designed to test student knowledge of the content and skills specified in the state's standards. This document contains questions that approximately 80,000 students in grade 5 were required to answer as part of the SOL assessments. These…

  13. Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments. Grade 3 Released Test Items, 1998.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia State Dept.of Education, Richmond. Div. of Assessment and Reporting.

    Beginning in Spring 1998, Virginia students participated in the Standards of Learning (SOL) Assessments designed to test student knowledge of the content and skills specified in the state's standards. This document contains questions that approximately 83,000 students in grade 3 were required to answer as part of the SOL assessments. These…

  14. States' Progress and Challenges in Implementing Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kober, Nancy; Rentmer, Diane Stark

    2011-01-01

    Most states are participating in the initiative led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to develop and adopt voluntary common core state standards that will outline what elementary and secondary school students are expected to learn in English language arts and mathematics. Implementing these…

  15. The Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) Recommended Process for Developing State Policies and Guidelines to Support Social and Emotional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dusenbury, Linda; Yoder, Nick

    2017-01-01

    In the work of the authors with states over the years, they have observed that most follow a similar process when they develop policies or guidelines to support statewide implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL), such as establishing learning goals or standards for student social and emotional competencies, or providing guidance to…

  16. Common Core State Standards for Students with Gifts and Talents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    VanTassel-Baska, Joyce

    2015-01-01

    As many states have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers can look to these standards as a framework for supporting students with gifts and talents. Differentiation of curriculum and instruction to address the CCSS will be necessary to meet the unique learning needs of learners with high ability and those with gifts and talents.…

  17. High Standards Help Struggling Students: New Evidence. Charts You Can Trust

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, Constance; Cookson, Peter W., Jr.

    2012-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia, promise to raise achievement in English and mathematics through rigorous standards that promote deeper learning. But while most policymakers, researchers, and educators have embraced these higher standards, some question the fairness of raising the academic bar on…

  18. Supporting Science Teachers in Alignment with State Curriculum Standards through Professional Development: Teachers' Preparedness, Expectations and Their Fulfillment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paik, Sunhee; Zhang, Meilan; Lundeberg, Mary A.; Eberhardt, Jan; Shin, Tae Seob; Zhang, Tianyi

    2011-08-01

    Since A Nation at Risk was released in the 1980s, standards-based reform has been the most dominant trend in American educational policy, and the No Child Left Behind Act pushed the trend further by requiring states to develop rigorous curriculum standards. Though much has been said about these new standards, less has been said about whether or how well professional development helps teachers link their instruction to these standards. This study examined the impact of a professional development program for K-12 science teachers in helping teachers meet state curriculum standards. Seventy-five science teachers in Michigan participated in a 2-week summer workshop that used Problem-Based Learning for improving teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Researchers surveyed participating teachers about the change of teachers' preparedness for standards-based teaching, their expectations to meet state curriculum standards, and whether their expectations were met. In addition, the usefulness of workshop activities was examined. Data analysis showed that to align teaching with state curriculum standards, participating teachers expected to learn instructional strategies and enhance science content knowledge through professional development, and by and large their expectations were well met. Collaboration with colleagues and facilitators helped teachers achieve their goals in terms of teaching within state curriculum standards. These findings have important implications for designing professional development to help teachers align instruction with curriculum standards.

  19. Assessment and Program Accountability in Early Childhood Education: Lessons Learned in Ohio

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boat, Mary; Zorn, Debbie; Austin, James T.

    2005-01-01

    Ensuring that children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, start school ready to learn is an important goal. This paper presents lessons learned from the state of Ohio's multi-year program to develop a standards-based assessment system for programs delivering state-funded early childhood education (ECE) through programs receiving…

  20. Community Schools: Improving Student Learning/Strengthening Schools, Families, and Communities. A Handbook for State Policy Leaders.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coalition for Community Schools, Washington, DC.

    This handbook is designed to help state leaders form vital connections between schools and communities to improve student learning. It explains that community schools are beneficial because they meet students' basic needs, including safety; offer high quality curriculum and teaching aligned with academic standards; provide learning experiences…

  1. Learning across Space Instead of over Time: Redesigning a School-Based STEM Curriculum for OST

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newbill, Phyllis Leary; Drape, Tiffany A.; Schnittka, Christine; Baum, Liesl; Evans, Michael A.

    2015-01-01

    Both employer expectations and education standards, including the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards, are shifting the focus of learning from knowledge and discrete skills to the ability to think critically and creatively. This paper describes the process of translating an existing teacher-led STEM curriculum to fit…

  2. Learning to Assess and Assessing to Learn: A Descriptive Study of a District-Wide Mathematics Assessment Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ringer, Catharina W.

    2013-01-01

    In today's mathematics education, there is an increasing emphasis on students' understanding of the mathematics set forth in standards documents such as the "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000) and, most recently, the "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics"…

  3. High-Leverage Principles of Effective Instruction for English Learners. From College and Career Ready Standards to Teaching and Learning in the Classroom: A Series of Resources for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neri, Rebecca; Lozano, Maritza; Chang, Sandy; Herman, Joan

    2016-01-01

    New college and career ready standards (CCRS) have established more rigorous expectations of learning for all learners, including English learner (EL) students, than what was expected in previous standards. A common feature in these new content-area standards, such as the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics and the…

  4. Strategies for Creating Work-Based Learning Experiences in Schools for Secondary Students with Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cease-Cook, Jennifer; Fowler, Catherine; Test, David W.

    2015-01-01

    Nationally, the recent focus has been on adopting state-developed standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics that build toward college and career readiness. Of the states that have elected to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2012), states either (a)…

  5. What Should Common Core Assessments Measure?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chandler, Kayla; Fortune, Nicholas; Lovett, Jennifer N.; Scherrer, Jimmy

    2016-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for mathematics promote ideals about learning mathematics by providing specific standards focused on conceptual understanding and incorporating practices in which students must participate to develop conceptual understanding. Thus, how we define learning is pivotal because our current definition isn't aligned with…

  6. Professional Learning Policy Review: A Workbook for States and Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Killion, Joellen

    2013-01-01

    Educators face significant changes today that affect their daily work lives. Chief among those changes is the national expectation that every student will graduate from high school, college and career ready. Common core state standards adopted in 46 states, as well as college- and career-ready standards established in other states, define what…

  7. CTE and the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reese, Susan

    2011-01-01

    When the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards in June 2010, it was the culmination of a yearlong process. It resulted in what the two organizations stated was the establishment of clear and consistent goals for learning that would prepare America's…

  8. From Prescribed Curriculum to Classroom Practice: An Examination of the Implementation of the New York State Earth Science Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Contino, Julie; Anderson, O. Roger

    2013-01-01

    In New York State (NYS), Earth science teachers use the "National Science Education Standards" (NSES), the NYS "Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology" (NYS Standards), and the "Physical Setting/Earth Science Core Curriculum" (Core Curriculum) to create local curricula and daily lessons. In this…

  9. Lessons from Sociocultural Writing Research for Implementing the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Woodard, Rebecca; Kline, Sonia

    2016-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards advocate more writing than previous standards; however, in taking a college and career readiness perspective, the Standards neglect to emphasize the role of context and culture in learning to write. We argue that sociocultural perspectives that pay attention to these factors offer insights into how to interpret and…

  10. Literacy Instruction in the Wake of Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrett-Mynes, Jennifer

    2013-01-01

    As teachers modify their instruction to meet English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), how do these modifications influence literacy instruction and learning opportunities afforded to students? While the CCSS standardized objectives for literacy instruction, the enacted curriculum is uniquely shaped by teachers and their…

  11. Learning to Love the Questions: How Essential Questions Promote Creativity and Deep Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilhelm, Jeffrey D.

    2014-01-01

    Educators know that creativity and innovation involve questioning and the capacity to frame topics as problems to be solved. They know that we are living in a time of a new generation of standards, including the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In the U.S., compliance with these standards requires that educators encourage students to ask…

  12. Common Core and the Uncommon Learner: How Autism Affects Acquisition of Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marsh, Wendela Whitcomb

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS 2014a, b) are here to stay. State and local education agencies are responsible for ensuring that schools teach all students the core standards that they will need in college and the work force. However, the ever-growing population of students on the autism spectrum has unique learning needs which may make it…

  13. A Study of the "Stanford Achievement Test Series," Tenth Edition (Stanford 10) Alignment to the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pearson Education, Inc., 2011

    2011-01-01

    With the June 2, 2010, release of the Common Core State Standards, state-led education standards developed for K-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics, Pearson Learning Assessments and content experts conducted an in-depth study to analyze how the "Stanford 10 Achievement Test Series," Tenth Edition (Stanford 10) and Stanford 10…

  14. The Effectiveness of Instructional Mathematics Coaching: A Study on How the Implementation of Instructional Mathematics Coaches in Elementary Schools Impacts Student Achievement and Promotes Teacher Self-Efficacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Janice E.

    2017-01-01

    The State of Illinois adopted the Illinois Learning Standards for Mathematics on June 24, 2010 as a means for students to succeed in college, in a career and in life. The new standards had instructional shifts in content and practice that differed from the 1999 Illinois Learning Standards. The new mathematics standards contained fewer topics for…

  15. Adult Basic Educators' Descriptions of Standards Implementation and Its Influence on Cognitive Rigor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Lia Conklin

    2017-01-01

    With only four years of mandated state-standards in adult basic education (ABE), very little is known about the influence of state-standards implementation on the unique learning needs of its adult students. Two decades of research on standards-based education in the U.S. K12 system has yielded widely debated results regarding the impact of…

  16. Family Concepts in Early Learning and Development Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walsh, Bridget A.; Sanchez, Claudia; Lee, Angela M.; Casillas, Nicole; Hansen, Caitlynn

    2016-01-01

    This exploratory study investigated the use of concepts related to families, parents, and the home in 51 state-level early learning and development standards documents. Guidelines from six national family involvement, engagement, and school-partnership models were used to create the Family Involvement Models Analysis Chart (FIMAC), which served as…

  17. Surprising Strengths and Substantial Needs: Rural District Implementation of Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Timar, Thomas; Carter, Allison

    2017-01-01

    In August 2010, the California State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Three years later, the president of the State Board, Dr. Michael Kirst, noted that CCSS "changes almost everything," including what teachers teach, how they teach, and what students are expected to learn (Kirst, 2013). Echoing his…

  18. Making Sense of New Science Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pellegrino, James W.

    2016-01-01

    What we choose to assess in science is what will end up being the focus of instruction. US science standards once treated content and inquiry as fairly separate strands of science learning, with content standards stating what students should know and inquiry standards stating what they should be able to do. In its content coverage, these standards…

  19. State Standards and Digital Primary Sources: A Divergence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedman, Adam

    2006-01-01

    The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of state standards and their associated tests in public schools in order to hold schools, teachers, and students accountable for learning outcomes and achievement. In this qualitative study of eight world history and world geography teachers, the degree to which the Virginia Standards of Learning…

  20. Agents of Change: Examining the Role of Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment Coordinators in California Community Colleges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilbert, Greg, Ed.; Buechner, Marybeth, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    Formally stating and assessing student learning outcomes (SLOs) is a new focus for California community colleges required by the 2002 Accreditation Standards. This paper, the first in a series, explores one aspect of this sea change across the state: the emergence of a new group of faculty leaders, Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment…

  1. Our Changing Land: Stone Mountain State Park. An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 4-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trivette, Larry

    Stone Mountain State Park's environmental education learning experience, Our Changing Land, introduces the student to the geology of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with emphasis on Stone Mountain, through a series of hands-on activities. The learning experience is designed for grades 4-6 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study…

  2. Here, There, and Anywhere: Transfer of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Camp, Deanne

    2012-01-01

    Public education in the United States is sequenced in such a manner that a skill learned at one level is then transferred to a more complex skill at yet a higher level. In addition, the individual concepts or grade-level-expectations based on state Standards are designed this way. Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (1999) stated, "Educators hope…

  3. Value-Added in a Virtual Learning Environment: An Evaluation of a Virtual Charter School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lueken, Martin; Ritter, Gary; Beck, Dennis

    2015-01-01

    This paper evaluates an online charter school that serves children in grades K-8 in a southern state in the United States. We compare growth in math and literacy learning on state standardized assessments between students enrolled in this school and "matched twin" students enrolled in traditional public school students statewide each…

  4. A global service-learning experience for nursing students in Tanzania: a model for collaboration.

    PubMed

    Kreye, Judy; Oetker-Black, Sharon

    2013-01-01

    This article addresses a model for creating a short-term global service-learning program. The Global Standards for the Initial Education of Professional Nurses and Midwives guided the development of a collaborative program involving a school of nursing in the Midwestern United States and one in Tanzania. Evaluation of the school of nursing and subsequent collaborative planning led to development and implementation of a 3-week global service-learning experience for nursing students. International academic partnerships, developed in accordance with WHO standards, will enhance educational experiences for nursing students both in the United States and abroad. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. A Case Study of Interactive Whiteboard Professional Development for Elementary Mathematics Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Essig, Dawn

    2011-01-01

    In a northeastern US state, the higher the grade the level, the more students do not meet the state mathematics standards. Teachers need effective professional development in classroom strategies and tools, such as interactive whiteboards (IWB), to assist them in preparing students to meet state standards. Multimedia learning theory and…

  6. Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: An Overview of States' Progress and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rentner, Diane Stark

    2013-01-01

    States are in a crucial phase of implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which outline the knowledge and skills that students in grades kindergarten through 12 are expected to learn in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) to be prepared for college and careers. As of July 2013, 45 states and the District of Columbia have…

  7. Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: States Prepare for Common Core Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rentner, Diane Stark

    2013-01-01

    With the voluntary Common Core State Standards (CCSS), states have sought to establish clear, high expectations that are consistent across participating states and that signal what K-12 students should learn in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) to be prepared for college and careers. As of July 2013, the CCSS have been adopted by 45…

  8. (De)constructing Student Engagement for Pre-Service Teacher Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beasley, Jennifer G.; Gist, Conra D.; Imbeau, Marcia B.

    2014-01-01

    Learning to teach is a complex intellectual and adaptive performance act. Student engagement is the cornerstone of effective instruction. Current education reform policies, such as Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) and Teacher Effectiveness…

  9. The Voices of Non-Adopters: Members of the Virginia and Nebraska State Boards of Education on Why Their States Did Not Adopt the Common Core Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    State Education Standard, 2012

    2012-01-01

    On June 24, 2010, the Virginia Board of Education unanimously adopted a statement expressing its continuing commitment to Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) and opposition to making participation in federal grant and entitlement programs contingent on word-for-word adoption of the newly developed Common Core State Standards in reading and…

  10. State Transition to High-Quality, College/Career-Ready Assessments: A Workbook for State Action on Key Policy, Legal, and Technical Issues. Updated

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Achieve, Inc., 2013

    2013-01-01

    Over the next few years, states will be transitioning to new, high-quality assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or other state college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. States are committed to making this transition in a manner that is determined and thoughtful--to help transform teaching and learning, advance CCR…

  11. The Common Core State Standards and Early Language Learning: Let's Do This!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haxhi, Jessica

    2014-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are here to stay--for awhile at least--and students will be tested on their ability to meet these standards. In order for students to succeed--in order for them to be College and Career Ready--they will need the support of educators working together to give them practice in meeting these standards. World…

  12. The Lower-Order Expectations of High-Stakes Tests: A Four-State Analysis of Social Studies Standards and Test Alignment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeWitt, Scott W.; Patterson, Nancy; Blankenship, Whitney; Blevins, Brooke; DiCamillo, Lorrei; Gerwin, David; Gradwell, Jill M.; Gunn, John; Maddox, Lamont; Salinas, Cinthia; Saye, John; Stoddard, Jeremy; Sullivan, Caroline C.

    2013-01-01

    This study indicates that the state-mandated high-stakes social studies assessments in four states do not require students to demonstrate that they have met the cognitive demands articulated in the state-mandated learning standards. Further, the assessments do not allow students to demonstrate the critical thinking skills required by the…

  13. National Standards for Quality Online Courses: Version 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    International Association for K-12 Online Learning, 2011

    2011-01-01

    The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to ensure all students have access to world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. "National Standards for Quality Online Courses" is designed to provide states, districts, online programs, and…

  14. Developing K-16 Student Standards for Language Learning: A Critical Examination of the Case of Esperanto

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fonseca-Greber, Bonnie; Reagan, Timothy

    2008-01-01

    In light of the ongoing attention to standards-based education in U.S. schools and the concern over how to effectively develop literacy skills in a first, let alone a second, language, this article reports on the drafting of the K-16 Student Standards for Learning Esperanto in the United States. Esperanto is ideally suited to aid children in the…

  15. A Contextual Analysis of the Quality Core Curriculum and the Georgia Performance Standards in Seventh Grade Social Studies: A Critical Race Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Candis, Matthew Reese

    2013-01-01

    In 1985 the state of Georgia introduced the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) in accordance with the Quality Basic Education (QBE) Act. These learning standards identified the content knowledge that students were required to learn in each subject area at all grade levels. The QCC was replaced by the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) to identify the…

  16. Elementary Teacher Perceptions Regarding the Use of Kinesthetic Learning Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erickson, Heidi Christine

    2017-01-01

    Researchers have shown that movement increases brain function, improves mental health, supports cognitive development for students, and reduces sedentary time, all which can influence overall health. Research concerning learning with intentional movement is limited. In the United States, Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being mandated, and…

  17. Champions: District Leaders Build Skills to Boost Educator Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Psencik, Kay; Brown, Frederick; Cain, Laura; Coleman, Ramona; Cummings, C. Todd

    2014-01-01

    Fort Wayne Community Schools continue to increase student learning and meet state and national standards and expectations annually based on several factors that have made a difference for educators within the system: district and principal leadership, learning teams, effective learning designs, and deep commitment to a culture of learning. Fort…

  18. Student Learning Outcomes: Communication among a State College Faculty and Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gabbard, Billie

    2017-01-01

    Without intervention, higher education will continue to struggle with measuring student learning, thus creating challenges associated with accrediting body standards to prove that students learn. Although there is much literature on learning in higher education and accreditation struggles, the problem of clarity and effectiveness of communication…

  19. Sensitivity of Cross-State Assessment Item Difficulty to Differences in State Curricular Content Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Traynor, Anne

    2017-01-01

    It has long been argued that U.S. states' differential performance on nationwide assessments may reflect differences in students' opportunity to learn the tested content that is primarily due to variation in curricular content standards, rather than in instructional quality or educational investment. To quantify the effect of differences in…

  20. States Move toward Computer Science Standards. Policy Update. Vol. 23, No. 17

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tilley-Coulson, Eve

    2016-01-01

    While educators and parents recognize computer science as a key skill for career readiness, only five states have adopted learning standards in this area. Tides are changing, however, as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recognizes with its call on states to provide a "well-rounded education" for students, to include computer science…

  1. PLANNING GUIDELINES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF FACILITIES AT THE STATE-SUPPORTED COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN COLORADO.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colorado Association of State Institutions of Higher Education, Denver.

    GUIDELINES ARE PRESENTED TO INSURE UNIFORM PLANNING AT THE EIGHT STATE-SUPPORTED INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN COLORADO. TWO PLANNING CONSULTANT FIRMS SUBMITTED UTILIZATION CRITERIA AND SQUARE FOOTAGE CRITERIA WHICH WERE USED TO DEVELOP STANDARDS FOR PLANNING IN THE STATE INSTITUTIONS. STANDARDS WERE SET FOR (1) CLASSROOM UTILIZATION, (2)…

  2. Putting the Pieces in Place

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rothman, Robert

    2013-01-01

    Forty-six states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Department of Defense schools have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Adoption was only the first step. Ensuring that the standards will improve student learning will require new assessments, curriculums, instructional materials and resources, and professional development.…

  3. Tech-Know: Integrating Engaging Activities through Standards-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ernst, Jeremy V.; Taylor, Jerianne S.; Peterson, Richard E.

    2005-01-01

    In August 2001, North Carolina State University received a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop standards-based instructional materials for 20 Technology Student Association (TSA) activities. The TECH-know Project represents a significant collaboration between selected state departments, universities, businesses, and…

  4. Pre-Service Teachers' Perspectives on How the Use of TOON Comic Books during Guided Reading Influenced Learning by Struggling Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGrail, Ewa; Rieger, Alicja; Doepker, Gina M.; McGeorge, Samantha

    2018-01-01

    National guidelines such as the "Standards for the 21st Century Learner" (American Association of School Librarians, 2007) and the "Common Core State Standards" (Common Core State Standards, 2010) recognize the importance of using a wide range of informational texts, including comic books and graphic novels to teach content, in…

  5. An Examination of the Relationship between a Child's Developmental Age and Early Literacy Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moran, Christine E.; Senseny, Karlen

    2016-01-01

    American students typically attend kindergarten at the chronological age (CA) of five and currently with the implementation of Common Core State Standards, there are expectations that children learn how to read in order to meet these academic standards, despite whether or not they are developmentally ready. This mixed methods study examined age…

  6. Drafting a Customized Tech Plan: Throw out Yesterday's Creaky Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solomon, Gwen

    2004-01-01

    Today, states and districts are zeroing in on standards-based learning and high stakes test scores--even benchmarking results in advance of the school year. Technology planning is--or should be--a key part of any such learning design. With careful planning for integration districts can be helped to more successfully address standards and, in…

  7. Standards of Learning Objectives for Virginia Public Schools: Theatre Arts, Oral Communication, Journalism.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Virginia State Dept. of Education, Richmond.

    The Standards of Learning Objectives for Virginia Public Schools in the areas of theatre arts, oral communication, and journalism explicitly stated in this guide reflect the scope and depth of these elective subjects and identify some appropriate ends for instruction. The guide outlines the program goals, objectives, guidelines, and SOL objectives…

  8. Pre-K Standards (Guidelines): Utah State Office of Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Utah State Office of Education, Salt Lake City.

    This document presents standards created for parents, preschool teachers, and child care providers as they endeavor to develop the best learning environment for the 3- and 4-year-old children in Utah. The document is organized in six sections. Section 1 defines the elements of a positive learning environment related to the unique nature of each…

  9. Living Traditions--A Teacher's Guide: Teaching Local History Using State and National Learning Standards.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skelding, Mark; Kemple, Martin; Kiefer, Joseph

    This guide is designed to take teachers through a step-by-step process for developing an integrated, standards-based curriculum that focuses on the stories, history, folkways, and agrarian traditions of the local community. Such a place-based curriculum helps students to become culturally literate, makes learning relevant and engaging, draws on…

  10. Using Professional Learning Communities to Bolster Comprehension Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dougherty Stahl, Katherine A.

    2015-01-01

    High-level comprehension instruction is the focus of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts. However, it has been a challenge for states to provide the professional development (PD) needed to support teachers' implementation of the CCSS. Professional learning communities (PLC) are a means of providing school-embedded PD to…

  11. Influence of Adult Goal-Setting Instruction on Students' Responsibility toward Self-Directed Competencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apa Browne, Lynn Geri

    2014-01-01

    Elementary grade students in a mid-Atlantic state school district have not been meeting academic standards on state assessments. Research indicates that academic achievement is connected to self-directed readiness to learn; however, often the instruction in strategies for student self-directed readiness to learn remains teacher-centered. The…

  12. Performance Assessments: How State Policy Can Advance Assessments for 21st Century Learning. White Paper

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parsi, Ace; Darling-Hammond, Linda

    2015-01-01

    Employers, postsecondary institutions, and civic leaders are urging greater focus on 21st century skills essential for college, career, and civic success: problem solving, interpersonal skills, and collaboration, among others. In response to these demands, states across the country are working to realign policies--on learning standards,…

  13. Federal/State Regulatory Reform, Cost Allocation, and CATV/TELCO Distance Learning Initiatives in Connecticut.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John; Murphy, Robert J.

    Distance learning in Connecticut has begun to develop in the wake of telecommunications (TELCO) infrastructure modernization. Progress in this area is reviewed and discussed. The state has not yet adopted a standardized statewide policy governing the delivery of educational telecommunications programing, and various private producers currently…

  14. Special Educators' Perceptions of State Standards in a Large, Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cramer, Elizabeth D.; Gallo, Rosalia F.

    2017-01-01

    The implementation of Common Core State Standards raises challenges for teachers, particularly those in urban settings and those who work with students with unique learning challenges, particularly students with disabilities. This article provides the results of a study that surveyed special education teachers' perspectives related to the…

  15. Illinois Early Learning Project Tip Sheets: Parenting and Family Life.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    2003

    The Illinois Early Learning Project (IEL) is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education to provide information resources on early learning and training related to implementing the Illinois Early Learning Standards for parents and for early childhood personnel in all settings. The IEL tip sheets offer suggestions to parents and early childhood…

  16. Traditional vs. Experiential: A Comparative Study of Instructional Methodologies on Student Achievement in New York City Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mohan, Subhas

    2015-01-01

    This study explores the differences in student achievement on state standardized tests between experiential learning and direct learning instructional methodologies. Specifically, the study compares student performances in Expeditionary Learning schools, which is a Comprehensive School Reform model that utilizes experiential learning, to their…

  17. Illinois Early Learning Project Tip Sheets: Physical Development and Health.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    2003

    The Illinois Early Learning Project (IEL) is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education to provide information resources on early learning and training related to implementing the Illinois Early Learning Standards for parents and for early childhood personnel in all settings. The IEL tip sheets offer suggestions to parents and early childhood…

  18. Maximizing Learning through Assessment in Middle and High School Physical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kniffin, K. Michael; Baert, Helena

    2015-01-01

    More than ever, assessment is in the national spotlight. In this time of state and national learning standards, learning objectives, and various forms of student and teacher accountability, the need for evidence of real student learning in physical education is paramount. There are many potential benefits of conducting assessment properly,…

  19. Effects of an Intervention on Math Achievement for Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kitchens, Vivian D.; Deris, Aaron R.; Simon, Marilyn K.

