In this essay, the authors explore the structures, processes, and messages that accountability reforms communicate about the goals and means of coming to know history. In other words, how do existing history standards and formal curricula officialize certain orientations toward historical knowledge and traditions through which that knowledge is taught? Specifically, they begin by examining the "National History Standards" and the "History and Social Science Standards of Learning...
Topics: ERIC Archive, National Standards, Social Sciences, Academic Standards, Instructional Materials,...
All public schools are required to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in order to avoid stiff penalties, per the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This presents a unique challenge for comprehensive career and technical (CTE) schools. While there is an emphasis on the CTE path that students are interested in pursuing, academic areas must be mastered with proficiency in order for a school to be successful (in this case, as defined by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or (PSSA)). In...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Vocational Schools, Teaching Models, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement,...
This paper examines how the personal qualifications required to practice art therapy can be integrated into the American Art Therapy Association Education Standards. A review of current and historical documents demonstrates the importance of personal qualifications of art therapists. The author proposes a link between education standards and personal qualifications by identifying the latter as specific competencies. The article concludes with recommendations for how to proceed with linking...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Art Therapy, Qualifications, Personnel Evaluation, Competence, Credentials, Academic...
The rush of jobs from the United States to other nations has been explained by the Bush administration as a win-win situation for both technically advanced and developing countries. The free-market argument claims that the more sophisticated, complex jobs generated by an avalanche of new industries will be won by a well-trained, highly educated labor force, while the less-complex jobs will be left to workers in less-developed nations. If this free-trade utopia were to emerge, the responsibility...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Global Approach, Academic Standards, Labor Force Development, Educational Change,...
Many school leaders today, not to mention many teachers, view "accountability" as a loathsome political monster. Looming over educators, insensitive to the many problems they face, it wields the carrot of rewards in one hand and the club of sanctions in the other. Some educators even blame accountability for perverting their noble purposes, twisting their sensibilities, and corrupting their integrity. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability system seeks to improve all...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Instructional Leadership, Accountability, Federal Legislation, Educational...
In this essay, the authors discuss what it might take to develop knowledge that can help education policymakers and schools attain their goals. In reading both the research and the current policy environment, the authors identify several fundamental reasons why it is so difficult to develop the knowledge needed to inform policies that might enable standards-based reform to succeed. First is an inadequate conception of the goal of the system and how proficiency should be measured. Second,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Policy, Educational Research, Academic Standards, Educational Objectives,...
Diminishing "standards" and "alignment" to overused buzzwords or superficial checklists masks the dire need for truly systematic and operational standards-based alignment in science education. In this article, the authors report the findings of an ongoing collaborative effort between cognitive researchers and urban science teachers to align everyday teaching with standards, tests, and research-based pedagogy. They begin with an analysis of how the width vs. depth dilemma in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Science Instruction, Curriculum Development, Science Teachers, Science Achievement,...
Issues such as financial autonomy, academic autonomy and administrative autonomy are crucial to the effective management of university education globally. For many years Nigerian universities have complained of being impeded in these areas because of the supervisory role of the National Universities Commission (NUC) which tend to encroach on their autonomy. In order to confirm this complaint and profer solution 280 university