    2016-01-01

    Students with learning disabilities score lower than other at-risk groups on state standardized assessment tests. Educators are searching for intervention strategies to improve math achievement for students with learning disabilities. The study examined the effects of a mathematics intervention known as Cover, Copy, and Compare for learning basic…

  20. A National Education Standards Exit Strategy for States. WebMemo. No. 3437

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burke, Lindsey M.

    2011-01-01

    The push for centralized control over what every child should learn has never had more momentum. The Obama Administration has pressured states to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative, conditioning more than $4 billion in Race to the Top grants on its adoption. The Administration's blueprint for the rewrite of No Child Left Behind also…

  1. Co-constructing cultural landscapes for disciplinary learning in and out of school: the next generation science standards and learning progressions in action

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Córdova, Ralph A.; Balcerzak, Phyllis

    2016-12-01

    The authors of this study are teacher-researchers, the first is a university researcher and former third and fourth grade teacher, while the second author is a university-based science educator. They report findings from a community-based study that Ralph, the first author, and his students conducted across two academic years (2001-2003) in order to illustrate the ways in which the next generation science standards and learning progressions can be appropriated as social-constructed practices inside and outside of school. The authors argue that what constitutes science learning in school is not a `state of grace' dictated by standards. Rather, becoming a scientist within a community of learners is a cultural phenomenon that teachers and students co-construct and as such teachers can approach the next generation science standards and learning progressions as opportunities to create intentional, disciplinary practice-based learning communities inside and outside of school.

  2. Listening Responsively

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Callahan, Kadian M.

    2011-01-01

    Standards documents, such as the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics", expect teachers to foster mathematics learning by engaging students in meaningful mathematical discourse to expose students to different ways of thinking about and solving problems and positively influence their…

  3. Tennessee Scales up Improved Math Instruction through Coaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russell, Jennifer; Stein, Mary Kay; Correnti, Richard; Bill, Victoria; Booker, Laura; Schwartz, Nate

    2017-01-01

    If students are to meet higher standards, all educators in the system have to learn how to engage students in reasoning about complex ideas. What levers can state boards of education and state education agencies pull to support the professional learning that makes this possible? A research-practice partnership in Tennessee may shed light on this…

  4. Gold-standard evaluation of a folksonomy-based ontology learning model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Djuana, E.

    2018-03-01

    Folksonomy, as one result of collaborative tagging process, has been acknowledged for its potential in improving categorization and searching of web resources. However, folksonomy contains ambiguities such as synonymy and polysemy as well as different abstractions or generality problem. To maximize its potential, some methods for associating tags of folksonomy with semantics and structural relationships have been proposed such as using ontology learning method. This paper evaluates our previous work in ontology learning according to gold-standard evaluation approach in comparison to a notable state-of-the-art work and several baselines. The results show that our method is comparable to the state-of the art work which further validate our approach as has been previously validated using task-based evaluation approach.

  5. Pre-Kindergarten: Research-Based Recommendations for Developing Standards and Factors Contributing to School Readiness Gaps. Information Capsule. Volume 1201

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blazer, Christie

    2012-01-01

    States across the country are developing pre-kindergarten standards that articulate expectations for preschooler's learning and development and define the manner in which services will be provided. There are two different types of standards: student outcome standards and program standards. Student outcome standards define the knowledge and skills…

  6. Rethinking edTPA: The Use of InTASC Principles and Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuo, Nai-Cheng

    2018-01-01

    The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0, developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO, 2013) in the United States, provide a set of expectations for essential knowledge, critical disposition, and performance needed for high-quality…

  7. Multimodal Composition and the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dalton, Bridget

    2013-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards call for an expanded view of literacy instruction, one where children learn to critically consume and produce text using technology and media. This article describes how a Digital Writers' Workshop can be a vehicle for integrating multimodal composition into the classroom. It offers general workshop principles and…

  8. Factors Influencing Improved Student Achievement in Virginia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Linehan, Patrick D.

    2012-01-01

    At the beginning of the last decade, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002. Key provisions of this act focused on holding schools accountable to ensure that all students met state established standards. In Virginia, the state Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments form the basis of…

  9. Educators' Perceptions and Knowledge of the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nadelson, Louis S.; Pluska, Heidi; Moorcroft, Scott; Jeffrey, Annie; Woodard, Susan

    2014-01-01

    As with many previous K-12 educational reform efforts, expectations that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 2010) will assist students in learning so that they can prepare for college and the workforce are very high (American College Testing, 2012). Briefly, the CCSS "are designed…

  10. Blended Learning vs. Traditional Instruction as a Predictor of Student Achievement in New York City Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Anthony

    2017-01-01

    This study explored the differences in student achievement on New York State standardized tests between blended learning and traditional instructional methodologies. Specifically, the study compared student achievement in iLearnNYC schools, to their peer schools that deliver instruction in a traditional manner. iLearnNYC is a blended learning…

  11. 8 CFR 245a.17 - Citizenship skills.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... submitted); or (3) He or she has attended, or is attending, a state recognized, accredited learning... learning institution must be for a period of one academic year (or the equivalent thereof according to the standards of the learning institution) and the curriculum must include at least 40 hours of instruction in...

  12. 8 CFR 245a.17 - Citizenship skills.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... submitted); or (3) He or she has attended, or is attending, a state recognized, accredited learning... learning institution must be for a period of one academic year (or the equivalent thereof according to the standards of the learning institution) and the curriculum must include at least 40 hours of instruction in...

  13. The Virginia Geocoin Adventure: An Experiential Geospatial Learning Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Laura; McGee, John; Campbell, James; Hays, Amy

    2013-01-01

    Geospatial technologies have become increasingly prevalent across our society. Educators at all levels have expressed a need for additional resources that can be easily adopted to support geospatial literacy and state standards of learning, while enhancing the overall learning experience. The Virginia Geocoin Adventure supports the needs of 4-H…

  14. Exploring Civic Practices and Service Learning through School-Wide Recycling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chessin, Debby; Moore, Virginia J.; Theobald, Becky

    2011-01-01

    Young children can make real-life connections to the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship through Service Learning, a teaching pedagogy and philosophy that addresses real community needs while fulfilling academic goals that meet specific national and state curricula and standards. Authentic and effective service learning projects offer…

  15. School Garden Wizard: Home

    Science.gov Websites

    ! Gardening and plant-based learning open a door to discovery of the living world. It stimulates even as it achieve learning goals in ways that are recommended by the National Science Standards and most state and Learning Inspiring Stories A Teacher's Perspective Gardening Tools Seasonal Considerations Special Needs

  16. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 10th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Decimo Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Education Oversight Committee, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  17. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 5th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 5to Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  18. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your Kindergartner Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Jardin Infantil (Kindergarten) Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  19. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 6th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 6to Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  20. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 3rd Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 3er Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  1. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 11th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Grado 11 Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  2. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 9th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Noveno Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  3. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 7th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Septimo Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  4. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 1st Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 1er Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  5. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 8th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de Octavo Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  6. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 2nd Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 2do Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  7. A Guide for Parents and Families about What Your 4th Grader Should Be Learning in School This Year. Don't Fail Your Children = Una Guia para los Padres y Familias Acerca de Lo Que Su Hijo de 4to Grado Debe Aprender en la Escuela Este Ano. No Le Falle a Sus Hijos.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.

    This guide, in English- and Spanish-language versions, shares with parents information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons parents should be aware of the new…

  8. Competitive Debate as Competency-Based Learning: Civic Engagement and Next-Generation Assessment in the Era of the Common Core Learning Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McIntosh, Jonathan; Milam, Myra

    2016-01-01

    As the adoption and execution of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have steadily increased, the debate community is presented with an opportunity to be more forward thinking and sustainable through the translation to curriculum planning and next-generation assessment as a movement towards Performance-Based Assessments. This paper focuses on…

  9. Quality specifications in postgraduate medical e-learning: an integrative literature review leading to a postgraduate medical e-learning model.

    PubMed

    De Leeuw, R A; Westerman, Michiel; Nelson, E; Ket, J C F; Scheele, F

    2016-07-08

    E-learning is driving major shifts in medical education. Prioritizing learning theories and quality models improves the success of e-learning programs. Although many e-learning quality standards are available, few are focused on postgraduate medical education. We conducted an integrative review of the current postgraduate medical e-learning literature to identify quality specifications. The literature was thematically organized into a working model. Unique quality specifications (n = 72) were consolidated and re-organized into a six-domain model that we called the Postgraduate Medical E-learning Model (Postgraduate ME Model). This model was partially based on the ISO-19796 standard, and drew on cognitive load multimedia principles. The domains of the model are preparation, software design and system specifications, communication, content, assessment, and maintenance. This review clarified the current state of postgraduate medical e-learning standards and specifications. It also synthesized these specifications into a single working model. To validate our findings, the next-steps include testing the Postgraduate ME Model in controlled e-learning settings.

  10. Resource Accountability: Enforcing State Responsibilities for Sufficient and Equitable Resources Used Effectively to Provide All Students a Quality Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sciarra, David G.; Hunter, Molly A.

    2015-01-01

    Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3)…

  11. Overview of the Common Core State Standard initiative and educational reform movement from the vantage of speech-language pathologists.

    PubMed

    Staskowski, Maureen

    2012-05-01

    Educational reform is sweeping the country. The adoption and the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in almost every state are meant to transform education. It is intended to update the way schools educate, the way students learn, and to ultimately prepare the nation's next generation for the global workplace. This article will describe the Common Core State Standard initiative and the underlying concerns about the quality of education in the United States as well as the opportunities this reform initiative affords speech-language pathologists. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  12. Advancing Ohio's P-16 Agenda: Exit and Entrance Exam?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rochford, Joseph A.

    2004-01-01

    Tests like the Ohio Graduation Test are part of what has become known as the "standards-based" reform movement in education. Simply put, they allow states to measure whether or not students are learning according to whatever set of standards, benchmarks and indicators are adopted by that state. They also help meet, in part, the reporting…

  13. Teaching Mathematics to Secondary Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Challenges and Practical Suggestions for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mulcahy, Candace A.; Krezmien, Michael; Maccini, Paula

    2014-01-01

    While the Common Core State Standards and state learning standards guide teachers in what mathematical content knowledge should be addressed as well as the processes and proficiencies necessary for developing mathematical competence, several student- and teacher-related factors may hinder student access to the general education curriculum for…

  14. Examining English Language Arts Common Core State Standards Instruction through Cultural Historical Activity Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrett-Tatum, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards and corresponding assessments brought about many changes for educators, their literacy instruction, and the literacy learning of their students. This study examined the day-to-day literacy instruction of two primary grade teachers during their first year of full CCSS implementation. Engestr?m's…

  15. At the Center of the Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Principal, 2012

    2012-01-01

    While the 2011-2012 school year offered educators a sketch of the Common Core State Standards and how they would impact teaching and learning, this year that painting takes shape. Many states and districts are well on the way to implementing the standards--but the process is complex, especially for the school leaders who shoulder the task of…

  16. RAFTing with Raptors: Connecting Science, English Language Arts, and the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Senn, Gary J.; McMurtrie, Deborah H.; Coleman, Bridget K.

    2013-01-01

    This article explores using the RAFT strategy (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) for writing in science classes. The framework of the RAFT strategy will be explained, and connections with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA/Literacy will be discussed. Finally, there will be a discussion of a professional learning experience for teachers in…

  17. The Common Core State Standards: An Opportunity to Enhance Formative Assessment in History/Social Studies Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ateh, Comfort M.; Wyngowski, Aaron J.

    2015-01-01

    This article discusses the opportunity that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) present for enhancing formative assessment (FA) in history and social studies classrooms. There is evidence that FA can enhance learning for students if implemented well. Unfortunately, teachers continue to be challenged in implementing FA in their classrooms. We…

  18. From free energy to expected energy: Improving energy-based value function approximation in reinforcement learning.

    PubMed

    Elfwing, Stefan; Uchibe, Eiji; Doya, Kenji

    2016-12-01

    Free-energy based reinforcement learning (FERL) was proposed for learning in high-dimensional state and action spaces. However, the FERL method does only really work well with binary, or close to binary, state input, where the number of active states is fewer than the number of non-active states. In the FERL method, the value function is approximated by the negative free energy of a restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM). In our earlier study, we demonstrated that the performance and the robustness of the FERL method can be improved by scaling the free energy by a constant that is related to the size of network. In this study, we propose that RBM function approximation can be further improved by approximating the value function by the negative expected energy (EERL), instead of the negative free energy, as well as being able to handle continuous state input. We validate our proposed method by demonstrating that EERL: (1) outperforms FERL, as well as standard neural network and linear function approximation, for three versions of a gridworld task with high-dimensional image state input; (2) achieves new state-of-the-art results in stochastic SZ-Tetris in both model-free and model-based learning settings; and (3) significantly outperforms FERL and standard neural network function approximation for a robot navigation task with raw and noisy RGB images as state input and a large number of actions. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  19. Resources on Social and Emotional Development and Early Learning Standards. CEELO FastFacts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connors-Tadros, L.

    2013-01-01

    In this "FastFacts," a state's Department of Education requests information from the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) on how the research defines skills in social-emotional development, approaches to learning, and executive function, to inform planned revisions to the early childhood indicators of progress for children…

  20. Effects of an Intervention on Math Achievement for Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kitchens, Vivian D.

    2012-01-01

    Students with learning disabilities score lower than other at-risk groups on state standardized assessment tests. Educators are searching for intervention strategies to improve math achievement for students with learning disabilities. Using the theoretical framework of behaviorism, the purpose of this quantitative one group pre post test design…

  1. The Battle for Higher Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luna, Tom; Rush, Mike; Gramer, Rod; Stewart, Roger

    2014-01-01

    To remain internationally competitive, states needed clearer, higher, and comparable K-12 learning standards aligned with college and career expectations, and as ambitious as those of the countries that lead the world in education. Idaho's old academic standards were not preparing students for postsecondary education, which contributed to the…

  2. Economics, the Enterprise System, and Finance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New York State Education Dept., Albany.

    The core curriculum for economics, the enterprise system, and finance supports the New York State Education Department's efforts to raise standards in social studies by focusing on Standard 4: Economics, in the "Learning Standards for Social Studies." This core curriculum reinforces the key ideas and performance indicators for this…

  3. The pre-college teaching of geosciences in the USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stewart, R.

    2003-04-01

    Most students in the USA learn about the earth in elementary and middle school, with most of the learning in middle schools (students who are 12 to 15 years old). A few students study geosciences in high school (ages 15 to 19). In some states, for example Texas, the high-school courses are being de-emphasized, and very few students take geoscience courses after they are 15 years old. As a result, most high-school graduates know little about such important issues as global warming, air pollution, or water quality. In the USA, the geoscience curriculum is guided by national and state standards for teaching mathematics and science. But the guidance is weak. Curricula are determined essentially by local school boards and teachers with some overview by state governments. For example, the State of Texas requires all students to pass standardized examinations in science at grades 5,10, and 11. The tests are based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the state's version of the national standards. The teaching of the geosciences, especially oceanography, is hindered by the weak guidance provided by the national standards. Because of the lack of strong guidance, textbooks include far too much material with very weak ties between the geosciences. As a result, students learn many disconnected facts, not earth system science. Improvements in the teaching of the geosciences requires a clear statement of the important in the geosciences. Why must they be taught? What must be taught? What are the major themes of geoscience research? What is important for all to know?

  4. Use of the Blind Learning Aptitude Test with Children in England and Wales and the United States.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mason, H. L.

    1991-01-01

    An 18-month study of the use of the Blind Learning Aptitude Test at schools for visually impaired children in England and Wales found the test to be culturally fair and appropriate for use with children for whom English is a second language. Scores are compared with standardization data for visually impaired children in the United States.…

  5. Building the Missing Link between the Common Core and Improved Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodde, Amy Coe; McHugh, Lija

    2013-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, raise the bar for what students need to learn at each stage of their K-12 education. The goal is to better prepare students for college and careers. The most important thing that education leaders can do to help the Common Core succeed is to support teachers in…

  6. Comparison as a Universal Learning Action

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Merkulova, T. V.

    2016-01-01

    This article explores "comparison" as a universal metasubject learning action, a key curricular element envisaged by the Russian Federal State Educational Standards. Representing the modern learner's fundamental pragmatic skill embedding such core capacities as information processing, critical thinking, robust decision-making, and…

  7. Critical Response Protocol

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellingson, Charlene; Roehrig, Gillian; Bakkum, Kris; Dubinsky, Janet M.

    2016-01-01

    This article introduces the Critical Response Protocol (CRP), an arts-based technique that engages students in equitable critical discourse and aligns with the "Next Generation Science Standards" vision for providing students opportunities for language learning while advancing science learning (NGSS Lead States 2013). CRP helps teachers…

  8. Statewide Standardized Testing in Higher Education. Briefing Papers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Ross

    Most stakeholders in higher education are deeply interested in improving student learning outcomes, but there is disagreement about whether standardized testing programs will contribute to this goal. Plans for standardized testing of college students in public institutions appear to be on the rise. Eight to 10 states currently engage in…

  9. Standards for Teachers of Students with Physical and Health Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baldwin, Joni L.

    2007-01-01

    The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has been involved in the development of standards for teachers of students with exceptional learning needs since 1922. These standards drive the curriculum of institutions of higher education and state licensing requirements. The Division for Physical and Health Disabilities assisted in developing…

  10. Elementary School Teachers' Experiences in a Professional Learning Community Addressing the Gender Gap

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyles, Glenda F.

    2011-01-01

    International research and academic performance measures indicate that boys are scoring lower on standardized tests than girls in reading and writing. At the time of this study, boys had lower standardized test scores than girls in an elementary school in a southeastern state in the United States. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to…

  11. College Readiness Standards[TM] for EXPLORE[R], PLAN[R], and the ACT[R]: Includes Ideas for Progress

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ACT, Inc., 2008

    2008-01-01

    At the foundation of the Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS) programs are ACT's College Readiness Standards. The Standards offer learning strategies that are likely to help students meet state standards and acquire the more advanced concepts associated with higher EPAS test scores and, more importantly, increased college readiness.…

  12. Tapping Technology's Potential: Shrinking Budgets, Looming Standards, and a Dizzying Array of Innovations Are Changing the Professional Learning Landscape

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Killion, Joellen

    2013-01-01

    As the call for professional learning that incorporates ongoing feedback and support increases and resources to address that need decline, more states, districts, schools, and individuals are turning to technology. Technology creates significant opportunities for more focused professional learning, especially when it is effectively integrated into…

  13. Professional Learning in Action: An Inquiry Approach for Teachers of Literacy. Common Core State Standards in Literacy Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riski, Victoria J.; Vogt, Mary Ellen

    2016-01-01

    Risko and Vogt provide a unique and progressive approach for engaging the professional learning of teachers of literacy, reading specialists, literacy coaches and instructional leaders, content specialists, and administrators. Their deliberate use of Professional Learning signals the importance of educators engaging in authentic and inquiry-based…

  14. Getting to Know and Address Your State Science Standards to Connect Classroom Instruction and Field Trips During IYA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bednarski, Marsha; Larsen, K.

    2008-05-01

    Astronomy activities often pose problems for in-service teachers, especially at the elementary level, as many do not have a solid content background. Often astronomy instruction revolves around reading and answering questions. This is not an effective way to work with abstract concepts or engage students, and also fails to meet the standards of inquiry-based instruction recommended by the National Science Teachers Association and national and state standards. Science museums and planetariums bring unique and exciting perspectives to astronomy education. However, bringing students to the museum can sometimes be perceived as only a "cool field trip.” With mounting pressure for teachers to teach to the new standardized tests demanded by No Child Left Behind, and shrinking school budgets, field trips are rapidly becoming an endangered species. Coordinating museum, science center, and planetarium offerings with national and state science standards can renew interest in (and perceived relevance of) field trips. Therefore, university faculty, in-service teachers, and museum/planetarium staff can form successful partnerships which can both improve student learning and increase attendance at informal education science events and facilities. This workshop will first briefly introduce participants to national and representative state standards as well as research on in-service teachers’ astronomy content knowledge and the educational value of field trips. For the majority of the workshop, participants will engage in the actual steps of coordinating, planning, and writing inquiry-based astronomy curriculum embedded performance tasks that collectively meet the learning needs of students in elementary, middle, or high school. Participants are encouraged to bring a copy of their own state standards (available on their state's Department of Education website) for their preferred target age group.

  15. Let's Get Movin'

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kurz, Terri L.; Serrano, Alejandra

    2015-01-01

    To support students' development of concepts in mathematics, the use of technology is often encouraged (Common Core State Standards Initiative [CCSSI] 2010). Technology can contextualize learning and provide a meaningful setting for mathematical ideas. Most teachers are supportive regarding the use of technology to encourage learning and…

  16. Modifying Softball for Maximizing Learning Outcomes in Physical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brian, Ali; Ward, Phillip; Goodway, Jacqueline D.; Sutherland, Sue

    2014-01-01

    Softball is taught in many physical education programs throughout the United States. This article describes modifications that maximize learning outcomes and that address the National Standards and safety recommendations. The modifications focus on tasks and equipment, developmentally appropriate motor-skill acquisition, increasing number of…

  17. Learning Disability Programs in Large Universities. Research Report #18-87.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Woods, Paula A.; And Others

    Thirteen large state universities offering comprehensive services to learning-disabled students responded to a questionnaire concerning general program characteristics, existing support services, accommodations to aid students in using those services, standardized assessment and diagnosis, and types of academic assistance. Results showed that most…

  18. Common Core State Standards in the Middle Grades: What's New in the Geometry Domain and How Can Teachers Support Student Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teuscher, Dawn; Tran, Dung; Reys, Barbara J.

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) is a primary focus of attention for many stakeholders' (e.g., teachers, district mathematics leaders, and curriculum developers) intent on improving mathematics education. This article reports on specific content shifts related to the geometry domain in the middle grades (6-8)…

  19. Integrating Common Core and Character Education: Why it is Essential and How It Can Be Done

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fink, Kristin; Geller, Karen

    2016-01-01

    As the United States has struggled to answer the question of what education for the 21st century must look like, most states have now responded by signing onto the Common Core Standards. Drawn from lessons learned from a generation of standards-based education and research on what high-performing countries do to enable young people to prosper, it…

  20. In Step with the New Science Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marshall, Jeff C.

    2015-01-01

    "Whether your state has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards or will soon revise its own science standards, one thing is clear," writes noted science educator Jeff Marshall. "Change is underway--in what is learned, in how we teach, and in how we assess." This article offers five realizations that point to the potential…

  1. Standards, Assessments & Opting Out, Spring 2015

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Advance Illinois, 2015

    2015-01-01

    In the spring, Illinois students will take new state assessments that reflect the rigor and relevance of the new Illinois Learning Standards. But some classmates will sit out and join the pushback against standardized testing. Opt-out advocates raise concerns about over-testing, and the resulting toll on students as well as the impact on classroom…

  2. Standards for School Leaders Get New Thumbs Up

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Lynn

    2008-01-01

    A coalition of education groups came together in the mid-1990s to draft model standards for school leaders that would refocus the profession on student learning. Since then, the resulting Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards have been used or adapted by more than 40 states to guide their own preparation, licensure, and…

  3. Learning Outcomes Assessment and History: TEQSA, the after Standards Project and the QA/QI Challenge in Australia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brawley, Sean; Clark, Jennifer; Dixon, Chris; Ford, Lisa; Ross, Shawn; Upton, Stuart; Nielsen, Erik

    2013-01-01

    Higher education in Australia is currently in a state of flux, with the Federal Government's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency commencing operations in January 2012. The "After Standards Project" has been working with Australian university history departments and the Australian Historical Association, educating and…

  4. Standard Setting Lessons Learned in the South African Context: Implications for International Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pitoniak, Mary J.; Yeld, Nan

    2013-01-01

    Criterion-referenced assessments have become more common around the world, with performance standards being set to differentiate different levels of student performance. However, use of standard setting methods developed in the United States may be complicated by factors related to the political and educational contexts within another country. In…

  5. Engaging Minds in the Common Core: Integrating Standards for Student Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howard, Christy

    2016-01-01

    With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) many teachers continue to search for ways to engage students in the learning process while meeting the rigorous demands of the standards. Researchers suggest that by providing opportunities for higher order thinking, student choice, and creative ways to showcase knowledge, students will…

  6. New Outcomes: Learning Improvement in Mathematics Integrating Technology - NO LIMIT! An Enhancing Education through Technology Project. Final Report: Years Five and Six (2005-2007)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Popejoy, Kate

    2009-01-01

    NO LIMIT! (New Outcomes: Learning Improvement in Mathematics Integrating Technology) in Washington state was a six-year initiative originally designed to enhance mathematics teaching and learning in the middle grades through integration of technology, alignment of pedagogical practice with NCTM standards, and strong mentorship of teachers. The…

  7. Teaching about Complex Systems Is No Simple Matter: Building Effective Professional Development for Computer-Supported Complex Systems Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Susan A.; Anderson, Emma; Koehler-Yom, Jessica; Evans, Chad; Park, Miyoung; Sheldon, Josh; Schoenfeld, Ilana; Wendel, Daniel; Scheintaub, Hal; Klopfer, Eric

    2017-01-01

    The recent next generation science standards in the United States have emphasized learning about complex systems as a core feature of science learning. Over the past 15 years, a number of educational tools and theories have been investigated to help students learn about complex systems; but surprisingly, little research has been devoted to…

  8. Support for Arts Education. State Arts Agency Fact Sheet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 2011

    2011-01-01

    Supporting lifelong learning in the arts is a top priority for state arts agencies. By supporting arts education in the schools, state arts agencies foster young imaginations, address core academic standards, and promote the critical thinking and creativity skills essential to a 21st century work force. State arts agencies also support…

  9. Professional Development. State Implementation of Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Kimberly; Mira, Mary Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

  10. Key principles in assessing students' practice-based learning.

    PubMed

    Price, Bob

    Assessing student learning in the practice setting is one of the most sophisticated and complex forms of evaluation undertaken by registered nurses. The Nursing and Midwifery Council sets standards relating to learning and assessment in practice, focusing on professional values, communication and interpersonal skills, nursing practice, decision making, leadership, management and teamworking. Assessment needs to include evaluation of skill (technical, psychomotor and interpersonal), attitudes and insights, and reasoning. As assessment of student learning is conducted in the practice setting, risks have to be managed, and targets and service standards met. Therefore, it is understandable that mentors may express doubts about their ability to assess student learning rigorously and fairly. It is particularly challenging for mentors to state confidently what represents a demonstration of learning and competence when asked to decide whether a student is fit to practise.

  11. Transfer learning for biomedical named entity recognition with neural networks.

    PubMed

    Giorgi, John M; Bader, Gary D

    2018-06-01

    The explosive increase of biomedical literature has made information extraction an increasingly important tool for biomedical research. A fundamental task is the recognition of biomedical named entities in text (BNER) such as genes/proteins, diseases, and species. Recently, a domain-independent method based on deep learning and statistical word embeddings, called long short-term memory network-conditional random field (LSTM-CRF), has been shown to outperform state-of-the-art entity-specific BNER tools. However, this method is dependent on gold-standard corpora (GSCs) consisting of hand-labeled entities, which tend to be small but highly reliable. An alternative to GSCs are silver-standard corpora (SSCs), which are generated by harmonizing the annotations made by several automatic annotation systems. SSCs typically contain more noise than GSCs but have the advantage of containing many more training examples. Ideally, these corpora could be combined to achieve the benefits of both, which is an opportunity for transfer learning. In this work, we analyze to what extent transfer learning improves upon state-of-the-art results for BNER. We demonstrate that transferring a deep neural network (DNN) trained on a large, noisy SSC to a smaller, but more reliable GSC significantly improves upon state-of-the-art results for BNER. Compared to a state-of-the-art baseline evaluated on 23 GSCs covering four different entity classes, transfer learning results in an average reduction in error of approximately 11%. We found transfer learning to be especially beneficial for target data sets with a small number of labels (approximately 6000 or less). Source code for the LSTM-CRF is available athttps://github.com/Franck-Dernoncourt/NeuroNER/ and links to the corpora are available athttps://github.com/BaderLab/Transfer-Learning-BNER-Bioinformatics-2018/. john.giorgi@utoronto.ca. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  12. Making Sense of Extraneous Solutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zelkowski, Jeremy S.

    2013-01-01

    Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000) states, "Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students' learning." The focus on reasoning and sense making with technology in the lesson presented in this article will enable students to do more…

  13. Common Formative Assessments Developed through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): A Case Study to Analyze the Alignment of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction in a Math PLC at a Title I Middle School in the Southern United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Tory C.

    2013-01-01

    The introduction of No Child Left Behind increased performance expectations for students across the United States and compelled teachers to focus on standardized assessments instead of frequent formative assessments to monitor instruction and promote student learning. Common formative assessments (CFAs) help teachers align curriculum, assessment,…

  14. Teachers Collaborate across State Lines to Design High-Quality Units

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vasudeva, Ash; Slamp, Amy

    2016-01-01

    With states and districts across the country implementing the Common Core State Standards, teachers have more opportunities than ever to collaborate around the shared goals of strengthening curriculum design, classroom practices, and student learning. Building from this premise, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) has brought together teams of…

  15. Communication Is Key to Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maunsell, Patricia A.

    2014-01-01

    States, districts, and schools must work to develop effective implementation and communications plans around the Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments. The Education Trust commissioned research on the communication of changes to state assessments in the recent past and lessons learned from that effort identify key elements of an…

  16. Using Competency-Based Digital Open Learning Activities to Facilitate and Promote Health Professions Education (OLAmeD): A Proposal

    PubMed Central

    Barman, Linda

    2016-01-01

    Background Traditional learning in medical education has been transformed with the advent of information technology. We have recently seen global initiatives to produce online activities in an effort to scale up learning opportunities through learning management systems and massive open online courses for both undergraduate and continued professional education. Despite the positive impact of such efforts, factors such as cost, time, resources, and the specificity of educational contexts restrict the design and exchange of online medical educational activities. Objective The goal is to address the stated issues within the health professions education context while promoting learning by proposing the Online Learning Activities for Medical Education (OLAmeD) concept which builds on unified competency frameworks and generic technical standards for education. Methods We outline how frameworks used to describe a set of competencies for a specific topic in medical education across medical schools in the United States and Europe can be compared to identify commonalities that could result in a unified set of competencies representing both contexts adequately. Further, we examine how technical standards could be used to allow standardization, seamless sharing, and reusability of educational content. Results The entire process of developing and sharing OLAmeD is structured and presented in a set of steps using as example Urology as a part of clinical surgery specialization. Conclusions Beyond supporting the development, sharing, and repurposing of educational content, we expect OLAmeD to work as a tool that promotes learning and sets a base for a community of medical educational content developers across different educational contexts. PMID:27390226

  17. Using Competency-Based Digital Open Learning Activities to Facilitate and Promote Health Professions Education (OLAmeD): A Proposal.

    PubMed

    Vaitsis, Christos; Stathakarou, Natalia; Barman, Linda; Zary, Nabil; McGrath, Cormac

    2016-07-07

    Traditional learning in medical education has been transformed with the advent of information technology. We have recently seen global initiatives to produce online activities in an effort to scale up learning opportunities through learning management systems and massive open online courses for both undergraduate and continued professional education. Despite the positive impact of such efforts, factors such as cost, time, resources, and the specificity of educational contexts restrict the design and exchange of online medical educational activities. The goal is to address the stated issues within the health professions education context while promoting learning by proposing the Online Learning Activities for Medical Education (OLAmeD) concept which builds on unified competency frameworks and generic technical standards for education. We outline how frameworks used to describe a set of competencies for a specific topic in medical education across medical schools in the United States and Europe can be compared to identify commonalities that could result in a unified set of competencies representing both contexts adequately. Further, we examine how technical standards could be used to allow standardization, seamless sharing, and reusability of educational content. The entire process of developing and sharing OLAmeD is structured and presented in a set of steps using as example Urology as a part of clinical surgery specialization. Beyond supporting the development, sharing, and repurposing of educational content, we expect OLAmeD to work as a tool that promotes learning and sets a base for a community of medical educational content developers across different educational contexts.

  18. How Business Leaders Can Support College and Career-Readiness: Staying the Course on Common Core. White Paper

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyer, Lori

    2014-01-01

    For the first time in the nation's history, a majority of students in the United States are learning based on a common set of standards for mathematics and English language arts (ELA) that will prepare them for the demands of the 21st century. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide a clear, consistent framework for what students should…

  19. Special Education Teachers' Knowledge and Use of Brain-Based Teaching, Common Core State Standards, Formative Feedback Practices and Instructional Efficacy for the Diverse Learning Needs of Students in High and Low Proficiency Groups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker-Thompson, Malasia

    2014-01-01

    This study examined special education teachers' knowledge and use of: brain-based teaching strategies, Common Core State Standards, formative feedback, and instructional efficacy for diverse students. The study identified the differences amongst special education teachers' responses on the dimensions of brain-based teaching strategies, Common Core…

  20. Using General Education Student Data to Calibrate a Mathematics Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jung, Eunju

    2012-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Education released regulations governing the development of alternate assessments for students with persistent learning problems who are eligible for Modified Academic Achievement Standards (MAAS) in 2007. To date, state regular assessments or alternate assessments based on Alternate Academic Achievement Standards have not…

  1. Representation and Analysis of Chemistry Core Ideas in Science Education Standards between China and the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wan, Yanlan; Bi, Hualin

    2016-01-01

    Chemistry core ideas play an important role in students' chemistry learning. On the basis of the representations of chemistry core ideas about "substances" and "processes" in the Chinese Chemistry Curriculum Standards (CCCS) and the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), we conduct a critical comparison of chemistry…

  2. Engaging Young Children in Mathematics: Standards for Early Childhood Mathematics Education. Studies in Mathematical Thinking and Learning Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clements, Douglas H., Ed.; DiBiase, Ann-Marie, Ed.; Sarama, Julie, Ed.

    2004-01-01

    This book brings together the combined wisdom of a diverse group of experts involved with early childhood mathematics. The book originates from the landmark 2000 Conference on Standards for Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten Mathematics Education, attended by representatives from almost every state developing standards for young children's…

  3. Projects and Programs: Libraries and Learning Resources-1978-1979. Standards ESEA IV, PART B.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New York State Education Dept., Albany. Bureau of School Libraries.

    These standards are intended to assist local school districts in New York State in selecting educational resources and audiovisual equipment and in providing for testing, guidance, and counseling services under Title IV, Part B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The main purpose of the standards is to establish qualitative and…

  4. Project Learning in Science: 6th Graders' Scientific Investigations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shea, Mary; Shea, Brian

    2013-01-01

    This article presents rationale for an enhanced inquiry approach to science education that authentically integrates content knowledge and application skills in a middle school science curriculum. Such pedagogy ensures students' attainment of national and state standards for learning science and multiple literacies (e.g. language arts and…

  5. The Activity Summary Board

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Touitou, Israel; Barry, Stephen; Bielik, Tom; Schneider, Barbara; Krajcik, Joseph

    2018-01-01

    Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach to science teaching that supports the "Next Generation Science Standards" (Krajcik 2015; NGSS Lead States 2013). In a PBL lesson, students design and solve real-world problems or explain scientific phenomena. Students using a PBL model learn and retain more than those not using…

  6. Enhancing Preservice Teachers' Understanding of Students' Misconceptions in Learning Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Naah, Basil Mugaga

    2015-01-01

    Preservice teachers enrolled in a modified introductory chemistry course used an instructional rubric to improve and evaluate their understanding of students' misconceptions in learning various chemistry concepts. A sample of 79 preservice teachers first explored the state science standards to identify chemistry misconceptions associated with the…

  7. Instructional and Learning Modes in Math. Module CMM:006:02.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rexroat, Melvin E.

    This is the second module in a series on mathematics methods and materials for preservice elementary teachers. This module focuses on three instructional and learning modes: expository, guided discovery, and inquiry (pure discovery). Objectives for the module are listed, the prerequisites are stated, pre- and post-assessment standards are…

  8. Handbook of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swanson, H. Lee, Ed.; Harris, Karen R., Ed.; Graham, Steve, Ed.

    2014-01-01

    Widely regarded as the standard reference in the field, this comprehensive handbook presents state-of-the-art knowledge about the nature and classification of learning disabilities (LD), their causes, and how individuals with these difficulties can be identified and helped to succeed. Best practices are described for supporting student performance…

  9. "Lettuce" Learn Math: Teaching Mathematics with Seeds and Centimeters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rickard, Laura N.; Wilson, Colette

    2006-01-01

    "Lettuce Learn Math" is an interdisciplinary program that has effectively linked a small-scale agricultural production system to a sixth-grade mathematics and science curriculum. The mathematical concepts and skills, including measurement and geometry, taught in this project met and often exceeded the standards set by New York state for…

  10. Problem-Based Learning in a General Psychology Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willis, Sandra A.

    2002-01-01

    Describes the adoption of problem-based learning (PBL) techniques in a general psychology course. States that the instructor used a combination of techniques, including think-pair-share, lecture/discussion, and PBL. Notes means and standard deviations for graded components of PBL format versus lecture/discussion format. (Contains 18 references.)…

  11. Learning to Write about Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parker, Renee; Breyfogle, M. Lynn

    2011-01-01

    Beginning in third grade, Pennsylvania students are required to take the Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment (PSSA), which presents multiple-choice mathematics questions and open-ended mathematics problems. Consistent with the Communication Standard of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, while solving the open-ended problems,…

  12. Learning in the Age of Global Information Technology: Development of a Generic Architecture for an Advanced Learning Management System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watson, Jason; Ahmed, Pervaiz K.

    2004-01-01

    This paper briefly introduces the trends towards e-learning and amplifies some examples of state of the art systems, pointing out that all of these are, to date, limited by adaptability and shareability of content and that it is necessary for industry to develop and use an inter-operability standard. Uses SCORM specifications to specify the…

  13. National board certification as professional development: What are teachers learning?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lustick, David Scott

    This study investigated the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' (NBPTS) assessment process in order to identify, quantify, and substantiate possible learning outcomes from the participants. One hundred and twenty candidates for the Adolescent and Young Adult Science (AYA Science) Certificate were studied over a 2-year period using the recurrent institutional cycle research design. This quasi-experimental methodology allowed for the collection of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data insuring a good measure of internal validity regarding observed changes both between and within group means. Multiple assessors scored transcripts of structured interviews with each teacher using the NBPTS' assessment framework according to the 13 standards accomplished science teaching. The scores (aggregated to the group level) provided the quantitative evidence of teacher learning in this study. Significant changes in mean scores from pre to post are reported at the overall, standard group, and individual standard levels. Findings suggest that the intervention had an overall effect size of .475 upon candidates' understanding of science teaching related knowledge. More specifically, most learning was associated with the standards of Scientific Inquiry and Assessment. The results support the hypothesis that the certification process is an effective standards based professional learning opportunity. The learning outcomes discussed in this report (including the identification of Dynamic, Technical, and Deferred Learning categories) should inform debate between educational stakeholders regarding the financial and ideological support of National Board certification as a means of improving teacher quality, provide suggestions for the improvement of the assessment process, and contribute insight into the current divisive state of science education in public education.

  14. Learning to Generate Sequences with Combination of Hebbian and Non-hebbian Plasticity in Recurrent Spiking Neural Networks

    PubMed Central

    Panda, Priyadarshini; Roy, Kaushik

    2017-01-01

    Synaptic Plasticity, the foundation for learning and memory formation in the human brain, manifests in various forms. Here, we combine the standard spike timing correlation based Hebbian plasticity with a non-Hebbian synaptic decay mechanism for training a recurrent spiking neural model to generate sequences. We show that inclusion of the adaptive decay of synaptic weights with standard STDP helps learn stable contextual dependencies between temporal sequences, while reducing the strong attractor states that emerge in recurrent models due to feedback loops. Furthermore, we show that the combined learning scheme suppresses the chaotic activity in the recurrent model substantially, thereby enhancing its' ability to generate sequences consistently even in the presence of perturbations. PMID:29311774

  15. Connecting High-Quality Expanded Learning Opportunities and the Common Core State Standards to Advance Student Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plattner, Linda

    2011-01-01

    The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO…

  16. More States Retaining 3rd Graders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robelen, Erik W.

    2012-01-01

    As increasing numbers of states move to end social promotion of 3rd graders, some are also including interventions to help students learn to read. Oklahoma is one of several states that recently adopted new reading policies that--with limited exceptions--call for 3rd graders to be held back if they flunk a state standardized test. Supporters say…

  17. Students Score!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris-Frederick, Cynthia

    2000-01-01

    Describes how one teacher used peer review to help students understand state content standards. Students held one another accountable for the basics, then she assessed the core content of their work. To get students thinking about standards-based learning, she used a pizza activity. Next, students created rubrics for assessing book reports and…

  18. A Vehicle for Bivariate Data Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roscoe, Matt B.

    2016-01-01

    Instead of reserving the study of probability and statistics for special fourth-year high school courses, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) takes a "statistics for all" approach. The standards recommend that students in grades 6-8 learn to summarize and describe data distributions, understand probability, draw…

  19. Favorite Lesson Plans: Powerful Standards-Based Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilen, William W., Ed.

    This collection of lesson plans helps social studies teachers and teacher educators implement the various national and state standards in their classrooms. The collection illustrates how classroom implementation can be achieved through the application of the powerful teaching and learning principles devised by National Council for the Social…

  20. State Support for Open Educational Resources: Key Findings from Achieve's OER Institute

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Achieve, Inc., 2013

    2013-01-01

    Open Educational Resources (OER) offer unique new opportunities for educators to share quality learning resources, especially in an increasingly digital world. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), providing them with the unprecedented advantage of being able to share resources that are…

  1. State Efforts to Strengthen School Leadership: Insights from CCSSO Action Groups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riley, Derek L.; Meredith, Julie

    2017-01-01

    Many states across the nation are working to improve school leadership, some on a substantial scale. Several factors encourage state-level work focused on principals, including: research evidence of principal effects on student learning, flexibility in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), new national professional standards for principals,…

  2. High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Does Accountability Pressure Increase Student Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nichols, Sharon L.; Glass, Gene V.; Berliner, David C.

    2006-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between high-stakes testing pressure and student achievement across 25 states. Standardized portfolios were created for each study state. Each portfolio contained a range of documents that told the "story" of accountability implementation and impact in that state. Using the "law of comparative…

  3. For Women and Girls, the Common Core Is a Step toward Greater Equity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Center for American Progress, 2014

    2014-01-01

    More engaging and challenging standards build a strong academic foundation for all students. Girls--and in particular, girls of color--have a lot to gain from more rigorous learning standards that better prepare them for college and career success. This fact sheet explores the positive effect the Common Core State Standards can have on gender…

  4. Building Better Courses: Examining the Content Validity of the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adelstein, David; Barbour, Michael

    2016-01-01

    In 2011, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning released the second iteration of the "National Standards for Quality Online Courses." These standards have been used by numerous institutions and states around the country to help design and create K-12 online courses. However, there has been no reported research on the…

  5. Meeting the Needs of All Students through Differentiated Instruction: Helping Every Child Reach and Exceed Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levy, Holli M.

    2008-01-01

    Students enter classrooms with different abilities, learning styles, and personalities. Educators are mandated to see that all students meet the standards of our district and state. Through the use of differentiated instruction strategies, educators can meet the needs of all students and help them to meet and exceed the established standards. In…

  6. Assessing Current State Science Teaching and Learning Standards for Ability to Achieve Climate Science Literacy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Busch, K. C.

    2012-12-01

    Even though there exists a high degree of consensus among scientists about climate change, doubt has actually increased over the last five years within the general U.S. public. In 2006, 79% of those polled agreed that there is evidence for global warming, while only 59% agreed in 2010 (Pew Research Center, 2010). The source for this doubt can be partially attributed to lack of knowledge. Formal education is one mechanism that potentially can address inadequate public understanding as school is the primary place where students - and future citizens - learn about the climate. In a joint effort, several governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, scientists and educators have created a framework called The Essential Principles of Climate Science Literacy, detailing seven concepts that are deemed vital for individuals and communities to understand Earth's climate system (USGCRP, 2009). Can students reach climate literacy - as defined by these 7 concepts - if they are taught using a curriculum based on the current state standards? To answer this question, the K-12 state science teaching and learning standards for Texas and California - two states that heavily influence nation-wide textbook creation - were compared against the Essential Principles. The data analysis consisted of two stages, looking for: 1) direct reference to "climate" and "climate change" and 2) indirect reference to the 7 Essential Principles through axial coding. The word "climate" appears in the California K-12 science standards 4 times and in the Texas standards 7 times. The word "climate change" appears in the California and Texas standards only 3 times each. Indirect references to the 7 Essential Principles of climate science literacy were more numerous. Broadly, California covered 6 of the principles while Texas covered all 7. In looking at the 7 principles, the second one "Climate is regulated by complex interactions among component of the Earth system" was the most substantively addressed. Least covered were number 6 "Human activities are impacting the climate system" and number 7 "Climate change will have consequences for the Earth system and human lives." Most references, either direct or indirect, occurred in the high school standards for earth science, a class not required for graduation in either state. This research points to the gaps between what the 7 Essential Principles of Climate Literacy defines as essential knowledge and what students may learn in their K-12 science classes. Thus, the formal system does not seem to offer an experience which can potentially develop a more knowledgeable citizenry who will be able to make wise personal and policy decisions about climate change, falling short of the ultimate goal of achieving widespread climate literacy. Especially troubling was the sparse attention to the principles addressing the human connection to the climate - principles number 6 and 7. If climate literate citizens are to make "wise personal and policy decisions" (USGCRP, 2009), these two principles especially are vital. This research, therefore, has been valuable for identifying current shortcomings in state standards.

  7. A real-time standard parts inspection based on deep learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Kuan; Li, XuDong; Jiang, Hongzhi; Zhao, Huijie

    2017-10-01

    Since standard parts are necessary components in mechanical structure like bogie and connector. These mechanical structures will be shattered or loosen if standard parts are lost. So real-time standard parts inspection systems are essential to guarantee their safety. Researchers would like to take inspection systems based on deep learning because it works well in image with complex backgrounds which is common in standard parts inspection situation. A typical inspection detection system contains two basic components: feature extractors and object classifiers. For the object classifier, Region Proposal Network (RPN) is one of the most essential architectures in most state-of-art object detection systems. However, in the basic RPN architecture, the proposals of Region of Interest (ROI) have fixed sizes (9 anchors for each pixel), they are effective but they waste much computing resources and time. In standard parts detection situations, standard parts have given size, thus we can manually choose sizes of anchors based on the ground-truths through machine learning. The experiments prove that we could use 2 anchors to achieve almost the same accuracy and recall rate. Basically, our standard parts detection system could reach 15fps on NVIDIA GTX1080 (GPU), while achieving detection accuracy 90.01% mAP.

  8. Comparison of Student Performance in Video Game Format vs. Traditional Approach in Introductory Astronomy Classes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barringer, Daniel; Kregenow, Julia M.; Palma, Christopher; Plummer, Julia

    2015-01-01

    In Spring of 2014, Penn State debuted an online Introductory Astronomy (AST 001) section that was designed as a video game. Previous studies have shown that well-designed games help learners to build accurate understanding of embedded concepts and processes and aid learner motivation, which strongly contributes to a student's willingness to learn. We start by presenting the learning gains as measured with the Test of Astronomy Standards (TOAST) from this new course design. We further compare the learning gains from the video game section with learning gains measured from more traditional online formats and in-person lecture sections of AST 001 taught at Penn State over the last five years to evaluate the extent to which this new medium for online Astronomy education supports student learning.

  9. Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in Today's Classroom: How Every Teacher Can Help Struggling Students Succeed. Revised and Updated Third Edition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winebrenner, Susan

    2014-01-01

    A gold mine of practical, easy­-to-­use teaching methods, strategies, and tips to improve learning outcomes for students who score below proficiency levels. This fully revised and updated third edition provides information on integrated learning, problem solving, and critical thinking in line with Common Core State Standards and 21st-­century…

  10. What Research Tells Us: Common Characteristics of Professional Learning that Leads to Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blank, Rolf K.

    2013-01-01

    Today's education policy places a high priority on improving teacher quality and teaching effectiveness in U.S. schools. Standards-based professional learning requires teachers to have deep subject knowledge and the most effective pedagogy for teaching the subject. States and school districts are charged with establishing teacher professional…

  11. Developing Learning Progressions in Support of the New Science Standards: A RAPID Workshop Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rogat, Aaron

    2011-01-01

    The hypothetical learning progressions presented here are the products of the deliberations of two working groups of science education researchers, each group also including a state science curriculum supervisor, organized by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), with support from the National Science Foundation. Their charge was…

  12. The Effects of Looping in the Cuban Classroom: Teacher Perception and Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pickett, Gabriela

    2016-01-01

    The system of public education in the United States lacks responsiveness to differing maturation rates and learning styles of young children. U.S. public education focuses more on satisfying governmental mandates and a common curriculum measured through standardized tests than on addressing the individual learning needs of each student.…

  13. Taking Stock: Implications of a New Vision of Science Learning for State Science Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wertheim, Jill

    2016-01-01

    This article presents the author's response to the article "Taking Stock: Existing Resources for Assessing a New Vision of Science Learning" by Alonzo and Ke (this issue), which identifies numerous challenges that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) pose for large-scale assessment. Jill Werthem comments that among those…

  14. Empowering Students with Digital Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Puente, Kelly

    2012-01-01

    This article describes new digital reading products that are designed to improve aptitude, fulfill Common Core State Standards, provide unlimited access to online libraries, and bring 21st-century learning into the classroom. With a coming wave of the new products, school districts have various options to help bring 21st-century learning into the…

  15. The Art of Questions: Inquiry, the CCSS, and School Librarians

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wadham, Rachel

    2013-01-01

    This article examines the association among inquiry, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and school librarians. It explains the significance of asking questions, and describes the characteristics of the questions that are central to inquiry learning. The role of school librarians in inquiry learning and the implementation of CCSS is also…

  16. Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robledo, S. Jhoanna

    2012-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards call for students to develop digital media and technology skills. One way to help them reach that goal: incorporate gadgets they're already familiar with--cell phones, tablets, and smartphones--into their learning environment. Mobile devices are becoming essential to students' daily lives. According to a 2011 Pew…

  17. Benchmarking Teacher Education: What Can We Learn from the Military?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilmore, Elaine L.

    This paper examines how the United States Military Academy at West Point produces consistently high standards of quality, discussing what teacher education can learn from the military. West Point's mission is to educate and train the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate shall have the attributes essential to professional growth throughout a…

  18. A Program Evaluation of a Professional Learning Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lloyd, Tracy

    2012-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation of 2001 increased the stakes for all schools to increase student achievement by mandating all students meet or exceed state standards by 2014. A small rural school responded 5 years ago to their failure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) by implementing professional learning communities (PLC) as a…

  19. Evaluating Serious Games through User Experience and Performance Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barton, Irving Gary, Jr.

    2017-01-01

    Military education is held to high standards for our servicemen and women. The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to determine if significant differences existed in learning styles relative to military experience as determined by learning in a serious game environment. Study results are expected to advance the state of research in…

  20. Providing Greater Opportunities for Deeper Learning in NCLB Waivers. Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The eleven state applications approved by the federal government for waivers under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act vary in the degree to which "deeper learning" skills are reflected in the standards, accountability systems, professional development, and teacher evaluations, according to a new policy brief written by the Alliance for…

  1. Math and ELA Meet at the Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Nancy S.; Smith, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Math and English language arts seem such disparate content areas but the Common Core State Standards actually draw out their similarities in the teaching and learning process. Both require students to learn grit and perseverance; both ask students to use reasons or evidence to support arguments; both require precision; both require structures to…

  2. Differentiated Instructional Strategies to Accommodate Students with Varying Needs and Learning Styles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gentry, Ruben; Sallie, April P.; Sanders, Carrie A.

    2013-01-01

    Students enter classrooms with different abilities, learning styles, and personalities. Educators are mandated to see that all students meet the standards of their district and state. Through the use of differentiated instructional strategies, teachers can meet the varying needs of all students and help them to meet and exceed the established…

  3. Using Game Play Scenarios to Go beyond the Traditional Written Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pagnano-Richardson, Karen; Henninger, Mary L.

    2010-01-01

    The cognitive domain in physical education is an important component of quality physical education as demonstrated through Standard 2 of the National Standards for Physical Education which state that the physically educated person "demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to learning and…

  4. Structurally Sound Statistics Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casey, Stephanie A.; Bostic, Jonathan D.

    2016-01-01

    The Common Core's Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) call for all K-grade 12 students to develop expertise in the processes and proficiencies of doing mathematics. However, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) as a whole addresses students' learning of not only mathematics but also statistics. This situation…

  5. Science for Real Life

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hammerman, Elizabeth

    2008-01-01

    State and national standards identify what students should know and be able to do, including what it means to "do" science, the historical significance of science achievement and its ethical underpinnings, and science from the human perspective. Middle level science programs that address the full range of science standards and connect learning to…

  6. An Intelligent Tutor-Assisted Mathematics Intervention Program for Students with Learning Difficulties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xin, Yan Ping; Tzur, Ron; Hord, Casey; Liu, Jia; Park, Joo Young; Si, Luo

    2017-01-01

    The Common Core Mathematics Standards have raised expectations for schools and students in the United States. These standards demand much deeper content knowledge from teachers of mathematics and their students. Given the increasingly diverse student population in today's classrooms and shortage of qualified special education teachers,…

  7. Methods and Strategies: Science Notebooks as Learning Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fulton, Lori

    2017-01-01

    Writing in science is a natural way to integrate science and literacy and meet the goals set by the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") and the "Common Core State Standards" ("CCSS"), which call for learners to be engaged with the language of science. This means that students should record…

  8. Designing Learning for Evidence-Based Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2008-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has placed a significant focus on standards. Understandably, classroom teachers are focused on effectively covering their content area standards and are often reluctant to add information literacy skills to their lessons because they see no direct connection to the state achievement tests. However, a close…

  9. The Common Core and Inverse Functions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edenfield, Kelly W.

    2012-01-01

    The widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010) shows a commitment to changing mathematics teaching and learning in pursuit of increasing student achievement. CCSSM should not be viewed as just another list of content standards for publishers and assessment groups to design their products around. Many…

  10. Missing the Promise of Mathematical Modeling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyer, Dan

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) have exerted enormous pressure on every participant in a child's education. Students are struggling to meet new standards for mathematics learning, and parents are struggling to understand how to help them. Teachers are growing in their capacity to develop new mathematical competencies, and…

  11. Taking It to the Next Level: Students Using Inductive Reasoning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murawska, Jaclyn M.; Zollman, Alan

    2015-01-01

    Although discussions about inductive reasoning can be traced back thousands of years (Fitelson 2011), the implementation of the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) within the Common Core State Standards (CCSSI 2010) is generating renewed attention to how students learn mathematics. The third SMP, "Construct viable arguments and critique…

  12. Enhancing American Identity and Citizenship in Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benninga, Jacques; Quinn, Brandy

    2011-01-01

    By examining history-social science learning standards in the state of California, an argument is made that schools should be concerned about more than narrowly defined academic achievement goals. Instead, a review of those standards suggests that schools are responsible for helping to foster democratic citizenship that grows out of a strong…

  13. Designing Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balasubramanian, Nathan; Frieler, Jana L.; Asp, Elliott

    2008-01-01

    It is a challenge for schools with large populations of students from low-income, migrant, and international families to ensure that every student reaches proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. Traditionally, schools across the country have tended to cope with this challenge by offering a…

  14. Getting to Know and Address Your State Science Standards to Connect Classroom Instruction and Field Trips During IYA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bednarski, M.; Larsen, K.

    2008-11-01

    Astronomy activities often pose problems for in-service teachers, especially at the elementary level, as many do not have a solid content background. Often astronomy instruction revolves around reading and answering questions. This is not an effective way to work with abstract concepts or engage students, and also fails to meet the standards of inquiry-based instruction recommended by the National Science Teachers Association and national and state standards. Science museums and planetariums bring unique and exciting perspectives to astronomy education. However, bringing students to the museum can sometimes be perceived as only a ``cool field trip.'' With mounting pressure for teachers to teach to the new standardized tests demanded by No Child Left Behind, and shrinking school budgets, field trips are rapidly becoming an endangered species. Coordinating museum, science center, and planetarium offerings with national and state science standards can renew interest in (and perceived relevance of) field trips. Therefore, university faculty, in-service teachers, and museum/planetarium staff can form successful partnerships which can both improve student learning and increase attendance at informal education science events and facilities. This workshop will first briefly introduce participants to national and representative state standards as well as research on in-service teachers' astronomy content knowledge and the educational value of field trips. For the majority of the workshop, participants will engage in the actual steps of coordinating, planning, and writing inquiry-based astronomy curriculum embedded performance tasks that collectively meet the learning needs of students in elementary, middle, or high school.

  15. RIT Stability through the Transition to Common Core-Aligned MAP® Tests. How Using MAP to Measure Student Learning Growth is Reliable Now and in 2014

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northwest Evaluation Association, 2013

    2013-01-01

    While many educators expect the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to be more rigorous than previous state standards, some wonder if the transition to CCSS and to a Common Core aligned MAP test will have an impact on their students' RIT scores or the NWEA norms. MAP assessments use a proprietary scale known as the RIT (Rasch unit) scale to measure…

  16. Making Waves.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeClark, Tom

    2000-01-01

    Presents an activity on waves that addresses the state standards and benchmarks of Michigan. Demonstrates waves and studies wave's medium, motion, and frequency. The activity is designed to address different learning styles. (YDS)

  17. A case study: The original intentions of the designers of the science content standards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eucker, Penelope Hudson

    This case study research examined the original intentions of the designers of the science content standards in the historical context of educational reforms and legislation. The content standards are the keystone of standards-based education. Originally, national science content standards were part of a cohesive program to increase the occurrence of quality science K--12. Through assessment policies set into motion by state and federal legislation, science curriculum is increasingly fixed and standardized. Scripting teachers is becoming more common. Unintended outcomes of standards-based education are prevalent in all classrooms. Recording the original intentions of the designers of the science content standards in a historical context is significant to document their beliefs and purposes. The shared beliefs of the six scholars included: (a) science had become overstuffed curriculum with students learning very few concepts; (b) science teachers required assistance to decide which concepts are most important for students to learn; (c) standards-based education will most likely endure for a very long time; (d) science is a specific way of knowing and inquiry must be part of science instruction; (e) few teachers teach to the science content standards. The scholars disagreed about whether the power to decide what to teach had moved from the classroom to the legislators and if standards-based education has preferentially helped some groups of students while diminishing the science education of others. Implications from the findings reveal the tension between a defined science content and the resultant assessment template that further trims the instructional range offered. Foreshadowing of increasing trend toward profits made from testing companies as state and federal legislation increase mandated assessments. Significantly, the educational research that clearly demonstrate many pathways lead to educated students such as the Eight-Year Study were suppressed in favor of the bi-partisan supported standards-based education. One of the stated goals of standards-based education was equity. With documented corrupted curriculum sometimes devoid of all science, equity remains an elusive goal. This research documents the original intentions of the designers of the science content standards. The story continues to unfold with new state and federal legislation as teachers attempt to teach the mandated content standards.

  18. Constructed-Response Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swinford, Ashleigh

    2016-01-01

    With rigor outlined in state and Common Core standards and the addition of constructed-response test items to most state tests, math constructed-response questions have become increasingly popular in today's classroom. Although constructed-response problems can present a challenge for students, they do offer a glimpse of students' learning through…

  19. Lifting Kindergarteners' Writing to Meet the Common Core Learning Standards: A Collaborative Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heskial, Joyce; Wamba, Nathalis G.

    2013-01-01

    The advent of Common Core Standards in New York State has forced a revisitation of past practices. With a goal of ensuring that all students are college and career-ready by the end of high school these standards call for increased rigor and higher expectations at all grade levels. The purpose of this study was to analyze through collaborative…

  20. Online High School Student Achievement on State-Issued Standardized Tests: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gifford, William M., III

    2017-01-01

    Online education has increased greatly in recent years among K-12 learners and post-secondary learners. Online learning provides opportunities such as course remediation or access to courses not typically offered, which have benefited many learners. The growth of online learning has also presented educators with challenges as well. Students in…

  1. Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning across School Disciplines

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yenawine, Philip

    2013-01-01

    "What's going on in this picture?" With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools,…

  2. Improving K-12 Online Learning: Information Literacy Skills for Teacher Candidates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ntuli, Esther; Kyei-Blankson, Lydia

    2016-01-01

    Research indicates the need for teachers to be able to locate, evaluate, and use Internet resources in their teaching and learning processes. In addition, the Common Core State Standards require that students are able to think critically and know how to search and use alternative views and perspectives in their assignments. These skills are…

  3. All Rigor and No Play Is No Way to Improve Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wohlwend, Karen; Peppler, Kylie

    2015-01-01

    The authors propose and discuss their Playshop curricular model, which they developed with teachers. Their studies suggest a playful approach supports even more rigor than the Common Core State Standards require for preschool and early grade children. Children keep their attention longer when learning comes in the form of something they can play…

  4. Students' Awareness and Perceptions of Learning Engineering: Content and Construct Validation of an Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duncan-Wiles, Daphne S.

    2012-01-01

    With the recent addition of engineering to most K-12 testable state standards, efficient and comprehensive instruments are needed to assess changes in student knowledge and perceptions of engineering. In this study, I developed the Students' Awareness and Perceptions of Learning Engineering (STAPLE) instrument to quantitatively measure fourth…

  5. What's Wrong with This Picture? Reflections on the Conundrum of Standardized Testing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suranna, Keith J.

    This essay reflects on the use of state-mandated achievement tests to evaluate what children have learned, drawing on the experiences of an elementary school teacher and the Connecticut Mastery Test. In this time of increased interest in testing, it is necessary to guard against rigidity of thought regarding intelligence, teaching and learning,…

  6. Strategies for Linking School Finance and Students' Opportunity To Learn.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Patricia

    This report answers questions that the Governors' Task Force on Education raised in their 1993 report "The Debate on Opportunity-to-Learn Standards." To assist states as they contemplate how to link school finance with the goals of education reform, the National Governors' Association invited six experts on various aspects of school finance and…

  7. Mathematics Teacher Identity in the Context of Mathematics Reform: Elementary Teacher Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    Reform efforts and changes in mathematics education have brought on a shift towards a new vision of mathematics teaching in the United States. In light of recent accountability standards, the focus on teacher learning within the context of mathematics professional development is even more pressing. Prior research on teacher learning in the context…

  8. Stills, Not Full Motion, for Interactive Spatial Training: American, Turkish and Taiwanese Female Pre-Service Teachers Learn Spatial Visualization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Glenn Gordon; Gerretson, Helen; Olkun, Sinan; Yuan, Yuan; Dogbey, James; Erdem, Aliye

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated how female elementary education pre-service teachers in the United States, Turkey and Taiwan learned spatial skills from structured activities involving discrete, as opposed to continuous, transformations in interactive computer programs, and how these activities transferred to non-related standardized tests of spatial…

  9. Principled Neglect and Compliance: Responses to NCLB and the CCSS at an Expeditionary Learning Middle School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stern, Rebecca

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study explored educators' sense making of and responses to No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards at one urban Expeditionary Learning middle school. Sense-making theory (Spillane, Reiser, & Reimer, 2002) and inquiry as stance (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) were used as complementary conceptual frameworks…

  10. Student Learning Outcomes and Pedagogy in Online and Face-to-Face College English Composition: A Mixed Methods Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montagne, Lisa

    2012-01-01

    This mixed methods study combined quantitative statistics and qualitative inquiry to determine if any differences exist between how students in face-to-face and online college English composition courses performed on and demonstrated knowledge of the California state curriculum standards, and to explore the online learning environment in this…

  11. A Review of Cash Management Policies, Procedures and Practices of Mississippi's Institutions of Higher Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mississippi State Legislature, Jackson. Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee.

    This report to the Mississippi Legislature presents the findings of a review of the cash management policies, procedures, and practices of the State Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). The methodology involved review of: applicable Mississippi statutes; standards promulgated by the National Association of College and…

  12. Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Social Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Instruction, Madison.

    Students at all grade levels in Wisconsin are required to learn about the principles and ideals upon which the United States is founded, and understand the world in which they live. Students at all levels should develop skills and understandings in all five strands found in the Wisconsin standards for social studies. These skills and…

  13. From Taylor to Tyler to "No Child Left Behind": Legitimating Educational Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waldow, Florian

    2015-01-01

    In the early 20th century, proponents of the so-called "social efficiency movement" in the United States tried to apply methods and concepts for enhancing efficiency in industrial production to the organization of teaching and learning processes. This included the formulation of "educational standards" analogous to industrial…

  14. Effects of Enhanced Anchored Instruction on Skills Aligned to Common Core Math Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bottge, Brian A.; Cho, Sun-Joo

    2013-01-01

    This study compared how students with learning difficulties in math (MLD) who were randomly assigned to two instructional conditions answered items on problem solving tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards Initiative for Mathematics. Posttest scores showed improvement in the math performance of students receiving Enhanced Anchored…

  15. Using Accountability Measures in the Preparation of Preservice Teachers To Make a Difference in the Learning of All Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Larry B.; Salzman, Stephanie; Frantz, Alan; Newsome, Jack; Martin, Martha

    This paper describes the transformation of Idaho State University's teacher education program in response to various initiatives regarding educational change. The transformation process involved framing a standards-based preparation program. Developers created a Core Standards for Beginning Teachers that established exit outcomes for prospective…

  16. Using Amphibians and Reptiles to Learn the Process of Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greene, Janice Schnake; Greene, Brian D.

    2005-01-01

    Although every student must take some science courses to graduate, understanding the process of science is important, and some students never seem to really grasp science. The National Science Education Standards stress process as a major component in science instruction. The standards state that scientific inquiry is basic to science education…

  17. Special Education Solutions in the Age of NCLB

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harvey, Cathryn

    2004-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind Act specifies schools' responsibilities for including special education students in their overall assessment programs. These students must be assessed under a standardized test that is used for all students within a district--a test that is designed to show whether a student is meeting that state's standards for learning.…

  18. Developing Cultural Responsiveness While Teaching Content Standards: Lessons from a Brazilian Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellis, Jason Brent; Abreu-Ellis, Carla; Moor, Alexa; Aukerman, Kaitlyn; Buttil, Michael; Edwards, Alyssa

    2017-01-01

    This article demonstrates how teachers can represent a different culture in their instructional planning while still meeting state-mandated content standards. It shares the lessons learned by practicing and pre-service teachers through an experience designed to help them become more culturally responsive teachers. Participants spent a month in…

  19. Learning how to learn: Meta-learning strategies for the challenges of learning pharmacology.

    PubMed

    Alton, Suzanne

    2016-03-01

    Nursing students have difficulty with pharmacology courses because of the complicated nomenclature and the difficulty of applying drug information to actual patient care. As part of a new pharmacology course being created, meta-learning strategies designed to diminish the difficulties of learning this difficult content were part of the course pedagogy. Strategies were demonstrated, reviewed in class, and implemented through homework assignments. The setting was an Academic Health Center's School of Nursing in the southern United States. Participants were third-year nursing students in an undergraduate nursing program. Surveys of students' opinions of learning gains were conducted at the end of the course over several semesters. In addition, pharmacology scores on a standardized exit exam were compared prior to implementing the course and after. Students reported learning dry material more easily, having greater confidence, and finding substantial value in the learning strategies. Students indicated the most helpful strategies, in descending order, as follows: making charts to compare and contrast drugs and drug classes, writing out drug flash cards, making or reviewing creative projects, prioritizing information, making or using visual study aids, and using time and repetition to space learning. Implementation of the new course improved pharmacology scores on a standardized exit exam from 67.0% to 74.3%. Overall response to learning strategies was positive, and the increase in the pharmacology standardized exit exam scores demonstrated the effectiveness of this instructional approach. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Teacher Leadership--Connecting Learning to Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coughlan, Margaret

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2010) as the latest initiative in the ongoing effort of educational reform in the United States reinforces the need to build the capacity of teachers as leaders and change agents. As such, graduate teacher leadership programs function to support and develop teacher leadership praxis. Although studies of…

  1. Capstone Experiences in Small MPA Programs in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Younhee

    2017-01-01

    A capstone experience, as an exit degree requirement, allows Master of Public Administration (MPA) students to build quasi-experimental practices by applying learned knowledge and skills throughout their curriculum in the United States. Accredited MPA programs have implemented their capstone courses differently to achieve required standards. Small…

  2. Leading for Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edwards, Virginia B., Ed.

    2006-01-01

    After a decade or so spent largely on setting academic standards against which to hold schools accountable, states are themselves being held accountable for helping schools figure out how to meet them. The result is a huge leadership challenge. With few or no added resources, state education agencies are retooling to provide more technical support…

  3. Teaching and Learning within and across Cultures: Educator Requirements across the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morrier, Michael J.; Irving, Miles A.; Dandy, Evelyn; Dmitriyev, Grigory; Ukeje, Ikechukwu C.

    2007-01-01

    Teaching multicultural education has been a consistent theme in teacher education programs across the United States (Miller, Strosnider, & Dooley, 2000), yet most institutions of higher education have struggled to incorporate standards for implementing this coursework into their certification and/or endorsement programs. Evans, Torrey, and…

  4. Machine-Learning Algorithms to Code Public Health Spending Accounts

    PubMed Central

    Leider, Jonathon P.; Resnick, Beth A.; Alfonso, Y. Natalia; Bishai, David

    2017-01-01

    Objectives: Government public health expenditure data sets require time- and labor-intensive manipulation to summarize results that public health policy makers can use. Our objective was to compare the performances of machine-learning algorithms with manual classification of public health expenditures to determine if machines could provide a faster, cheaper alternative to manual classification. Methods: We used machine-learning algorithms to replicate the process of manually classifying state public health expenditures, using the standardized public health spending categories from the Foundational Public Health Services model and a large data set from the US Census Bureau. We obtained a data set of 1.9 million individual expenditure items from 2000 to 2013. We collapsed these data into 147 280 summary expenditure records, and we followed a standardized method of manually classifying each expenditure record as public health, maybe public health, or not public health. We then trained 9 machine-learning algorithms to replicate the manual process. We calculated recall, precision, and coverage rates to measure the performance of individual and ensembled algorithms. Results: Compared with manual classification, the machine-learning random forests algorithm produced 84% recall and 91% precision. With algorithm ensembling, we achieved our target criterion of 90% recall by using a consensus ensemble of ≥6 algorithms while still retaining 93% coverage, leaving only 7% of the summary expenditure records unclassified. Conclusions: Machine learning can be a time- and cost-saving tool for estimating public health spending in the United States. It can be used with standardized public health spending categories based on the Foundational Public Health Services model to help parse public health expenditure information from other types of health-related spending, provide data that are more comparable across public health organizations, and evaluate the impact of evidence-based public health resource allocation. PMID:28363034

  5. Machine-Learning Algorithms to Code Public Health Spending Accounts.

    PubMed

    Brady, Eoghan S; Leider, Jonathon P; Resnick, Beth A; Alfonso, Y Natalia; Bishai, David

    Government public health expenditure data sets require time- and labor-intensive manipulation to summarize results that public health policy makers can use. Our objective was to compare the performances of machine-learning algorithms with manual classification of public health expenditures to determine if machines could provide a faster, cheaper alternative to manual classification. We used machine-learning algorithms to replicate the process of manually classifying state public health expenditures, using the standardized public health spending categories from the Foundational Public Health Services model and a large data set from the US Census Bureau. We obtained a data set of 1.9 million individual expenditure items from 2000 to 2013. We collapsed these data into 147 280 summary expenditure records, and we followed a standardized method of manually classifying each expenditure record as public health, maybe public health, or not public health. We then trained 9 machine-learning algorithms to replicate the manual process. We calculated recall, precision, and coverage rates to measure the performance of individual and ensembled algorithms. Compared with manual classification, the machine-learning random forests algorithm produced 84% recall and 91% precision. With algorithm ensembling, we achieved our target criterion of 90% recall by using a consensus ensemble of ≥6 algorithms while still retaining 93% coverage, leaving only 7% of the summary expenditure records unclassified. Machine learning can be a time- and cost-saving tool for estimating public health spending in the United States. It can be used with standardized public health spending categories based on the Foundational Public Health Services model to help parse public health expenditure information from other types of health-related spending, provide data that are more comparable across public health organizations, and evaluate the impact of evidence-based public health resource allocation.

  6. Insight: An Annual Collection of Articles on Teaching and Learning by Faculty of the Community Colleges of the State University of New York.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burns, Charles A., Ed.

    This collection of 15 articles on teaching and learning by community college faculty explores the following topics: (1) using modern treatments of standard literary themes and texts to enhance "relevance"; (2) coordination of a course based on Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man"; (3) planning a "Library Awareness…

  7. ESSA, Equity of Opportunity, and Addressing Barriers to Learning. Research for School Improvement and Transformation. Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, 2016

    2016-01-01

    The "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) recognizes that significant numbers of students require supports to successfully meet challenging state academic standards. This brief (1) analyzes the act to assess how it addresses the nature and scope of supports to address barriers to learning and re-engage disconnected students and (2)…

  8. Improving College and Career Readiness by Incorporating Social and Emotional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dymnicki, Allison; Sambolt, Megan; Kidron, Yael

    2013-01-01

    This issue brief was written to assist state policymakers in better understanding how social and emotional learning (SEL) can help students to be college and career ready. The brief provides a short description of what SEL is, why it is needed, and what it looks like in practice. In addition, examples of standards that support SEL at the federal…

  9. Embracing the Big Picture: The State of New Jersey's Road toward a PK3 Continuum. ACNJ Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rice, Cynthia

    2007-01-01

    There is evidence demonstrating that when young children are part of a learning environment that is based on high standards/expectations, administrative and teacher leadership and continuity in learning opportunities across these grades, the better their developmental outcomes will be through grade three and in future years. By experiencing an…

  10. Partnering with Parents: Using Cap Kits to Support Learning Activities at Home

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sanderson, Donna

    2017-01-01

    The idea of using plastic bottle caps to enhance children's literacy and math skills was introduced in a pre-kindergarten methods and field class at West Chester University. We wanted an essentially cost-free way to create fun, hands-on, educational games for young students to learn basic skills supporting the Common Core State Standards (adopted…

  11. The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Reconstruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adelman, Clifford

    2008-01-01

    This report examines the efforts of 46 European nations to harmonize (not "standardize") their higher education systems and indicates that the United States higher education system needs to adopt some of the features of the Bologna Process. Based on what can be learned from the Bologna Process, this report makes concrete suggestions for…

  12. Standards, Firewalls, and General Classroom Mayhem: Implementing Student-Centered Technology Projects in the Elementary Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hofer, Mark; Swan, Kathleen Owings

    2006-01-01

    Educators are simultaneously bombarded with both calls to integrate technology in meaningful ways into their teaching and to promote more student-centered activities which combine both content learning and higher-order thinking. This is no small task given the range of student abilities and interests, the increasing emphasis on state standards and…

  13. The Effects of Role Modeling on Technology Integration within Physical Education Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baert, Helena

    2014-01-01

    The national standards for physical education teacher education (PETE) in the US state that teacher candidates should be able to plan and implement technology infused lessons that meet lesson objectives and enhance learning in physical education (standard 3.7). Research shows that role modeling of technology integration can have a positive impact…

  14. FIX: A Strategic Approach to Writing and Revision for Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherman, Cindy K.; De La Paz, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Teaching students in upper elementary school to revise their papers effectively requires a three-pronged approach. First, teachers provide instruction on a relevant genre or writing form (using the Common Core State Standards for English language arts or other relevant standards as a guide). Second, teachers help students to use four basic…

  15. Experiential Education: Understanding the Impact of Remotely Operated Vehicles on At-Risk Student Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, James E.

    2014-01-01

    How do educators engage students in the curriculum? State and Common Core Standards determine what to teach; how those standards are taught varies. This research examined a group of at-risk elementary and secondary students using underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) as part of an experiential education program in a rural Michigan school…

  16. A Utilization Focused Evaluation: Aligning ISTE Standards within an Educational Technology Master's Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finelli, Susan M.

    2012-01-01

    Preparing teachers for roles in 21st century learning environments has been a challenge for higher education institutions in the United States. In particular, researchers have documented that college preparatory programs should examine current standards as well as pertinent trends in the external environment as a means to tailor coursework. The…

  17. Pennsylvania Teachers' Perceptions and Use of Social Media Communication Technologies as a Pedagogical Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tozer, Brett C.

    2017-01-01

    A number of states and organizations have begun to add cross-content technology elements to their educational standards, providing teachers opportunities to use social media communication (SMC) technology in teaching and learning. Specifically, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the PA Core Standards, which are adapted from the national Common…

  18. Designing Effective Professional Development: Lessons from the Eisenhower Program [and] Technical Appendices.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garet, Michael S.; Birman, Beatrice F.; Porter, Andrew C.; Desimone, Laura; Herman, Rebecca

    The professional development of teachers is a crucial element of the nation's efforts to improve education. In recent years, these efforts have sought to foster high standards for teaching and learning for all of the nation's children, and almost all states have met federal requirements for developing challenging statewide content standards. Such…

  19. The Union City Story: Education Reform and Technology Students' Performance on Standardized Tests.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Han-hua; Honey, Margaret; Light, Daniel; Moeller, Babette; Ross, Nancy

    This paper is the first in a series to investigate the impact of state-of-the-art networking technologies in a reformed educational context on student learning, teacher instruction, and parental involvement. The findings presented in this report are based on standardized test results. Although the findings indicate that the reforms are having a…

  20. The School Finance Redesign Project: A Synthesis of Work to Date. Interim Summary Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Paul T.

    2008-01-01

    In the past decade, controversies about public spending on education have grown as states adopted performance standards pledging that every child will learn enough to become an independent productive citizen and as "No Child Left Behind" ("NCLB") has put teeth into those expectations. Educators say that meeting higher standards requires more…

  1. Washington Elementary Schools on the Slow Track under Standards-Based Reform. Making Standards Work, 2001.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarthy, Maria S.

    This study examined the experiences of 15 elementary schools in Washington state demonstrating relatively slow improvement on the reading and mathematics sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Since the passage of educational reform legislation in 1993, Washington has undertaken a systematic overhaul of its K-12 public school…

  2. A Case Study of Common Core Implementation in a Linked Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Biolchino, Erin Broun

    2016-01-01

    California is in the midst of significant educational reform initiatives, especially at the secondary level. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted in 2010, and these new standards contain significant changes in the areas of math, English, and literacy across all subjects. Many districts are also implementing new initiatives to engage…

  3. Inquiry, New Literacies, and the Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stegman, Bridget

    2014-01-01

    For 21st century learning, students need to be well versed in techniques for inquiry using new literacies. Developing these skills also will meet the rigorous expectations of the Common Core State Standards.

  4. The Relationship between Grade-Level Team Implementation of Professional Learning Communities and Student Achievement in Math

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lesar, Peter V.

    2013-01-01

    With changing academic standards, more rigorous state assessments, growing diversity among student populations, decreased school funding, and high achievement expectations from the state and federal government, teachers have a very challenging and demanding job. Fully aware of these high expectations from the education community, school leaders…

  5. Policy Analysis | Energy Analysis | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    policymakers and inform decision making. Featured Analysis 2016: Measuring the Impacts of Federal Tax Credit state policy on decision makers. Learn more about clean energy policy on the NREL State and Local Portfolio Standards also shows national water withdrawals and water consumption by fossil-fuel plants were

  6. Impacts of Teacher Testing: State Educational Governance through Standard-Setting.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wise, Arthur E.; And Others

    Focusing on the experiences of five southern states using teacher testing policies, this survey provides evidence of shared experiences and lessons learned despite the existence of five different sets of certification requirements. The first section of the report concentrates on the national context for the movement toward teacher testing.…

  7. Learning from Failure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greene, Jay P.; McShane, Michael Q.

    2018-01-01

    Over the last two decades, federal and state policy makers have launched a number of ambitious, large-scale education reform initiatives--No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, the Common Core State Standards, and others--only to see them sputter and fail. In 2017, the authors convened a number of leading scholars to explore why those initiatives…

  8. Pathways to Results: Project Profile Compendium

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of Community College Research and Leadership, 2011

    2011-01-01

    Finding the best ways for students to learn and achieve success is of paramount importance to the state and the nation. More than ever before, college and career readiness is critical to the nation's economy, with college completion being an integral objective to achieving this goal. Illinois is committed to the Common Core State Standards,…

  9. Three-Dimensional Instruction: Using a New Type of Teaching in the Science Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krajcik, Joe

    2015-01-01

    Science teaching and learning in the United States are at a pivotal point. "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012b) and the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"; NGSS Lead States 2013) shift science educators' focus from simply teaching science ideas to helping students figure out phenomena and…

  10. State-Based Curriculum Work and Curriculum-Making: Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sivesind, Kirsten; Westbury, Ian

    2016-01-01

    This case study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997," parallels a study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997. The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use in…

  11. Playing with Mathematics: How Play Supports Learning and the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zosh, Jennifer Mary; Hassinger-Das, Brenna; Toub, Tamara Spiewak; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkof, Roberta

    2016-01-01

    International rankings show children in the United States perform well below average in mathematics. There are also large mathematics achievement gaps between children of lower- and higher-socioeconomic status. As today's teachers face these challenges, they are also faced with the pressures of sweeping educational reforms that arrived with the…

  12. Well-Prepared Teachers Inspire Student Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pecheone, Raymond L.; Whittaker, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    This is an era of transformation in the preparation, induction, and assessment of prospective teachers. The tension between local and state control is at the heart of the debate. States should be responsible for establishing performance standards that ensure that new teachers are well-prepared, competent, and ready to teach. This is why the…

  13. Transformational Opportunities: Language and Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners in the Common Core Era in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kibler, Amanda K.; Walqui, Aída; Bunch, George C.

    2015-01-01

    New demands of the Common Core State Standards imply instructional transformations for all classrooms in the United States, but teachers of students designated as English language learners (ELLs) are among those most likely to feel the impact in their daily professional lives. Language is an integral part of classroom learning in all subject…

  14. All Aboard! The Polar Express Is Traveling to Science--Understanding the States of Matter While Differentiating Instruction for Young Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vowell, Julie; Phillips, Marianne

    2015-01-01

    This standards-based science lesson introduces young learners to scientific inquiry and critical thinking by using activities to demonstrate three phases of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). By learning about the states of matter through a 5E instructional approach, students are encouraged to observe changes in the states of matter and to discuss…

  15. The effect of design modifications to the typographical layout of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user preference and process time

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arnold, Jeffery E.

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book. The layouts of the new documents are referred to as Chart, Map, and Tabloid based on the format used to convey content hierarchy information. Most notably, all the new layouts feature larger page sizes, color, page tabs, and an icon based navigation system (IBNS). A convenience sample of 48 New York State educators representing three educator types (16 pre-service teachers, 16 in-service teachers, and 16 administrators) participated in the study. After completing timed tasks accurately, participants scored each layout based on preference. Educator type and layout were the independent variables, and process time and user preference were the dependent variables. A two-factor experimental design with Educator Type as the between variable and with repeated measures on Layout, the within variable, showed a significant difference in process time for Educator Type and Layout. The main effect for Educator Type (F(2, 45) = 8.03, p <.001) was significant with an observed power of .94, and an effect size of .26. The pair-wise comparisons for process time showed that pre-service teachers (p = .02) and administrators (p =.009) completed the assigned tasks more quickly when compared to in-service teachers. The main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 4.47, p =.01) was also significant with an observed power of .80, and an effect size of .09. Pair-wise comparisons showed that the newly developed Chart (p = .019) and Map (p = .032) layouts reduced overall process time when compared to the existing state learning standards (Book). The Layout X Educator type interaction was not significant. The same two-factor experimental design on preference, showed the main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 28.43, p =.001) was significant. The observed power was 1.0, with an effect size of .39. Pair-wise comparisons for preference scores showed that the Chart (p = .001), Map (p = .001), and Tabloid (p = .001) were preferred over the Book layout. The Layout Type X Educator Type interaction and the main effect for Educator Type were not significant. This study provides evidence that the newly developed design layouts improve usability (as measured by process time and preference scores) of the New York State elementary science learning standard documents. Features in the new layout design, such as the IBNS, may provide a foundation for a visual language and aid users in navigating standard documents across grade level and subject areas. Implications for the next generation of standard documents are presented.

  16. Learn about the Environmental Information Exchange Network

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    States, territories, and tribes can partner with EPA to exchange standardized data to improve its quality, increase its availability, and integrate it better across different sources using connecting nodes, xml schema, and a data exchange template.

  17. The Perceptions of Administrators in the Implementation of Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study in an Oklahoma School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jaques, Shelley

    2010-01-01

    In January of 2002, President George Bush implemented the No Child left behind act that required all students to be proficient on state standards by the year 2014. One way a school district in Oklahoma met these new requirements was through the implementation of the principles of a Professional Learning Community. This case study was designed…

  18. 100 Days of Learning in Place: How a Small School Utilized "Place-Based" Learning To Master State Academic Standards.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewicki, James

    This report describes the development and implementation of a place-based curriculum for a small charter high school of 25 students in Wisconsin. The curriculum involved 100 days of field studies in local places such as historical archives, a restored wetland, a river valley, and a senior citizen community center. The students worked with 60…

  19. 38 CFR 21.4250 - Course and licensing and certification test approval; jurisdiction and notices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree, it must also approve the class... chooses to approve a resident course (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree.... chapter 30, 32, 33, or 35 offered by an institution of higher learning not located in a State; (iv) Any...

  20. 38 CFR 21.4250 - Course and licensing and certification test approval; jurisdiction and notices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree, it must also approve the class... chooses to approve a resident course (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree.... chapter 30, 32, 33, or 35 offered by an institution of higher learning not located in a State; (iv) Any...

  1. 38 CFR 21.4250 - Course and licensing and certification test approval; jurisdiction and notices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree, it must also approve the class... chooses to approve a resident course (other than a flight course) not leading to a standard college degree.... chapter 30, 32, 33, or 35 offered by an institution of higher learning not located in a State; (iv) Any...

  2. InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of Chief State School Officers, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), through its Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), offers this set of combined resources that define and support ongoing teacher effectiveness to ensure students reach college and career ready standards. This document includes the "InTASC Model Core Teaching…

  3. From the Margins to the Spotlight: Diverse Deaf and Hard of Hearing Student Populations and Standardized Assessment Accessibility

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cawthon, Stephanie

    2015-01-01

    Designing assessments and tests is one of the more challenging aspects of creating an accessible learning environment for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), particularly for deaf students with a disability (DWD). Standardized assessments are a key mechanism by which the educational system in the United States measures student…

  4. The Framework for 21st Century Learning: A First-Rate Foundation for Music Education Assessment and Teacher Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilbert, Ashley Danielle

    2016-01-01

    Federal laws and funding initiatives, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the Race to the Top campaign, have created an increasing incentive for schools nationwide to document student progress, standardize assessment practices, and evaluate teachers according to student success. In response, the Common Core State Standards, a popular yet…

  5. Leading in a Time of Ambitious Reform: Principals in High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools Frame the Challenge of the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stosich, Elizabeth Leisy

    2017-01-01

    Standards are intended to foster excellence and equity in student learning by institutionalizing high expectations for all students while allowing educators to have professional discretion in determining how to meet these goals. Recent studies suggest that principals play an essential role in interpreting and communicating the implications of…

  6. Effective Integration of Technology and Instruction. Q&A with Michael Jay. REL Mid-Atlantic Educator Effectiveness Webinar Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic, 2015

    2015-01-01

    In this webinar, long-time educator and developer of education technology Michael Jay discussed the importance of using technology to support learning and gave examples of how teachers can integrate technology into their instruction based on the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. The PowerPoint presentation and…

  7. Too Conscientious: "It's My Fault, They Are Going to Fire the Teachers"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leone, Beth; Whitson, Signe

    2013-01-01

    A high school student with a learning disability struggles under intense pressure to meet standards of a state's standardized testing. Fearing that his failure will cause teachers to be fired, he acts out in ways to be punished. This interview shows how valuable it is to drain off intense emotions and make sense of a situation following a…

  8. The Impact of Problem-Based Learning with Computer Simulation on Middle Level Educators' Instructional Practices and Understanding of the Nature of Middle Level Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huelskamp, Lisa M.

    2009-01-01

    The need for effective teachers is growing while national and state standards are putting ever-increasing demands on teachers and raising expectations for student achievement. Low science and mathematics standardized test scores, particularly in the middle grades, reflect unprepared adolescents, perhaps because of ineffective teaching strategies…

  9. QRIS and Inclusion: Do State QRIS Standards Support the Learning Needs of All Children? CEELO FastFact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horowitz, Michelle; Squires, Jim

    2014-01-01

    As the country quickly builds its efforts to enhance quality in early education and care classrooms, states are implementing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to recognize and improve the quality of programs. QRIS also provides technical support and increased financial benefits for participating programs to attain higher levels of…

  10. Reporting on the Process of Legislation: A Civics WebQuest

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wennik, Shari

    2004-01-01

    This article relates the experiences of a fifth-grade teacher who was determined to find a creative way to engage her students in civic life. The educational standards in her state (Washington) required that fifth graders learn about the basic structure and work of government at the state and federal level. Realizing that students tend to enjoy…

  11. Inclusive Prekindergarten Classrooms in a New Era: Exploring the Perspectives of Teachers in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Elizabeth McKendry; Lindeman, Karen Wise

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to share the results of a qualitative research study designed to shed light on the perspectives of inclusive prekindergarten classroom teachers in the United States. This study used surveys, interviews, and classroom observations to explore understandings of recently adopted learning standards and accountability…

  12. States Mull Best Way to Assess Their Students for Graduation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gewertz, Catherine

    2007-01-01

    Texas, which has helped shape key tenets of the standards and accountability movement, is on the brink of revamping the way it assesses high school students for graduation. Instead of testing knowledge that students accumulate over several years, the state would test what students learn in each course. A bill passed by the Texas Senate last month…

  13. Wildfire evacuation and its alternatives: perspectives from four United States' communities

    Treesearch

    Sarah McCaffrey; Alan Rhodes; Melanie Stidham

    2015-01-01

    Recent years have seen growing interest within the United States fire management community in exploring alternatives to the standard approach of evacuating entire populations that are threatened by a wildfire. There has been particular interest in what can be learned from the Australian approach, whereby residents choose whether or not to evacuate under the '...

  14. [Oral and maxillofacial surgery residency training in the United States: what can we learn].

    PubMed

    Ren, Y F

    2017-04-09

    China is currently in the process of establishing formal residency training programs in oral and maxillofacial surgery and other medical and dental specialties. Regulatory agencies, and educational and academic institutions in China are exploring mechanisms, goals and standards of residency training that meet the needs of the Chinese healthcare system. This article provides an introduction of residency training in oral and maxillofacial surgery in the United States, with emphasis on the accreditation standard by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. As there are fundamental differences in the medical and dental education systems between China and United States, the training standards in the United States may not be entirely applicable in China. A competency-based training model that focus on overall competencies in medical knowledge, clinical skills and values at the time of graduation should be taken into consideration in a Chinese residency training program in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

  15. Confronting the realities of implementing contextual learning ideas in a biology classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Akers, Julia B.

    1999-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation of contextual learning practices in a biology class. Research contends that contextual learning classrooms are active learning environments where students are involved in "hands-on" team projects and the teacher assumes a facilitator role. In this student-centered classroom, students take ownership and responsibility for their own learning. This study examined these assertions and other factors that emerged as the study developed. The research methods used were qualitative. The subject for this study was a biology teacher with twenty-six years of experience who implemented contextual learning practices in two of her biology classes in the 1997--98 school year. As the teacher confronted contextual learning, we engaged in collaborative research that included fourteen interviews transcribed verbatim for analysis, classroom observations and the teacher's written reports. Throughout the study, factors developed that adversely affected contextual learning practices. These factors were discipline, curriculum, and administrative decisions over which the teacher had no control. These are examined along with their consequences for implementing a contextual classroom. Successful practices that worked in the teacher's classroom were also determined and included the teacher's "failure is not an option" policy, mandatory tutoring, behavior contracts, high expectations and teamed projects. Besides contextual learning, a key component of the study was the collaborative research process and its meaning to the subject, the researcher and future researchers who attempt this collaborative approach. The study's conclusion indicate that scheduling, multiple repeaters, discipline and the state Standards of Learning moved the teacher away from contextual learning practices to a more teacher-directed classroom. Two recommendations of this study are that further research is needed to study how the state Standards of Learning have affected instructional practices and the effect of administrative decisions that influence the level of teacher success in the classroom.

  16. E-Learning Personalization Using Triple-Factor Approach in Standard-Based Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laksitowening, K. A.; Santoso, H. B.; Hasibuan, Z. A.

    2017-01-01

    E-Learning can be a tool in monitoring learning process and progress towards the targeted competency. Process and progress on every learner can be different one to another, since every learner may have different learning type. Learning type itself can be identified by taking into account learning style, motivation, and knowledge ability. This study explores personalization for learning type based on Triple-Factor Approach. Considering that factors in Triple-Factor Approach are dynamic, the personalization system needs to accommodate the changes that may occurs. Originated from the issue, this study proposed personalization that guides learner progression dynamically towards stages of their learning process. The personalization is implemented in the form of interventions that trigger learner to access learning contents and discussion forums more often as well as improve their level of knowledge ability based on their state of learning type.

  17. First Results from the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) Assessment Instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Slater, Stephanie

    2009-01-01

    Considerable effort in the astronomy education research over the past several years has focused on developing assessment tools in the form of multiple-choice conceptual diagnostics and content knowledge surveys. This has been critically important in advancing astronomy as a sub-discipline of physics education research, allowing researchers to establish the initial knowledge state of students as well as to attempt to measure some of the impacts of innovative instructional interventions. Before now, few of the existing instruments were constructed upon a solid list of clearly articulated and widely agreed upon learning objectives. Moving beyond the 10-year old Astronomy Diagnostics Test, we have developed and validated a new assessment instrument that is tightly aligned to the consensus learning goals stated by the American Astronomical Society - Chair's Conference on ASTRO 101, the American Association of the Advancement of Science's Project 2061 Benchmarks, and the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards. Researchers from the Cognition in Astronomy, Physics and Earth sciences Research (CAPER) Team at the University of Wyoming's Science and Math Teaching Center (UWYO SMTC) designed a criterion-referenced assessment tool, called the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST). Through iterative development, this multiple-choice instrument has a high degree of reliability and validity for instructors and researchers needing information on students’ initial knowledge state at the beginning of a course and can be used, in aggregate, to help measure the impact of course-length duration instructional strategies for undergraduate science survey courses with learning goals tightly aligned to the consensus goals of the astronomy education community.

  18. (Un)Intended Outcomes of the Common Core English Language Arts Standards: A Narrative Inquiry into the Learning Experiences of English Learners' Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mooney, Angela Jean

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a key piece of current reform efforts to reshape the U.S. educational system. Critics contend that the related Revised Publishers' Criteria (RPC), coupled with the authoritative power of the CCSS, will de-professionalize teachers, directing their practice from a distance. The purpose of this qualitative…

  19. An Examination of Secondary School Teachers' Technology Integration Recommended by ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers and School Principal Support for Teacher Technology Efforts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Esposito, Maria

    2013-01-01

    The National Educational Technology Standards for teachers (NETS-T) was adopted by New York State, and was critical to the development of students entering a global society. This study examines teachers' use of digital tools to promote student learning and reflection, promote digital citizenship, communicate and collaborate with parents and…

  20. Managing Mathematics: How Does Classroom Management Affect the Maintenance of High Cognitive Demand Tasks during Lessons with Standards-Based Instructional Materials?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barriteau Phaire, Candace

    2013-01-01

    The teaching and learning of mathematics has been the subject of debate for over 30 years and the most recent reform efforts are in response to concerns regarding the mathematical competence of students in the United States (Ball, Hill, & Bass, 2005; Battista, 1994; Cavanagh, 2008). Standards-based Instructional Materials (SBIM) allows…

  1. High-Stakes Testing and the Decline of Teaching and Learning: The Real Crisis in Education. Critical Education Policy and Politics #1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hursh, David

    2008-01-01

    This book examines the changes in educational policy in the U.S. and Britain over the last twenty-five years. The author contends that education in the States and Britain has been significantly transformed, through efforts to create curricular standards, increased emphasis on accountability measured by standardized tests, and efforts to introduce…

  2. Achievement Gap Projection for Standardized Testing through Logistic Regression within a Large Arizona School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kellermeyer, Steven Bruce

    2011-01-01

    In the last few decades high-stakes testing has become more political than educational. The Districts within Arizona are bound by the mandates of both AZ LEARNS and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. At the time of this writing, both legislative mandates relied on the Arizona Instrument for Measuring Standards (AIMS) as State Tests for gauging…

  3. Still Learning from the Past: Drawing on California's CLAS Experience to Inform Assessment of the Common Core. Policy and Practice Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knudson, Joel; Hannan, Stephanie; O'Day, Jennifer; Castro, Marina

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards represent an exciting step forward for California, and for the nation as a whole, in supporting instruction that can better prepare students for college and career success. Concurrent with the transition to the new standards, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), of which California is a governing…

  4. The Impact of Sustained, Standards-Based Professional Learning on Second and Third Grade Teachers' Content and Pedagogical Knowledge in Integrated Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Lora B.

    2010-01-01

    This 3 year longitudinal study reports the feasibility of an "Improving Teacher Quality: No Child Left Behind" project for impacting teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge in mathematics in nine Title I elementary schools in the southeastern United States. Data were collected for 3 years to determine the impact of standards and…

  5. The Role of Language and Literacy in College- and Career-Ready Standards: Rethinking Policy and Practice in Support of English Language Learners. Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haynes, Mariana

    2012-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards spell out the sophisticated language competencies that students will need to perform in academic and technical subject areas. English language learners (ELLs) face a double challenge--they must learn grade-level content while simultaneously building their language proficiency. This policy brief discusses these…

  6. Algebra? There's an App for That: Florida Goes Online with Math Support for Teachers and Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schackow, Joy Bronston; Cugini, Stephanie

    2016-01-01

    The transition to Common Core State Standards for Mathematics has created a need for high-quality professional learning on content and pedagogy. This is especially true for algebra 1 teachers in Florida, where students must pass a standards-based exam as a requirement to earning a high school diploma. Time, distance, and cost constraints can get…

  7. The Making of a History Standards Wiki: "Covering", "Uncovering", and "Discovering" Curriculum Frameworks Using a Highly Interactive Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maloy, Robert W.; Poirier, Michelle; Smith, Hilary K.; Edwards, Sharon A.

    2010-01-01

    This article explores using a wiki, one of the newest forms of interactive computer-based technology, as a resource for teaching the Massachusetts K-12 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, a set of state-mandated learning standards. Wikis are web pages that can be easily edited by multiple authors. They invite active involvement by…

  8. Next generation science standards available for comment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asher, Pranoti

    2012-05-01

    The first public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now available for public comment. Feedback on the standards is sought from people who have a stake in science education, including individuals in the K-12, higher education, business, and research communities. Development of NGSS is a state-led effort to define the content and practices students need to learn from kindergarten through high school. NGSS will be based on the U.S. National Research Council's reportFramework for K-12 Science Education.

  9. Active learning machine learns to create new quantum experiments.

    PubMed

    Melnikov, Alexey A; Poulsen Nautrup, Hendrik; Krenn, Mario; Dunjko, Vedran; Tiersch, Markus; Zeilinger, Anton; Briegel, Hans J

    2018-02-06

    How useful can machine learning be in a quantum laboratory? Here we raise the question of the potential of intelligent machines in the context of scientific research. A major motivation for the present work is the unknown reachability of various entanglement classes in quantum experiments. We investigate this question by using the projective simulation model, a physics-oriented approach to artificial intelligence. In our approach, the projective simulation system is challenged to design complex photonic quantum experiments that produce high-dimensional entangled multiphoton states, which are of high interest in modern quantum experiments. The artificial intelligence system learns to create a variety of entangled states and improves the efficiency of their realization. In the process, the system autonomously (re)discovers experimental techniques which are only now becoming standard in modern quantum optical experiments-a trait which was not explicitly demanded from the system but emerged through the process of learning. Such features highlight the possibility that machines could have a significantly more creative role in future research.

  10. Predators and Prey: Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades K-3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boswell, Henry, III; Stamm, Daniel K.

    This document provides hands-on environmental education activities for the classroom and the outdoor setting of Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. The activity packet, designed for grades K-3, meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. It includes on-site…

  11. A Quantitative Examination of the Influence of Non-Instructional Variables on Meeting State Accountability Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newman, Lisa D.

    2017-01-01

    Since the 1990's, schools across the United States have been held accountable for increased student learning. Increased use of growth-based accountability models and a lack of clarity on what each model measures have resulted in a need for additional research focused on the real-world implications for teacher agency and school accountability. The…

  12. Let History Not Repeat Itself: Overcoming Obstacles to the Common Core's Success. ES Select

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chubb, John

    2012-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards project is the latest in a series of efforts to improve the academic success of American students. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have endorsed new academic benchmarks that substantially raise the bar for achievement in English and mathematics. Aiming at a deeper form of learning, the initiative is a…

  13. Sea Turtle Trek, Hammocks Beach State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 6-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bland, Samuel S.

    This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Hammocks Beach State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 6, 7, and 8 and meets the curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are…

  14. Carolina Baywatch. Singletary Lake State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 6-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sessoms, James D.

    This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Singletary Lake State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 6, 7, and 8 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are included:…

  15. Attending High School Algebra I: In Search of Well-Managed, Engaging, Culturally Relevant, and Caring Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gannett, Cassandra Dunn

    2012-01-01

    The inequities in learning between the rich and the poor have become pervasive in United States. This is evidenced by the high school graduation rates, college attendance percentages, and employment statistics. Upon another wave of reform, the Common Core State Standards in mathematics are currently being adopted in hopes of increasing learning…

  16. Lessons Learned about Instruction from Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in College and Career Ready Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heritage, Margaret; Lazarus, Sheryl S.

    2016-01-01

    The new large-scale assessments rolled out by consortia and states are designed to measure student achievement of rigorous college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. Recent surveys of teachers in several states indicate that students with disabilities like many features of the new assessments, but that there also are challenges. This Brief was…

  17. Lessons Learned about Assessment from Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in College and Career Ready Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazarus, Sheryl S.; Heritage, Margaret

    2016-01-01

    The new large-scale assessments rolled out by consortia and states are designed to measure student achievement of rigorous college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. Recent surveys of teachers in several states indicate that students with disabilities adjusted well to the new assessments, and liked many of their features, but that there also are…

  18. Failure, the Next Generation: Why Rigorous Standards Are Not Sufficient to Improve Science Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bair, Mary Antony; Bair, David Edward

    2014-01-01

    Although many states in the United States are adopting policies that require all students to complete college-preparatory science classes to graduate from high school, such policies have not always led to improved student outcomes. There is much speculation about the cause of the dismal results, but there is scant research on the processes by…

  19. Jomeokee Geology. Pilot Mountain State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 9-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Michael W.

    This activity packet provides educators with a series of hands-on classroom and outdoor education activities for grades 9-12 that focus on geology using the Pilot Mountain State Park. The packet was designed to meet established curriculum objectives of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Standard Course of Study. Three types of…

  20. Sea Turtle Trek. Hammocks Beach State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 6-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bland, Samuel S.

    This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Hammocks Beach State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 6, 7, and 8 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are included:…

  1. Learning to forget: continual prediction with LSTM.

    PubMed

    Gers, F A; Schmidhuber, J; Cummins, F

    2000-10-01

    Long short-term memory (LSTM; Hochreiter & Schmidhuber, 1997) can solve numerous tasks not solvable by previous learning algorithms for recurrent neural networks (RNNs). We identify a weakness of LSTM networks processing continual input streams that are not a priori segmented into subsequences with explicitly marked ends at which the network's internal state could be reset. Without resets, the state may grow indefinitely and eventually cause the network to break down. Our remedy is a novel, adaptive "forget gate" that enables an LSTM cell to learn to reset itself at appropriate times, thus releasing internal resources. We review illustrative benchmark problems on which standard LSTM outperforms other RNN algorithms. All algorithms (including LSTM) fail to solve continual versions of these problems. LSTM with forget gates, however, easily solves them, and in an elegant way.

  2. Sampling in the Snow: High School Winter Field Experiences Provide Relevant, Real World Connections Between Scientific Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanson, E. W.; Burakowski, E. A.

    2014-12-01

    For much of the northern United States, the months surrounding the winter solstice are times of increased darkness, low temperatures, and frozen landscapes. It's a time when many high school science educators, who otherwise would venture outside with their classes, hunker down and are wary of the outdoors. However, a plethora of learning opportunities lies just beyond the classroom. Working collaboratively, a high school science teacher and a snow scientist have developed multiple activities to engage students in the scientific process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting the winter world using snow data to (1) learn about the insulative properties of snow, and (2) to learn about the role of snow cover on winter climate through its reflective properties while participating in a volunteer network that collects snow depth, albedo (reflectivity), and density data. These outdoor field-based snow investigations incorporate Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and disciplinary core ideas, including ESS2.C: The roles of water in Earth's surface processes and ESS2.D: Weather and Climate. Additionally, the lesson plans presented address Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Mathematics, including the creation and analysis of bar graphs and time series plots (CCSS.Math.HSS-ID.A.1) and xy scatter plots (CCSS.Math.HSS-ID.B.6). High school students participating in the 2013/2014 snow sampling season described their outdoor learning experience as "authentic" and "hands-on" as compared to traditional class indoors. They emphasized that learning outdoors was essential to their understanding of underlying content and concepts because they "learn through actual experience."

  3. Using i2b2 to Bootstrap Rural Health Analytics and Learning Networks

    PubMed Central

    Harris, Daniel R.; Baus, Adam D.; Harper, Tamela J.; Jarrett, Traci D.; Pollard, Cecil R.; Talbert, Jeffery C.

    2017-01-01

    We demonstrate that the open-source i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside) data model can be used to bootstrap rural health analytics and learning networks. These networks promote communication and research initiatives by providing the infrastructure necessary for sharing data and insights across a group of healthcare and research partners. Data integration remains a crucial challenge in connecting rural healthcare sites with a common data sharing and learning network due to the lack of interoperability and standards within electronic health records. The i2b2 data model acts as a point of convergence for disparate data from multiple healthcare sites. A consistent and natural data model for healthcare data is essential for overcoming integration issues, but challenges such as those caused by weak data standardization must still be addressed. We describe our experience in the context of building the West Virginia/Kentucky Health Analytics and Learning Network, a collaborative, multi-state effort connecting rural healthcare sites. PMID:28261006

  4. Using i2b2 to Bootstrap Rural Health Analytics and Learning Networks.

    PubMed

    Harris, Daniel R; Baus, Adam D; Harper, Tamela J; Jarrett, Traci D; Pollard, Cecil R; Talbert, Jeffery C

    2016-08-01

    We demonstrate that the open-source i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside) data model can be used to bootstrap rural health analytics and learning networks. These networks promote communication and research initiatives by providing the infrastructure necessary for sharing data and insights across a group of healthcare and research partners. Data integration remains a crucial challenge in connecting rural healthcare sites with a common data sharing and learning network due to the lack of interoperability and standards within electronic health records. The i2b2 data model acts as a point of convergence for disparate data from multiple healthcare sites. A consistent and natural data model for healthcare data is essential for overcoming integration issues, but challenges such as those caused by weak data standardization must still be addressed. We describe our experience in the context of building the West Virginia/Kentucky Health Analytics and Learning Network, a collaborative, multi-state effort connecting rural healthcare sites.

  5. Comparison of the effect of multiple intelligence pedagogy and traditional pedagogy on grade 5 students' achievement and attitudes towards science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mussen, Kimberly S.

    This quantitative research study evaluated the effectiveness of employing pedagogy based on the theory of multiple intelligences (MI). Currently, not all students are performing at the rate mandated by the government. When schools do not meet the required state standards, the school is labeled as not achieving adequate yearly progress (AYP), which may lead to the loss of funding. Any school not achieving AYP would be interested in this study. Due to low state standardized test scores in the district for science, student achievement and attitudes towards learning science were evaluated on a pretest, posttest, essay question, and one attitudinal survey. Statistical significance existed on one of the four research questions. Utilizing the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for data analysis, student attitudes towards learning science were statically significant in the MI (experimental) group. No statistical significance was found in student achievement on the posttest, delayed posttest, or the essay question test. Social change can result from this study because studying the effects of the multiple intelligence theory incorporated into classroom instruction can have significant effect on how children learn, allowing them to compete in a knowledge society.

  6. Rockin' On the Ridge. Medoc Mountain State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 4-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavin, Mike

    This activity guide, developed to provide environmental education through a series of hands-on activities geared to Medoc Mountain State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 4, 5, and 6 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of…

  7. Close Encounter With a Carolina Bay. Jones Lake State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 6-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helms, J. Christopher; Corbett, Robert J.

    This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Jones Lake State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 6, 7, and 8 and meets curriculum objectives in the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are included:…

  8. Environmental Stewardship: It's Only Natural. Kerr Lake State Recreation Area: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 3-5.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayers, Scott; Speed, John

    This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Kerr Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 3, 4, and 5 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are…

  9. Commentaries on the National School Climate Standards. Benchmarks to Promote Effective Teaching, Learning and Comprehensive School Improvement. School Climate Brief, Number 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National School Climate Center, 2010

    2010-01-01

    The majority of Americans have a shared vision that K-12 education needs to support children's ability to love, work and participate effectively in a democratic society. The National School Climate Center, a growing number of State Departments of Education and recently, the United States Department of Education believe that when school communities…

  10. Raven Rock: Then and Now. Medoc Mountain State Park: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 5-7.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, David G.

    This activity guide, developed to provide environmental education through a series of hands-on activities geared to Raven Rock State Park in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 5, 6, and 7 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities…

  11. The Ripple Effect: Exploring How a Joint Science Specialist/TOSA Can Change Classroom Teachers' Instructional Practices through Project-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gradias, Jean

    2017-01-01

    In 2013, California became one of the first states to adopt the rigorous Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). However, the current state of science instruction does not support the conceptual shifts of the NGSS, which call for consistent science instruction K-12, increased inquiry, subject integration, as well as science instruction that…

  12. From the Battlefront of the Texas History Wars: Contending with "American Exceptionalism"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noboa, Julio

    2011-01-01

    It was in late May of 2010 that the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) took their final vote on the curriculum standards that will have an impact on what millions of students in Texas as well as dozens of other states will learn about history and social studies for the next 10 years. These "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills" (TEKS)…

  13. Examining Comprehensive School Reform

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aladjem, Daniel K., Ed.; Borman, Kathryn M., Ed.

    2006-01-01

    Urban school reformers for decades have tried to improve educational outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged students, with the assistance of constantly evolving federal and state policies. In recent years, education policies have shifted from targeting individual students to developing universal standards for teaching and learning, and…

  14. The SOL: No Easy Answers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pasi, Raymond

    2000-01-01

    Since the state board adopted the Standards of Learning, Virginia high-school teachers maintain tighter schedules and more often use direct instruction instead of group activities to cover the new curriculum. A two-edged sword, the SOL has engendered an increased interest in professional collaboration. (MLH)

  15. Hardware-Efficient On-line Learning through Pipelined Truncated-Error Backpropagation in Binary-State Networks

    PubMed Central

    Mostafa, Hesham; Pedroni, Bruno; Sheik, Sadique; Cauwenberghs, Gert

    2017-01-01

    Artificial neural networks (ANNs) trained using backpropagation are powerful learning architectures that have achieved state-of-the-art performance in various benchmarks. Significant effort has been devoted to developing custom silicon devices to accelerate inference in ANNs. Accelerating the training phase, however, has attracted relatively little attention. In this paper, we describe a hardware-efficient on-line learning technique for feedforward multi-layer ANNs that is based on pipelined backpropagation. Learning is performed in parallel with inference in the forward pass, removing the need for an explicit backward pass and requiring no extra weight lookup. By using binary state variables in the feedforward network and ternary errors in truncated-error backpropagation, the need for any multiplications in the forward and backward passes is removed, and memory requirements for the pipelining are drastically reduced. Further reduction in addition operations owing to the sparsity in the forward neural and backpropagating error signal paths contributes to highly efficient hardware implementation. For proof-of-concept validation, we demonstrate on-line learning of MNIST handwritten digit classification on a Spartan 6 FPGA interfacing with an external 1Gb DDR2 DRAM, that shows small degradation in test error performance compared to an equivalently sized binary ANN trained off-line using standard back-propagation and exact errors. Our results highlight an attractive synergy between pipelined backpropagation and binary-state networks in substantially reducing computation and memory requirements, making pipelined on-line learning practical in deep networks. PMID:28932180

  16. Hardware-Efficient On-line Learning through Pipelined Truncated-Error Backpropagation in Binary-State Networks.

    PubMed

    Mostafa, Hesham; Pedroni, Bruno; Sheik, Sadique; Cauwenberghs, Gert

    2017-01-01

    Artificial neural networks (ANNs) trained using backpropagation are powerful learning architectures that have achieved state-of-the-art performance in various benchmarks. Significant effort has been devoted to developing custom silicon devices to accelerate inference in ANNs. Accelerating the training phase, however, has attracted relatively little attention. In this paper, we describe a hardware-efficient on-line learning technique for feedforward multi-layer ANNs that is based on pipelined backpropagation. Learning is performed in parallel with inference in the forward pass, removing the need for an explicit backward pass and requiring no extra weight lookup. By using binary state variables in the feedforward network and ternary errors in truncated-error backpropagation, the need for any multiplications in the forward and backward passes is removed, and memory requirements for the pipelining are drastically reduced. Further reduction in addition operations owing to the sparsity in the forward neural and backpropagating error signal paths contributes to highly efficient hardware implementation. For proof-of-concept validation, we demonstrate on-line learning of MNIST handwritten digit classification on a Spartan 6 FPGA interfacing with an external 1Gb DDR2 DRAM, that shows small degradation in test error performance compared to an equivalently sized binary ANN trained off-line using standard back-propagation and exact errors. Our results highlight an attractive synergy between pipelined backpropagation and binary-state networks in substantially reducing computation and memory requirements, making pipelined on-line learning practical in deep networks.

  17. The New Curriculum Standards for Astronomy in the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schleigh, Sharon P.; Slater, Stephanie J.; Slater, Timothy F.; Stork, Debra J.

    2015-12-01

    There is widespread interest in constraining the wide range and vast domain of the possible topics one might teach about astronomy into a manageable framework. Although there is no mandated national curriculum in the United States, an analysis of the three recent national efforts to create an age-appropriate sequence of astronomy concepts to be taught in primary and secondary schools reveals a considerable lack of consensus of which concepts are most age-appropriate and which topics should be covered. The most recent standardization framework for US science education, the Next Generation Science Standards, suggests that most astronomy concepts should be taught only in the last years of one’s education; however, the framework has been met with considerable criticism. A comparison of astronomy learning frameworks in the United States, and a brief discussion of their criticisms, might provide international astronomy educators with comparison data in formulating recommendations in their own regions.

  18. Development of the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) Assessment Instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, S. J.

    2008-05-01

    Considerable effort in the astronomy education research (AER) community over the past several years has focused on developing assessment tools in the form of multiple-choice conceptual diagnostics and content knowledge surveys. This has been critically important in advancing the AER discipline so that researchers could establish the initial knowledge state of students as well as to attempt measure some of the impacts of innovative instructional interventions. Unfortunately, few of the existing instruments were constructed upon a solid list of clearly articulated and widely agreed upon learning objectives. This was not done in oversight, but rather as a result of the relative youth of AER as a discipline. Now that several important science education reform documents exist and are generally accepted by the AER community, we are in a position to develop, validate, and disseminate a new assessment instrument which is tightly aligned to the consensus learning goals stated by the American Astronomical Society - Chair's Conference on ASTRO 101, the American Association of the Advancement of Science's Project 2061 Benchmarks, and the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards. In response, researchers from the Cognition in Astronomy, Physics and Earth sciences Research (CAPER) Team at the University of Wyoming's Science & Math Teaching Center (UWYO SMTC) have designed a criterion-referenced assessment tool, called the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST). Through iterative development, this instrument has a high degree of reliability and validity for instructors and researchers needing information on students’ initial knowledge state at the beginning of a course and can be used, in aggregate, to help measure the impact of course-length duration instructional strategies for courses with learning goals tightly aligned to the consensus goals of our community.

  19. Using the Learning Together Strategy to Affect Student Achievement in Physical Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Campbell, Manda D.

    Despite efforts mandated by national legislation, the state of Georgia has made little progress in improving Grade 5 students' standardized test scores in science, spurring the need for social change. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine whether there was a significant difference in the student achievement in the conceptual understanding of science concepts in a classroom where the teacher applied the cooperative learning strategy, Learning Together, as compared to the classroom in which teacher-directed instruction was applied. The theories of positive social interdependence and social development, which posit that social interaction promotes cognitive gains, provided a framework for the study. A convenience sample of 38 students in Grade 5 participated in the 6-week study. Nineteen students received the cooperative learning strategy treatment, while 19 students did not. Pre- and post-tests were administered to students in both groups, and an analysis of variance was performed to examine differences between the 2 sample means. Results indicated that the group receiving the cooperative learning strategy scored significantly higher than did the control group receiving direct instruction. The experimental group also scored higher in vocabulary acquisition. Using the cooperative learning strategy of Learning Together could guide teachers' efforts to help students achieve excellent state-mandated test scores. Learning Together may be employed as a powerful teaching tool across grade levels and content areas, thus promoting positive gains in other state-mandated testing areas such as math, language arts, and social studies.

  20. Bioinformatics in the secondary science classroom: A study of state content standards and students' perceptions of, and performance in, bioinformatics lessons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wefer, Stephen H.

    The proliferation of bioinformatics in modern Biology marks a new revolution in science, which promises to influence science education at all levels. This thesis examined state standards for content that articulated bioinformatics, and explored secondary students' affective and cognitive perceptions of, and performance in, a bioinformatics mini-unit. The results are presented as three studies. The first study analyzed secondary science standards of 49 U.S States (Iowa has no science framework) and the District of Columbia for content related to bioinformatics at the introductory high school biology level. The bionformatics content of each state's Biology standards were categorized into nine areas and the prevalence of each area documented. The nine areas were: The Human Genome Project, Forensics, Evolution, Classification, Nucleotide Variations, Medicine, Computer Use, Agriculture/Food Technology, and Science Technology and Society/Socioscientific Issues (STS/SSI). Findings indicated a generally low representation of bioinformatics related content, which varied substantially across the different areas. Recommendations are made for reworking existing standards to incorporate bioinformatics and to facilitate the goal of promoting science literacy in this emerging new field among secondary school students. The second study examined thirty-two students' affective responses to, and content mastery of, a two-week bioinformatics mini-unit. The findings indicate that the students generally were positive relative to their interest level, the usefulness of the lessons, the difficulty level of the lessons, likeliness to engage in additional bioinformatics, and were overall successful on the assessments. A discussion of the results and significance is followed by suggestions for future research and implementation for transferability. The third study presents a case study of individual differences among ten secondary school students, whose cognitive and affective percepts were analyzed in relation to their experience in learning a bioinformatics mini-unit. There were distinct individual differences among the participants, especially in the way they processed information and integrated procedural and analytical thought during bioinformatics learning. These differences may provide insights into some of the specific needs of students that educators and curriculum designers should consider when designing bioinformatics learning experiences. Implications for teacher education and curriculum design are presented in addition to some suggestions for further research.

  1. An exploratory study of the influence of national and state standards on middle school science teachers' classroom assessment practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McWaters, Kathy Jean

    2001-07-01

    Classroom assessment practices of middle school science teachers were identified and the influence of national and state science standards on these practices was examined. In Phase I of this study a mail questionnaire was sent to 450 middle school (grades 5,6,7 and 8) science teachers in 17 parishes in Louisiana to obtain information about their classroom assessment practices. In Phase II, nine middle school teachers in eight departmentalized classrooms, two classes at each grade, participated in a qualitative study. Data were collected through questionnaires, classroom observations, interviews and document analysis. Data analysis revealed three major categories of classroom assessment targets: (a) student achievement, (b) student attitudes and, (c) student products. Results indicated that most teachers are using different assessment methods when assessing different achievement targets, as recommended by science reform documents. It was also determined that many teachers are using appropriate methods to assess student learning. While teachers reported that students spend an inordinate amount of time engaged in assessment activities, classroom observations suggested that the activities were not always written tests or graded activities. Another key finding is that there is a disconnect between the quality of teaching and the quality of assessment. Teachers who teach the material recommended by science reform documents and use recommended instructional strategies were observed to stop teaching and engage students in a "test rehearsal" geared towards rote memorization of factual information. Data suggest that the national and state science content standards are influencing the content and the format of teacher-made tests. Teachers' reported using the standards during assessment construction or selection in a wide variety of ways. The most direct use of the standards reported was to select content, format and cognitive level for test items. A more circumspect approach used by teachers was to use the standards to write lesson plans and objectives and then to plan assessments based on these teacher-constructed objectives. Questionnaire data indicated that the three factors having the most influence on teachers' selection or construction of a particular type of assessment were: (a) how students learn, (b) alignment with state/district standards, and (c) purpose for assessment.

  2. Reinforcement learning in professional basketball players

    PubMed Central

    Neiman, Tal; Loewenstein, Yonatan

    2011-01-01

    Reinforcement learning in complex natural environments is a challenging task because the agent should generalize from the outcomes of actions taken in one state of the world to future actions in different states of the world. The extent to which human experts find the proper level of generalization is unclear. Here we show, using the sequences of field goal attempts made by professional basketball players, that the outcome of even a single field goal attempt has a considerable effect on the rate of subsequent 3 point shot attempts, in line with standard models of reinforcement learning. However, this change in behaviour is associated with negative correlations between the outcomes of successive field goal attempts. These results indicate that despite years of experience and high motivation, professional players overgeneralize from the outcomes of their most recent actions, which leads to decreased performance. PMID:22146388

  3. NGSS and the Next Generation of Science Teachers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bybee, Rodger W.

    2014-03-01

    This article centers on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and their implications for teacher development, particularly at the undergraduate level. After an introduction to NGSS and the influence of standards in the educational system, the article addresses specific educational shifts—interconnecting science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts; recognizing learning progressions; including engineering; addressing the nature of science, coordinating with Common Core State Standards. The article continues with a general discussion of reforming teacher education programs and a concluding discussion of basic competencies and personal qualities of effective science teachers.

  4. Generalizability of New Standards Project, 1993 Pilot Study Tasks in Mathematics. Technical Issues in Procedures To Link State Results to a Common National Standard. Project 2.4 Quantitative Models To Monitor the Status and Progress of Learning and Performance and Their Antecedents.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Linn, Robert L.

    The New Standards Project conducted a pilot test of a series of performance-based assessment tasks in mathematics and English language arts at Grades 4 and 8 in the spring of 1993. This paper reports the results of a series of generalizability analyses conducted for a subset of the 1993 pilot study data in mathematics. Generalizability analyses…

  5. Evaluating Workplace English Language Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ekkens, Kristin; Winke, Paula

    2009-01-01

    Companies across the United States provide workplace English classes to non-native-English-speaking employees to increase productivity, retention, and on-the-job safety. Institutions that financially support the programs often require evidence of learning through standardized tests as a prerequisite for continued funding. However, the tests…

  6. American Osteopathic Association Commitment to Quality and Lifelong Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tunanidas, Amelia G.; Burkhart, Diane N.

    2005-01-01

    The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) initiated programs to enhance quality for 54, 000 doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs) practicing in the United States. Seven core competencies are required in undergraduate and graduate medical education standards. They include osteopathic philosophy and osteopathic manipulative medicine, medical…

  7. Capitalizing on Curiosity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Devitt, Adam

    2011-01-01

    State and national standards have shifted what science learning should be from "plug and chug" formulas, to deep understanding of natural phenomena, competence developing ideas through the inquiry process, and even communicating scientific ideas among their communities (NRC 2007). By inquiring into his own teaching endeavors, the author continues…

  8. A Literature Approach to Middle Grade Math.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenlaw, M. Jean; Tipps, Steve

    1997-01-01

    Suggests ways that teachers can use picture books, chapter books, poems, newspapers, and reference materials to fulfill the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 1989 curriculum standards which state that problem solving, reasoning, communications, and connections should be part of every mathematics learning experience. Discusses number…

  9. Assistive Technology WebQuest: Improving Learning for Preservice Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manning, Jackie B.; Carpenter, Laura Bowden

    2008-01-01

    National and state standards from such organizations as the Council for Exceptional Children, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Association for Childhood Education International promote instructional change. These organizations emphasize the importance of preservice teachers/candidates knowing about…

  10. The Renaissance. Grade 7 Model Lesson for Standard 7.8. World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times. California History-Social Science Course Models.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zachlod, Michelle, Ed.

    California State Standard 7.8 is delineated in the following manner: "Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and diffusion of the Renaissance," in terms of the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts affected a new interest in humanism; the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the…

  11. Within Our Grasp: Achieving Higher Admissions Standards in Teacher Prep. 2016 State Teacher Policy Yearbook Report Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walsh, Kate; Joseph, Nithya; Lewis, Autumn

    2016-01-01

    Parents sometimes worry that their child's teacher may not be able to manage the classroom, may not be able to inspire students to reach higher levels of learning, or simply may not be up to the job. The responsibility for these worries often falls on a state's teacher preparation programs, so it is crucial that the programs admit only the best…

  12. Accountability Policy Implementation and the Case of Smaller School District Capacity: Three Contrasting Cases that Examine the Flow and Use of NCLB Accountability Data

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Christopher L.

    2010-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind Act increases pressure on schools and districts to use standardized state test data. Seeking to learn about the process of turning accountability data into actionable information, this paper presents findings from three case studies of small to medium sized school districts. The study examines the flow of state science…

  13. Use of the Outdoor Classroom and Nature-Study to Support Science and Literacy Learning: A Narrative Case Study of a Third-Grade Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eick, Charles J.

    2012-01-01

    A case study of an exemplary third grade teacher's use of the outdoor classroom for meeting both state science and language arts standards is described. Data from the researcher's field journal, teacher lesson plans, and teacher interviews document how this teacher used nature-study to bridge outdoor classroom experiences with the state science…

  14. Unsteady flow sensing and optimal sensor placement using machine learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Semaan, Richard

    2016-11-01

    Machine learning is used to estimate the flow state and to determine the optimal sensor placement over a two-dimensional (2D) airfoil equipped with a Coanda actuator. The analysis is based on flow field data obtained from 2D unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (uRANS) simulations with different jet blowing intensities and actuation frequencies, characterizing different flow separation states. This study shows how the "random forests" algorithm is utilized beyond its typical usage in fluid mechanics estimating the flow state to determine the optimal sensor placement. The results are compared against the current de-facto standard of maximum modal amplitude location and against a brute force approach that scans all possible sensor combinations. The results show that it is possible to simultaneously infer the state of flow and to determine the optimal sensor location without the need to perform proper orthogonal decomposition. Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 880, DFG.

  15. Classification of fMRI resting-state maps using machine learning techniques: A comparative study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gallos, Ioannis; Siettos, Constantinos

    2017-11-01

    We compare the efficiency of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and nonlinear learning manifold algorithms (ISOMAP and Diffusion maps) for classifying brain maps between groups of schizophrenia patients and healthy from fMRI scans during a resting-state experiment. After a standard pre-processing pipeline, we applied spatial Independent component analysis (ICA) to reduce (a) noise and (b) spatial-temporal dimensionality of fMRI maps. On the cross-correlation matrix of the ICA components, we applied PCA, ISOMAP and Diffusion Maps to find an embedded low-dimensional space. Finally, support-vector-machines (SVM) and k-NN algorithms were used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms in classifying between the two groups.

  16. Making Benchmark Testing Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herman, Joan L.; Baker, Eva L.

    2005-01-01

    Many schools are moving to develop benchmark tests to monitor their students' progress toward state standards throughout the academic year. Benchmark tests can provide the ongoing information that schools need to guide instructional programs and to address student learning problems. The authors discuss six criteria that educators can use to…

  17. Accessibility Principles for Reading Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thurlow, Martha L.; Laitusis, Cara Cahalan; Dillon, Deborah R.; Cook, Linda L.; Moen, Ross E.; Abedi, Jamal; O'Brien, David G.

    2009-01-01

    Within the context of standards-based educational systems, states are using large scale reading assessments to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn essential knowledge and skills. The challenge for developers of accessible reading assessments is to develop assessments that measure only those student characteristics that are…

  18. Accelerated Math[TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2011

    2011-01-01

    "Accelerated Math"[TM], published by Renaissance Learning, is a software tool used to customize assignments and monitor progress in math for students in grades 1-12. The "Accelerated Math"[TM] software creates individualized assignments aligned with state standards and national guidelines, scores student work, and generates…

  19. Enhancing Cognitive Understanding to Improve Fundamental Movement Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drost, Daniel K.; Todorovich, John R.

    2013-01-01

    The development of fundamental movement skills in physical education is an important contributor toward children's' lifetime interest and participation in physical activity. Physical education teachers and their curricula follow national and state standards to provide learning experiences and instruction that support the acquisition of…

  20. Personalized Learning in Algebra

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walkington, Candace; Sherman, Milan; Howell, Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    Mathematical "funds of knowledge" (Civil 2007) that students bring from their community and home lives can offer entry points for concepts such as functions and rate of change, which are important "big ideas" across all grade levels (NCTM 2000). The Common Core State Standards (CCSSI 2010) ask high school students to…

  1. Science in Sync: Integrating Science with Literacy Provides Rewarding Learning Opportunities in Both Subjects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wallace, Carolyn S.; Coffey, Debra

    2016-01-01

    The "Next Generation Science Standards'" ("NGSS") eight scientific and engineering practices invite teachers to develop key investigative skills while addressing important disciplinary science ideas (NGSS Lead States 2013). The "NGSS" can also provide direct links to "Common Core English Language Arts…

  2. Early Mathematics Fluency with CCSSM

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matney, Gabriel T.

    2014-01-01

    To develop second-grade students' confidence and ease, this author presents examples of learning tasks (Number of the Day, Word Problem Solving, and Modeling New Mathematical Ideas) that align with Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and that build mathematical fluency to promote students' creative expression of mathematical…

  3. Using Common Planning Time to Foster Professional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dever, Robin; Lash, Martha J.

    2013-01-01

    Increased emphasis on meeting state standards, more stringent requirements for designation as highly qualified, and intensified accountability for student performance have foisted new expectations upon teachers and stimulated changes in professional development models in which the greater urgency is clearly to attend to the teacher's role as…

  4. Strategically Fostering Dynamic Interactive Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Özgün-Koca, S. Asli

    2016-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSSI 2010) and NCTM's (2014) "Principles to Actions" agree that "for meaningful learning of mathematics, tools and technology must be indispensable features of the classroom . . . that support students in exploring mathematics as well as in making sense of concepts and procedures and engaging in…

  5. Teaching Algebra to Students With Learning Disabilities: Where Have We Come and Where Should We Go?

    PubMed

    Watt, Sarah J; Watkins, Jessie R; Abbitt, Jason

    2016-07-01

    This review investigates effective interventions for teaching algebra to students with learning disabilities and evaluates the complexity and alignment of skills with the Common Core State Standards in math. The review includes the results of 10 experimental and 5 single-subject designs (N = 15) producing a moderate overall effect size (g = 0.48). A total of five interventions were identified and analyzed across the studies using effect size data. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

  6. Building effective learning experiences around visualizations: NASA Eyes on the Solar System and Infiniscope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tamer, A. J. J.; Anbar, A. D.; Elkins-Tanton, L. T.; Klug Boonstra, S.; Mead, C.; Swann, J. L.; Hunsley, D.

    2017-12-01

    Advances in scientific visualization and public access to data have transformed science outreach and communication, but have yet to realize their potential impacts in the realm of education. Computer-based learning is a clear bridge between visualization and education, but creating high-quality learning experiences that leverage existing visualizations requires close partnerships among scientists, technologists, and educators. The Infiniscope project is working to foster such partnerships in order to produce exploration-driven learning experiences around NASA SMD data and images, leveraging the principles of ETX (Education Through eXploration). The visualizations inspire curiosity, while the learning design promotes improved reasoning skills and increases understanding of space science concepts. Infiniscope includes both a web portal to host these digital learning experiences, as well as a teaching network of educators using and modifying these experiences. Our initial efforts to enable student discovery through active exploration of the concepts associated with Small Worlds, Kepler's Laws, and Exoplanets led us to develop our own visualizations at Arizona State University. Other projects focused on Astrobiology and Mars geology led us to incorporate an immersive Virtual Field Trip platform into the Infiniscope portal in support of virtual exploration of scientifically significant locations. Looking to apply ETX design practices with other visualizations, our team at Arizona State partnered with the Jet Propulsion Lab to integrate the web-based version of NASA Eyes on the Eclipse within Smart Sparrow's digital learning platform in a proof-of-concept focused on the 2017 Eclipse. This goes a step beyond the standard features of "Eyes" by wrapping guided exploration, focused on a specific learning goal into standards-aligned lesson built around the visualization, as well as its distribution through Infiniscope and it's digital teaching network. Experience from this development effort has laid the groundwork to explore future integrations with JPL and other NASA partners.

  7. Supervised Learning for Dynamical System Learning.

    PubMed

    Hefny, Ahmed; Downey, Carlton; Gordon, Geoffrey J

    2015-01-01

    Recently there has been substantial interest in spectral methods for learning dynamical systems. These methods are popular since they often offer a good tradeoff between computational and statistical efficiency. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to use and extend in practice: e.g., they can make it difficult to incorporate prior information such as sparsity or structure. To address this problem, we present a new view of dynamical system learning: we show how to learn dynamical systems by solving a sequence of ordinary supervised learning problems, thereby allowing users to incorporate prior knowledge via standard techniques such as L 1 regularization. Many existing spectral methods are special cases of this new framework, using linear regression as the supervised learner. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework by showing examples where nonlinear regression or lasso let us learn better state representations than plain linear regression does; the correctness of these instances follows directly from our general analysis.

  8. Process-outcome interrelationship and standard setting in medical education: the need for a comprehensive approach.

    PubMed

    Christensen, Leif; Karle, Hans; Nystrup, Jørgen

    2007-09-01

    An outcome-based approach to medical education compared to a process/content orientation is currently being discussed intensively. In this article, the process and outcome interrelationship in medical education is discussed, with specific emphasis on the relation to the definition of standards in basic medical education. Perceptions of outcome have always been an integrated element of curricular planning. The present debate underlines the need for stronger focus on learning objectives and outcome assessment in many medical schools around the world. The need to maintain an integrated approach of process/content and outcome is underlined in this paper. A worry is expressed about the taxonomy of learning in pure outcome-based medical education, in which student assessment can be a major determinant for the learning process, leaving the control of the medical curriculum to medical examiners. Moreover, curricula which favour reductionism by stating everything in terms of instrumental outcomes or competences, do face a risk of lowering quality and do become a prey for political interference. Standards based on outcome alone rise unclarified problems in relationship to licensure requirements of medical doctors. It is argued that the alleged dichotomy between process/content and outcome seems artificial, and that formulation of standards in medical education must follow a comprehensive line in curricular planning.

  9. Physics and Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quinn, Helen

    2016-03-01

    I make a distinction between science outreach work and science education work, and my stress in this talk will be on the latter, though I have done both. Using my own career in physics and education as an example, as well as some examples of the contributions of other physicists, I will discuss the variety of ways in which scientists can contribute to science education at the pre-college level. I will argue for the need for more scientists to undertake this work as a serious professional commitment. In order to do so effectively a scientist must take the time to learn about science education and research on learning, and about how the education systems and policies that one is trying to impact function and are controlled. While working with individual teachers and/or their students provides a valuable service to those individuals, working at the State and National policy level, or with those developing curriculum materials, professional development for teachers and assessment strategies aligned to the broadly adopted Next Generation Science Standards can have much broader impacts. These standards have been adopted by over 14 states and have strongly influenced the science standards of a number of others. I will talk about my role in developing the vision of ``three-dimensional'' science education embodied in those standards, explain the fundamental components of that vision, and discuss the work that still needs to be done to realize that vision over the coming years.

  10. From Standards to Standard Practice: A Critical Look at the Perceptions and Process of Integrating the Next Generation Science Standards in the Nation's Schools

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mercadante, Katie Lynn

    The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are the culmination of reform efforts spanning more than three decades and are the first major reform movement in science education since Sputnik. When implementing these new standards, teachers are faced with many barriers. NGSS requires critical thinking, cross-curricular learning, and key changes in teaching, learning, and assessment. Implementation nationwide has been slow, due to sweeping changes, and controversial content within the standards. Resistance to implementation occurs in nearly all levels for these reasons. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the perceptions of in-service teachers of the NGSS Framework, to identify barriers that inhibit implementation, and to identify commonalities among teachers who have successfully implemented the Framework, as well as assist others who may do the same in the future. Teachers from public, private, and charter schools from across the United States participated in the study. Based upon teacher response, a three-stage action plan and series of necessary recommendations were developed to assist teachers and administrators in K-12 schools to develop plans to implement the NGSS.

  11. Making Sense of Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Umphrey, Jan

    2011-01-01

    The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is a voice and advocate for mathematics educators, working to ensure that all students receive equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality. To help teachers and school leaders understand the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and to point out how the CCSSM can be…

  12. Toward the Structural Transformation of Schools: Innovations in Staffing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coggshall, Jane; Lasagna, Molly; Laine, Sabrina

    2009-01-01

    The troubled economy is driving school organizations to become more efficient and driving the business community to demand that schools produce graduates with different sets of skills. States are finally uniting around common student learning standards as the student population grows more diverse. And the new administration is pouring an…

  13. A Teacher Talks to the Standards Bearers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dunn, Andrew

    1993-01-01

    National testing will not improve teacher's genius, students' prospects in life, or learning opportunities in school's immediate surroundings. Too much emphasis will be placed on comparisons among districts, counties, and states. Money will be pumped into raising scores, not decreasing class size or giving teachers more time to work with children.…

  14. Odyssey Reading. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2012

    2012-01-01

    "Odyssey Reading," published by CompassLearning[R], is a web-based K-12 reading/language arts program designed to allow for instructional differentiation and data-driven decision making. The online program includes electronic curricula and materials for individual or small-group work, assessments aligned with state curriculum standards,…

  15. Lesson Organization: Big Vision Step-by-Step Execution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Notar, Charles E.; Barkley, Jordan M.

    2009-01-01

    The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) proposition 3 states "teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning." They know how "...to organize instruction to meet instructional goals." This article provides 14 organizational patterns for use in organizing instruction in any of the content areas. The 14…

  16. Preservice Teachers' Conceptions of Effective and Ineffective Teaching Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sandholtz, Judith Haymore

    2011-01-01

    Given the focus on developing highly-qualified teachers to improve education, teacher education programs face increasing responsibility to prepare new teachers who can effectively enhance learning in all students. Standards and assessment criteria developed by national organizations in the United States address the qualifications of beginning as…

  17. Writing in Math: A Disciplinary Literacy Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brozo, William G.; Crain, Sarah

    2018-01-01

    Mathematics teachers often resist generic literacy strategies because they do not seem relevant to math learning. Discipline-specific literacy practices that emerge directly from the math content and processes under study are more likely to be embraced by math teachers. Furthermore, national and state-level mathematics standards as well as Common…

  18. Measuring Music Education: Music Education Assessment in Illinois

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cangro, Richard M.

    2014-01-01

    There are many assessment initiatives and policy changes happening in Illinois concerning learning and teaching expectations that involve K-12 students, teacher candidates, and current teachers. The Illinois State Board of Education has adopted new Math and English Language Arts standards for K-12 education known as the "New Illinois State…

  19. The Root of the Problem

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grosser-Clarkson, Dana L.

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics expect students to build on their knowledge of the number system, expressions and equations, and functions throughout school mathematics. For example, students learn that they can add something to both sides of an equation and that doing so will not affect the equivalency; however, squaring both…

  20. ARISE: American renaissance in science education

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    1998-09-14

    The national standards and state derivatives must be reinforced by models of curricular reform. In this paper, ARISE presents one model based on a set of principles--coherence, integration of the sciences, movement from concrete ideas to abstract ones, inquiry, connection and application, sequencing that is responsive to how people learn.

  1. Fractions, Number Lines, Third Graders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cramer, Kathleen; Ahrendt, Sue; Monson, Debra; Wyberg, Terry; Colum, Karen

    2017-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) outlines ambitious goals for fraction learning, starting in third grade, that include the use of the number line model. Understanding and constructing fractions on a number line are particularly complex tasks. The current work of the authors centers on ways to successfully…

  2. Accountability for College and Career Readiness: Developing a New Paradigm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Darling-Hammond, Linda; Wilhoit, Gene; Pittenger, Linda

    2014-01-01

    As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and…

  3. Gameplaying for Maths Learning: Cooperative or Not?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ke, Fengfeng; Grabowski, Barbara

    2007-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of gameplaying on fifth-graders' maths performance and attitudes. One hundred twenty five fifth graders were recruited and assigned to a cooperative Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT), interpersonal competitive or no gameplaying condition. A state standards-based maths exam and an inventory on attitudes towards maths…

  4. Fermilab Science Education Office - Educators/Teachers

    Science.gov Websites

    wide variety of professional development workshops, programs and educational resources. As an Illinois State Board of Education approved professional development provider, we use the Standards for Professional Learning in designing all of our programs. Read our e-Alert: January 2018–August 2018. For

  5. Using Technology to Prompt Good Questions about Distributions in Statistics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nabbout-Cheiban, Marie; Fisher, Forest; Edwards, Michael Todd

    2017-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics envisions data analysis as a key component of K-grade 12 mathematics instruction with statistics introduced in the early grades. Nonetheless, deficiencies in statistical learning persist throughout elementary school and beyond. Too often, mathematics teachers lack the statistical knowledge for…

  6. Are California's Schools Ready for Online Testing and Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gao, Niu

    2015-01-01

    In addition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), California is implementing a new, online assessment system: the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). Field tests were conducted last spring and the system is being rolled out this year, amid concerns about whether schools are technologically prepared. Using…

  7. Supporting Newly Hired Science Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luft, Julie A.; Nixon, Ryan S.; Dubois, Shannon L.; Campbell, Benjamin K.

    2014-01-01

    New teachers are common in the teaching workforce (Ingersoll and Merrill 2012). All new teachers will learn about the school curriculum and school policies in their first years. New science teachers, however, need to attend to the "Next Generation of Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) as they build their instruction and knowledge…

  8. Five Keys for Teaching Mental Math

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olsen, James R.

    2015-01-01

    After studying the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and brain-based learning research, James Olsen believes mental math instruction in secondary school mathematics (grades 7-12) and in teacher education programs needs increased attention. The purpose of this article is to share some keys for teaching mental math. Olsen also…

  9. iSTEM: Learning Mathematics through Minecraft

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bos, Beth; Wilder, Lucy; Cook, Marcelina; O'Donnell, Ryan

    2014-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards can be taught with Minecraft, an interactive creative Lego®-like game. Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (iSTEM) authors share ideas and activities that stimulate student interest in the integrated fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in K-grade 6 classrooms.

  10. A Primer for Mathematical Modeling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sole, Marla

    2013-01-01

    With the implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, modeling has moved to the forefront of K-12 education. Modeling activities not only reinforce purposeful problem-solving skills, they also connect the mathematics students learn in school…

  11. The Challenge of Challenging Text

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shanahan, Timothy; Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy

    2012-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards emphasize the value of teaching students to engage with complex text. But what exactly makes a text complex, and how can teachers help students develop their ability to learn from such texts? The authors of this article discuss five factors that determine text complexity: vocabulary, sentence structure, coherence,…

  12. Strategies for Teaching Fractions: Using Error Analysis for Intervention and Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spangler, David B.

    2011-01-01

    Many students struggle with fractions and must understand them before learning higher-level math. Veteran educator David B. Spangler provides research-based tools that are aligned with NCTM and Common Core State Standards. He outlines powerful diagnostic methods for analyzing student work and providing timely, specific, and meaningful…

  13. Demystifying Nature of Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lederman, Judith; Bartels, Selina; Lederman, Norman; Gnanakkan, Dionysius

    2014-01-01

    With the emergence of the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"; NGSS Lead States 2013), it is apparent that teaching and learning about nature of science (NOS) continues to be an important goal of science education for all K-12 students. With this emphasis on NOS, early childhood teachers are asking how to design…

  14. The Ways Character Strengths Support K-8 Mathematics and the Common Core State Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bier, Melinda C.; Sherblom, Stephen A.; Berkowitz, Marvin W.; Coulter, Bob

    2016-01-01

    Character strengths support academic learning and can and should be incorporated into all content areas. This article articulates ways character strengths, including self-efficacy, positive-attitude, perseverance, growth-mindset, intrinsic motivation, intellectual carefulness, and courage specifically support mathematics education (K-8) and can…

  15. An E-Learning Framework for Assessment (FREMA)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wills, Gary B.; Bailey, Christopher P.; Davis, Hugh C.; Gilbert, Lester; Howard, Yvonne; Jeyes, Steve; Millard, David E.; Price, Joseph; Sclater, Niall; Sherratt, Robert; Tulloch, Iain; Young, Rowin

    2009-01-01

    This article reports on the e-Framework Reference Model for Assessment (FREMA) project that aimed at creating a reference model for the assessment domain: a guide to what resources (standards, projects, people, organisations, software, services and use cases) exist for the domain, aimed at helping strategists understand the state of e-learning…

  16. State Highway Maps: A Route to a Learning Adventure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDuffie, Thomas E.; Cifelli, Joseph

    2006-01-01

    Science within the folds of highway maps is explored through a series of hands-on experiences designed to reinforce and extend map-reading skills in grades 6-8. The increasingly sophisticated, standards-related activities include measuring distances between population centers, finding communities named after trees, animals, and geologic features,…

  17. Becoming Nonfiction Authors: Engaging in Science Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kersten, Sara

    2017-01-01

    This article describes how second-grade students' literacy learning was enhanced as they used their developing knowledge of nonfiction in an integrated English language arts/science unit toward the creation of multimodal nonfiction science books. After explaining the Common Core State Standards that guided the unit, the author outlines the…

  18. Difficult Histories in an Urban Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sheppard, Maia G.

    2010-01-01

    Academic standards for history in all states require students to learn about deeply troubling events, such as war, genocide, and slavery. Drawing on research and theories related to trauma studies and history education, this ethnographic study aims to better understand what happens when teachers and students examine the pain and suffering of…

  19. Where Did We Come From?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joiner, Lottie L.

    2003-01-01

    Ohio's new set of science standards, adopted in December 2002, require that the state's public-school students learn Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as well as be allowed to criticize evolution in the classrooms. Includes a sidebar about some school boards' attempts to accommodate both sides in the evolution debate, and an article,…

  20. The Preschool Transition into Primary Grades: Is Curriculum a Factor? Developmentally Appropriate Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenberg, Sylvia

    2002-01-01

    Compared the California State Framework and Head Start Performance Standards for common expectations for early childhood education curriculum. Explored relationship of curriculum and the learning styles of preschool children. Found that High/Scope and Emergent Curricula were most compatible with California framework's objective of meeting the…

  1. Human Rights, Cosmopolitanism and Utopias: Implications for Citizenship Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starkey, Hugh

    2012-01-01

    Citizenship education, defined as learning to live together, requires agreement on certain common principles. One central purpose of a state education system is the transmission of common normative standards such as the human rights and fundamental freedoms that underpin liberal democratic societies. The paper identifies the conceptual roots of…

  2. Principal Perceptions of New Teacher Effectiveness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shepherd, Dan; Devers, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    Relatively little research has been conducted on the professional satisfaction of principals with recently hired beginning teachers. This study surveyed principals to learn their perspectives on these new teachers in relation to National Board Standards. Data were gathered using an online survey of 423 principals throughout the state of Indiana…

  3. From Manga to Math

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brozo, William G.

    2013-01-01

    Considering the nature of the complex prose that K-12 students today must learn from, in light of the Common Core State Standards, students need to read informational texts on a meaningful level-and with enthusiasm. Teachers, Brozo says, need to achieve three goals: motivate students to read informational texts, expand students' background…

  4. 78 FR 24393 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Promoting Student Success in Algebra I...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-25

    ... learning/ double-dose algebra can serve as possible avenues for improving student success in mathematics... needs in mathematics. This work will make an important contribution by producing actionable information... Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). The study centers around three major research...

  5. Teaching Teachers: Assessing Students as Scientists

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russ, Rosemary S.; Conlin, Luke

    2017-01-01

    Most elementary science teachers would like to give their students opportunities to do science. The "Next Generation Science Standards" and "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NGSS Lead States 2013; NRC 2012) make this goal explicit by requiring that students learn how to engage in the practices of science. Consequently,…

  6. Virtual Civic Engagement: Exploring Technology, Secondary Social Studies, and Problem Based Learning with TPACK

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schneider, Brett

    2017-01-01

    Sociological and cultural analysts have noted the reticence of public secondary schooling to recognize and build academic activities around the participatory culture in which adolescents are so readily involved (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robison, 2009). Despite the Common Core State Standards having required students to…

  7. Using Genre Pedagogy to Teach Adolescent English Learners to Write Academic Persuasive Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramos, Kathleen Ann

    2015-01-01

    The new "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010) require teachers to prepare all learners, including adolescent English learners (ELs), to develop academic literacy practices. This article describes an instructional intervention in an urban public high school using the genre-based "Reading to Learn" (Rose…

  8. The Impact of the AACTE-Microsoft Grant on Elementary Reading & Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borgia, Laurel; Cheek, Earl H., Jr.

    2005-01-01

    Accountability for student learning and support of evidence-based instructional approaches are critical responsibilities for teachers. Both are particularly significant with the current reliance on state standards, assessment tests and the No Child Left Behind Act (Shanahan 2002). Every elementary teacher must have research-based resources to help…

  9. Values, Ethics and Teacher Education: A Perspective from Pakistan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zia, Rukhsana

    2007-01-01

    Values and ethics are automatically incorporated into any teaching/learning environment or endeavour, whether or not they are consciously stated objectives. The focus on "quality of education" has sharpened as people have become concerned about a perceived rise in materialism as standards of living have improved; materialistic ambitions…

  10. Building Virtual Models by Postprocessing Radiology Images: A Guide for Anatomy Faculty

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tam, Matthew D. B. S.

    2010-01-01

    Radiology and radiologists are recognized as increasingly valuable resources for the teaching and learning of anatomy. State-of-the-art radiology department workstations with industry-standard software applications can provide exquisite demonstrations of anatomy, pathology, and more recently, physiology. Similar advances in personal computers and…

  11. School Library Renaissance in Baltimore County: An Open-and-Shut Case for Library Funding.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curtis, Della

    2000-01-01

    Explains how Baltimore County secondary school libraries increased their funding and staffing levels. Discusses a partnership with Towson University for staffing needs; the role of technology; the development of online learning modules; marketing efforts; state standards for library collections; and collection analysis criteria. (LRW)

  12. Collaborative online projects for English language learners in science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Terrazas-Arellanes, Fatima E.; Knox, Carolyn; Rivas, Carmen

    2013-12-01

    This paper summarizes how collaborative online projects (COPs) are used to facilitate science content-area learning for English Learners of Hispanic origin. This is a Mexico-USA partnership project funded by the National Science Foundation. A COP is a 10-week thematic science unit, completely online, and bilingual (Spanish and English) designed to provide collaborative learning experiences with culturally and linguistically relevant science instruction in an interactive and multimodal learning environment. Units are integrated with explicit instructional lessons that include: (a) hands-on and laboratory activities, (b) interactive materials and interactive games with immediate feedback, (c) animated video tutorials, (d) discussion forums where students exchange scientific learning across classrooms in the USA and in Mexico, and (e) summative and formative assessments. Thematic units have been aligned to U.S. National Science Education Standards and are under current revisions for alignment to the Common Core State Standards. Training materials for the teachers have been integrated into the project website to facilitate self-paced and independent learning. Preliminary findings of our pre-experimental study with a sample of 53 students (81 % ELs), distributed across three different groups, resulted in a 21 % statistically significant points increase from pretest to posttest assessments of science content learning, t( 52) = 11.07, p = .000.

  13. Shame in Medical Education: A Randomized Study of the Acquisition of Intimate Examination Skills and Its Effect on Subsequent Performance.

    PubMed

    Hautz, Wolf E; Schröder, Therese; Dannenberg, Katja A; März, Maren; Hölzer, Henrike; Ahlers, Olaf; Thomas, Anke

    2017-01-01

    Although medical students are exposed to a variety of emotions, the impact of emotions on learning has received little attention so far. Shame-provoking intimate examinations are among the most memorable events for students. Their emotions, however, are rarely addressed during training, potentially leading to withdrawal and avoidance and, consequently, performance deficits. However, emotions of negative valance such as shame may be particularly valuable for learning, as they might prompt mental rehearsal. We investigated the effect of shame on learning from the perspective of cognitive load theory. We hypothesized that (a) training modality determines state shame, (b) state shame directly affects the quality of a clinical breast examination as one example of a shame-provoking exam, and (c) students who experience shame during training outperform those who just discuss the emotion during subsequent performance assessments. Forty-nine advanced medical students participated in a randomized controlled, single-blinded study. After a basic, low-fidelity breast examination training, students were randomized to further practice either on a high-fidelity mannequin including a discussion of their emotions or by examining a standardized patient's real breasts. Last, all students conducted a breast examination in a simulated doctor's office. Dependent variables were measures of outcome and process quality and of situational shame. Students training with a standardized patient experienced more shame during training (p < .001, d = 2.19), spent more time with the patient (p = .005, d = 0.89), and documented more breast lumps (p = .026, d = 0.65) than those training on a mannequin. Shame interacted with training modality, F(1, 45) = 21.484, p < .001, η 2 = 0.323, and differences in performance positively correlated to decline in state shame (r = .335, p = .022). Students experiencing state shame during training do reenact their training and process germane load-in other words, learn. Furthermore, altering simulation modality offers a possibility for educators to adjust the affective component of training to their objectives.

  14. 3-D Teaching of Climate Change: An innovative professional learning model for K-12 teachers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stapleton, M.; Wolfson, J.; Sezen-Barrie, A.

    2017-12-01

    In spite of the presumed controversy over the evidence for climate change, the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for K-12 include a focus on climate literacy and explicitly use the term `climate change.' In addition to the increased focus on climate change, the NGSS are also built upon a new three dimensional framework for teaching and learning science. Three dimensional learning has students engaging in scientific and engineering practices (Dimension 1), while using crosscutting concepts (Dimension 2) to explore and explain natural phenomena using disciplinary core ideas (Dimension 3). The adoption of these new standards in many states across the nation has created a critical need for on-going professional learning as in-service science educators begin to implement both climate change instruction and three dimensional teaching and learning in their classrooms. In response to this need, we developed an innovative professional learning model for preparing teachers to effectively integrate climate change into their new curriculum and engage students in three dimensional learning. Our professional learning model utilized ideas that have emerged from recent science education research and include: a) formative assessment probes for three dimensional learning that monitor students' progress; b) collaboration with scientists with expertise in climate science to understand the domain specific ways of doing science; and c) development of a community of practice for in-service teachers to provide feedback to each other on their implementation. In this poster presentation, we will provide details on the development of this professional learning model and discuss the affordances and challenges of implementing this type of professional learning experience.

  15. Authentic Learning Experiences for Educators through Summer Internships: Revising the DIG Texas Instructional Blueprints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martinez, A. O.; Bohls-Graham, E.; Jacobs, B. E.; Ellins, K. K.

    2014-12-01

    Texas teachers have expressed a need for engaging activities for use in high school Earth science courses. With funding from the NSF, geoscience and education faculty from different institutions around the state collaborated with ten Earth science teachers to create five online Earth science instructional blueprints. The work is part of the DIG (Diversity and Innovation for Geosciences) Texas Instructional Blueprint project. A blueprint stitches together nine units for a yearlong Earth science course (scope and sequence). Each unit covers three weeks of teaching and contains lectures, readings, visualizations, lab investigations, learning activities, and other educational materials from credible sources, which are aligned with Texas state science standards for Earth and Space Science and the Earth Science Literacy Principles. Taken together, the collection of activities address the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). During summer 2014, three minority-serving secondary teachers completed a six-week internship at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). As DIG Texas Education Interns, we organized and revised the content of the units, created scaffolding notes, and built blueprints by selecting groups of nine units from the project's current collection of twenty-one units. Because fieldwork is an important element of geoscience learning, we integrated virtual field trips into each unit. We (1) gained expertise in selecting high quality activities that directly correlate with state standards and address the Earth Science Literacy Principles; (2) developed a keen awareness of the value of the NGSS; (3) learned how to navigate through the NGSS website to track the relationships between the Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts for Earth science, as well as connections to other disciplines in the same grade level. Collaborating with other secondary Earth science teachers introduced each of us to new teaching practices, allowing us to build relationships that we expect to last for many years. UTIG researchers mentored and introduced us to their research and methodology. In addition, they helped us find high quality activities for the units. In turn, we shared our knowledge of pedagogy and classroom expertise with them.

  16. The evolution of conformist transmission in social learning when the environment changes periodically.

    PubMed

    Nakahashi, Wataru

    2007-08-01

    Conformity is often observed in human social learning. Social learners preferentially imitate the majority or most common behavior in many situations, though the strength of conformity varies with the situation. Why has such a psychological tendency evolved? I investigate this problem by extending a standard model of social learning evolution with infinite environmental states (Feldman, M.W., Aoki, K., Kumm, J., 1996. Individual versus social learning: evolutionary analysis in a fluctuating environment. Anthropol. Sci. 104, 209-231) to include conformity bias. I mainly focus on the relationship between the strength of conformity bias that evolves and environmental stability, which is one of the most important factors in the evolution of social learning. Using the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) approach, I show that conformity always evolves when environmental stability and the cost of adopting a wrong behavior are small, though environmental stability and the cost of individual learning both negatively affect the strength of conformity.

  17. Impact of interactive online units on learning science among students with learning disabilities and English learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Terrazas-Arellanes, Fatima E.; Gallard M., Alejandro J.; Strycker, Lisa A.; Walden, Emily D.

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to document the design, classroom implementation, and effectiveness of interactive online units to enhance science learning over 3 years among students with learning disabilities, English learners, and general education students. Results of a randomised controlled trial with 2,303 middle school students and 71 teachers across 13 schools in two states indicated that online units effectively deepened science knowledge across all three student groups. Comparing all treatment and control students on pretest-to-posttest improvement on standards-based content-specific assessments, there were statistically significant mean differences (17% improvement treatment vs. 6% control; p < .001); no significant interactions were found between treatment condition and learning disability or English learner status, indicating that these two groups performed similarly to their peers; students with learning disabilities had significantly lower assessment scores overall. Teachers and students were moderately satisfied with the units.

  18. Hybrid image representation learning model with invariant features for basal cell carcinoma detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arevalo, John; Cruz-Roa, Angel; González, Fabio A.

    2013-11-01

    This paper presents a novel method for basal-cell carcinoma detection, which combines state-of-the-art methods for unsupervised feature learning (UFL) and bag of features (BOF) representation. BOF, which is a form of representation learning, has shown a good performance in automatic histopathology image classi cation. In BOF, patches are usually represented using descriptors such as SIFT and DCT. We propose to use UFL to learn the patch representation itself. This is accomplished by applying a topographic UFL method (T-RICA), which automatically learns visual invariance properties of color, scale and rotation from an image collection. These learned features also reveals these visual properties associated to cancerous and healthy tissues and improves carcinoma detection results by 7% with respect to traditional autoencoders, and 6% with respect to standard DCT representations obtaining in average 92% in terms of F-score and 93% of balanced accuracy.

  19. Lessons learned from new construction utility demand side management programs and their implications for implementing building energy codes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wise, B.K.; Hughes, K.R.; Danko, S.L.

    1994-07-01

    This report was prepared for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Codes and Standards by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) through its Building Energy Standards Program (BESP). The purpose of this task was to identify demand-side management (DSM) strategies for new construction that utilities have adopted or developed to promote energy-efficient design and construction. PNL conducted a survey of utilities and used the information gathered to extrapolate lessons learned and to identify evolving trends in utility new-construction DSM programs. The ultimate goal of the task is to identify opportunities where states might work collaboratively with utilities to promotemore » the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of energy-efficient building energy codes.« less

  20. Academic performance: A case study of mathematics and science educators from rural Washington high schools

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hancock, Tira K.

    A qualitative descriptive case study explored courses of action for educators and leaders of math and science educators to implement to help students achieve state assessment standard and postsecondary success. The problem focused on two demographically similar rural high schools in Southwest Washington that demonstrated inadequate rates of student achievement in mathematics and science. The research question investigated courses of action that may assist educators and leaders of secondary math and science educators to help students achieve WASL standards and postsecondary success in compliance with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Senge's learning organization theory (1990, 2006) and Fullan's (2001) contributions to leading and learning in times of change provided the theoretical framework for the study. Twenty study participant responses analyzed with qualitative analysis software QSR NVivo 7 revealed six themes. Triangulation of responses with secondary data from WASL assessment scores and case study school assessment data identified 14 courses of action and three recommendations for educators and leaders of math and science educators to help students meet state standards and postsecondary success. Critical factors identified in the study as needed to assist educators to help students succeed included professional development, collaboration, teaching practices, funding, student accountability, and parental involvement.

  1. Do written mandatory accreditation standards for residential care positively model learning organizations? Textual and critical discourse analysis.

    PubMed

    Bell, Erica; Robinson, Andrew; See, Catherine

    2013-11-01

    Unprecedented global population ageing accompanied by increasing complexity of aged care present major challenges of quality in aged care. In the business literature, Senge's theory of adaptive learning organisations offers a model of organisational quality. However, while accreditation of national standards is an increasing mechanism for achieving quality in aged care, there are anecdotal concerns it creates a 'minimum standards compliance mentality' and no evidence about whether it reinforces learning organisations. The research question was 'Do mandatory national accreditation standards for residential aged care, as they are written, positively model learning organisations?'. Automatic text analysis was combined with critical discourse analysis to analyse the presence of learning concepts from Senge's learning organisation theory in an exhaustive sample of national accreditation standards from 7 countries. The two stages of analysis were: (1) quantitative mapping of the presence of learning organisation concepts in standards using Bayesian-based textual analytics software and (2) qualitative critical discourse analysis to further examine how the language of standards so identified may be modelling learning organisation concepts. The learning concepts 'training', 'development', 'knowledge', and 'systems' are present with relative frequencies of 19%, 11%, 10%, and 10% respectively in the 1944 instances, in paragraph-sized text blocks, considered. Concepts such as 'team', 'integration', 'learning', 'change' and 'innovation' occur with 7%, 6%, 5%, 5%, and 1% relative frequencies respectively. Learning concepts tend to co-occur with negative rather than positive sentiment language in the 3176 instances in text blocks containing sentiment language. Critical discourse analysis suggested that standards generally use the language of organisational change and learning in limited ways that appear to model 'learning averse' communities of practice and organisational cultures. The aged care quality challenge and the role of standards need rethinking. All standards implicitly or explicitly model an organisation of some type. If standards can model a limited and negative learning organisation language, they could model a well-developed and positive learning organisation language. In the context of the global aged care crisis, the modelling of learning organisations is probably critical for minimal competence in residential aged care and certainly achievable in the language of standards. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Content-oriented Approach to Organization of Theories and Its Utilization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hayashi, Yusuke; Bourdeau, Jacqueline; Mizoguch, Riichiro

    In spite of the fact that the relation between theory and practice is a foundation of scientific and technological development, the trend of increasing the gap between theory and practice accelerates in these years. The gap embraces a risk of distrust of science and technology. Ontological engineering as the content-oriented research is expected to contribute to the resolution of the gap. This paper presents the feasibility of organization of theoretical knowledge on ontological engineering and new-generation intelligent systems based on it through an application of ontological engineering in the area of learning/instruction support. This area also has the problem of the gap between theory and practice, and its resolution is strongly required. So far we proposed OMNIBUS ontology, which is a comprehensive ontology that covers different learning/instructional theories and paradigms, and SMARTIES, which is a theory-aware and standard-compliant authoring system for making learning/instructional scenarios based on OMNIBUS ontology. We believe the theory-awareness and standard-compliance bridge the gap between theory and practice because it links theories to practical use of standard technologies and enables practitioners to easily enjoy theoretical support while using standard technologies in practice. The following goals are set in order to achieve it; computers (1) understand a variety of learning/instructional theories based on the organization of them, (2) utilize the understanding for helping authors' learning/instructional scenario making and (3) make such theoretically sound scenarios interoperable within the framework of standard technologies. This paper suggests an ontological engineering solution to the achievement of these three goals. Although the evaluation is far from complete in terms of practical use, we believe that the results of this study address high-level technical challenges from the viewpoint of the current state of the art in the research area of artificial intelligence not only in education but also in general, and therefore we hope that constitute a substantial contribution for organization of theoretical knowledge in many other areas.

  3. New Standards Put the Spotlight on Professional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mizell, Hayes; Hord, Shirley; Killion, Joellen; Hirsh, Stephanie

    2011-01-01

    Learning Forward introduces new Standards for Professional Learning. This is the third iteration of standards outlining the characteristics of professional learning that lead to effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, and improved student results. The standards are not a prescription for how education leaders and public officials…

  4. Reusable Models of Pedagogical Concepts--A Framework for Pedagogical and Content Design.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pawlowski, Jan M.

    Standardization initiatives in the field of learning technologies have produced standards for the interoperability of learning environments and learning management systems. Learning resources based on these standards can be reused, recombined, and adapted to the user. However, these standards follow a content-oriented approach; the process of…

  5. Outputs as Educator Effectiveness in the United States: Shifting towards Political Accountability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piro, Jody S.; Mullen, Laurie

    2013-01-01

    The definition of educator effectiveness is being redefined by econometric modeling to evidence student achievement on standardized tests. While the reasons that econometric frameworks are in vogue are many, it is clear that the strength of such models lie in the quantifiable evidence of student learning. Current accountability models frame…

  6. El Sistema de Formas en Colores for Teaching Grammar in Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nailon, James

    2010-01-01

    Sistema de formas en colores (SFC) is a symbols-based system for teaching Spanish grammatical structures and concepts within a communicative context in the elementary school. The (ACTFL) Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century states that, "While grammar and vocabulary are essential tools for communication, it is…

  7. Beyond Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherlock, David

    2007-01-01

    In this article, the author reflects on his stay at Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) and on his life after it. ALI was not just a piece of the state bureaucracy, what some civil servants ironically insisted on describing as the "burden on providers." ALI had been a long time in the making and rested on some very solidly established ideas about…

  8. Talk, Decisions, and Action in Curriculum-Making: Reflections on the "ILS" and "L97" Case Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westbury, Ian

    2016-01-01

    Previous papers in this issue of "JCS" have presented case studies of the state-based curriculum commissions that developed the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 and Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997" ("L97") (1997). The studies were developed using as a framework a body of German research that sees…

  9. Economics. Teacher's Guide [and Student Guide]. Parallel Alternative Strategies for Students (PASS).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chambliss, Robert, Ed.; Fresen, Sue, Ed.

    This teacher's guide and student guide unit contains supplemental readings, activities, and methods adapted for secondary students who have disabilities and other students with diverse learning needs. The curriculum correlates to Florida's Sunshine State Standards and is divided into the following six units of study: (1) introduction to economics,…

  10. Laptops for High-Risk Students: Empowerment and Personalization in a Standards-Based Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mabry, Linda; Snow, Juna Z.

    2006-01-01

    "Cooltown@Roosevelt," an instructional technology program implemented in 2002-04 based on a five-year collaboration involving Vancouver School District in Washington state, Hewlett-Packard Corporation, and Comcast, provided high-risk students in six elementary classrooms with laptops and wireless internet access at school and at home. A…

  11. Entering the Historical Problem Space: Whole-Class Text-Based Discussion in History Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reisman, Abby

    2015-01-01

    Background/Context: The Common Core State Standards Initiative reveals how little we understand about the components of effective discussion-based instruction in disciplinary history. Although the case for classroom discussion as a core method for subject matter learning stands on stable theoretical and empirical ground, to date, none of the…

  12. Beyond the Core: Assessing Authentic 21st Century Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenstein, Laura

    2012-01-01

    Principals' wheelbarrows are full of initiatives: closing learning gaps, preparing for the Common Core State Standards, differentiating instruction, and improving college and career readiness, to name a few. Meanwhile, principals have too few assets in their toolboxes to meet all the hefty demands. Taking the long view, it becomes clear that true…

  13. CCSSM: Getting Started in K-Grade 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Jeanne; Dauksas, Linda

    2012-01-01

    Rather than feeling overwhelmed at the thought of integrating the new Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010) into their teaching practice, teachers might view this as an opportunity to deeply embed mathematics into the K-grade 2 curriculum in the same way that literacy has long been rooted into early learning environments.…

  14. Organized Interests and the Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonnell, Lorraine M.; Weatherford, M. Stephen

    2013-01-01

    Among the notable aspects of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is the diverse array of interest groups supporting them. These organizations must now apply the strategies they used so effectively in advancing the Common Core to stem mounting opposition to it. This article draws on theories of political and policy learning and interviews with…

  15. Information Fuels Support for School Reform

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henderson, Michael B.; Howell, William G.; Peterson, Paul E.

    2014-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards initiative (CCSS) seeks to "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn" at various grade levels. For some education observers, CCSS will finally clarify for students, parents, and educators what students need to know and be able to do if they are to be prepared for…

  16. Climate Change: Providing Equitable Access to a Rigorous and Engaging Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardichon, Jessica; Roc, Martens

    2013-01-01

    This report examines how implementing rigorous and engaging curriculum aligned with college- and career-ready standards fosters positive school climates in which students are motivated to succeed, achievement gaps narrow, and learning and outcomes improve. It includes federal, state, and local recommendations for increasing access to high-quality,…

  17. Saxon Math. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2010

    2010-01-01

    "Saxon Math" is a textbook series covering grades K-12 based on incremental development and continual review of mathematical concepts to give students time to learn and practice concepts throughout the year. The series is aligned with standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and various states, and can be…

  18. Integrating Resources and Strategies into an Emerging System of Professional Development: The Case of PITC in California

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mangione, Peter L.; Lally, J. Ronald; Poole, Janet L.; Tuesta, Alicia; Paxton, Arlene R.

    2011-01-01

    States have placed high priority on developing early care and education systems that include early learning guidelines, curriculum, program guidelines or standards, and early childhood educator competencies. To explore how professional development and quality improvement initiatives are being integrated into emerging infant-toddler care systems,…

  19. What Middle Grade Students Say about Learning Science with Multimedia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldenberg, Lauren B.; Heinze, Juliette; Ba, Harouna

    2004-01-01

    The JASON Multimedia Science Curriculum (JMSC) was developed in 1989 by the JASON Foundation for Education (www.jason.org), and is a multimedia, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based science curriculum that responds to the dual demands of teachers having to teach state standards while engaging students in scientific inquiry. The JMSC encourages…

  20. Validation of Scores from a New Measure of Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy to Teach Statistics in the Middle Grades

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harrell-Williams, Leigh M.; Sorto, M. Alejandra; Pierce, Rebecca L.; Lesser, Lawrence M.; Murphy, Teri J.

    2014-01-01

    The influential "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics" (CCSSM) expect students to start statistics learning during middle grades. Thus teacher education and professional development programs are advised to help preservice and in-service teachers increase their knowledge and confidence to teach statistics. Although existing…

  1. Negligence Liability of K-12 Chemistry Teachers: The Need for Legal Balance and Responsible Action

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zirkel, Perry A.; Barnes, Marianne B.

    2011-01-01

    The science education community promotes inquiry teaching and learning enhanced by the school laboratory experience, and this emphasis is reflected in state and national science education standards. However, science teachers, especially those in chemistry settings, have been known to avoid laboratory activities because of fear of legal liability…

  2. Teachers Reflect Standards in Basals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gewertz, Catherine

    2012-01-01

    Dozens of teachers and literacy specialists from across the country hunkered down in Baltimore at round tables, with laptops, pens, and paper, intent on rewriting the collections that wield tremendous influence over the way millions of U.S. children learn literacy skills: the big-name basal readers. Hailing from 18 school districts in 11 states,…

  3. Assessment Data at Your Fingertips: Advances Allow for Timely Reporting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bolch, Matt

    2009-01-01

    The ever-increasing standards of No Child Left Behind regulations and various state assessments have put more pressure on teachers and administrators to monitor the learning process. Fortunately, the advent of technology is allowing teachers to test more often to prepare students for high-stakes tests and for districts to understand results for…

  4. History Teacher Certification Standards in the States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Sarah Drake

    2006-01-01

    During the last twenty years, history educators have noted a sea change in the concern expressed by scholars, policymakers, and the general public about the teaching and learning of history in schools. The 1983 report, "A Nation at Risk", was a catalyst for this movement with its focused attention and support for a core curriculum based…

  5. College Success: A Transitional Course for Freshmen.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopkins, William M.

    A special transitional course (College Success) developed for college freshmen at the State University of New York College at Cortland is described in this report. Designed to meet standard problems of transition from high school to college and deal with detected deficits in learning and studying skills, it offers small group experience on issues…

  6. Small Voices, Big Impact: Preparing Students for Learning and Citizenship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cody, Jennifer L.; McGarry, Lorraine S.

    2012-01-01

    In this article, two teachers from a public school in the United States describe their beliefs about the importance of using student voice as a foundation for increasing student efficacy, recognizing student individuality, and addressing curriculum standards. Sharing examples from their classrooms, the authors illustrate how student voice can help…

  7. Citizenship Education. The Progress of Education Reform. Volume 11, Number 5

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piscatelli, Jennifer

    2010-01-01

    Citizenship education teaches the values, knowledge, skills and sense of commitment that define an active and principled citizen. Many organizations use the terms civic education or civic learning. State civics or government standards generally place a greater emphasis on knowledge of democratic concepts, institutions and rights than on the…

  8. Student Data Portfolios Give Students the Power to See Their Own Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cruz, Heather L.; Zambo, Debby

    2013-01-01

    Every day in classrooms across the country teachers are using district, state, and federal standards and assessments to prove their effectiveness, monitor students' progress, and understand students' strengths and needs. Jobs depend on student achievement, and in today's age of accountability, assessment scores define what students…

  9. Promoting Learning and Achievement through Self-Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andrade, Heidi; Valtcheva, Anna

    2009-01-01

    Criteria-referenced self-assessment is a process during which students collect information about their own performance or progress; compare it to explicitly stated criteria, goals, or standards; and revise accordingly. The authors argue that self-assessment must be a formative type of assessment, done on drafts of works in progress: It should not…

  10. Factors Supporting Implementation of Executive Coaching as Embedded Professional Learning for Superintendents in New York State

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nuciforo, Cheryl A.

    2015-01-01

    The role of school superintendent has become increasingly complex. As school district leaders deal with new curriculum standards, increased accountability, and limited financial resources, they are in need of quality professional development tailored to their needs. This qualitative study explores personal, cultural, and structural factors that…

  11. A Graduate-Level Survey of Futures Studies: A Curriculum Development Project. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, David C.; Hunt, Ronald L.

    An introductory graduate level course curriculum for Futures Studies was conceived, designed, and tested within the Cybernetic Systems Program and the Instructional Technology Department, School of Education, California State University, San Jose. The curriculum consists of a series of 15 learning modules including 2 devoted to a standard study…

  12. Build Skills by Doing History

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Monte-Sano, Chauncey

    2012-01-01

    No Child Left Behind has profoundly limited the teaching of history over the past 10 years. Now, the Common Core State Standards offers an opportunity to reverse this decline by giving history a more prominent place in the school curriculum alongside literacy goals. Learning history and argumentative writing is key to developing analytical ways of…

  13. Community Arts: (Re) Contextualizing the Narrative of Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schlemmer, Ross H.

    2017-01-01

    Education in the United States is often characterized by testing and standardized outcomes, and bears little relevance to the culture and the community that surrounds both students and teachers. Conversely, community arts connect the philosophies of art and education to the larger spheres of culture and community. The community thus becomes an…

  14. Community Building at Honors Programs in Continental Europe

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brinkel, Nico; van Rees, Floris; Ruis, Margit; Sloots, Florian

    2015-01-01

    Many universities in the United States and Europe offer honors programs to meet the demands of gifted and intelligent students. One of the standard goals of these programs is to build an intellectual learning community. Establishing a community can be difficult because it requires that students show an active attitude and initiative. Many…

  15. Examining Parents' Experiences in a Standards-Based Mathematics Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blume, Deborah

    2012-01-01

    Recent efforts to reform mathematics education in the United States have caused confusion for those at home. Parents and caregivers who learned math through traditional approaches are unsure how to help their children with math taught in unfamiliar ways (Peressini, 1998; Remillard & Jackson, 2006). Many educational researchers believe that, in…

  16. Best Known Problem Solving Strategies in "High-Stakes" Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Dae S.

    2011-01-01

    In its mathematics standards, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) states that problem solving is an integral part of all mathematics learning and exposure to problem solving strategies should be embedded across the curriculum. Furthermore, by high school, students should be able to use, decide and invent a wide range of strategies.…

  17. Mathematical Rigor in the Common Core

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hull, Ted H.; Balka, Don S.; Miles, Ruth Harbin

    2013-01-01

    A whirlwind of activity surrounds the topic of teaching and learning mathematics. The driving forces are a combination of changes in assessment and advances in technology that are being spurred on by the introduction of content in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice. Although the issues are certainly complex, the same forces…

  18. Cultivating Primary Students' Scientific Thinking through Sustained Teacher Professional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Roxanne Greitz; Curwen, Margaret Sauceda; White-Smith, Kimberly A.; Calfee, Robert C.

    2015-01-01

    While the United States' National Research Council (NRC 2012) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS 2013) advocate children's engagement in active science learning, elementary school teachers in the US indicate lack of time to teach science regularly because of (1) school and district pressure to focus on English language arts and…

  19. Apps-olutely Perfect! Apps to Support Common Core in the History/Social Studies Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waters, Stewart; Kenna, Joshua; Bruce, Darrian

    2016-01-01

    The inclusion of technology in the classroom is an increasingly important feature of effective instruction. The implementation of Common Core Standards in many states also requires teachers to consider new pedagogical strategies to support meaningful learning. This article explores the intersection between technology demands and curricular change…

  20. A Standards-Based Thematic Unit: "Crictor"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coblin, Mary Payne; Huss, Dorothy; Kirk, Bonnie; Lonneman, Melissa; Melville, Claire

    1998-01-01

    This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). To this end, the Center provides professional support for foreign language…

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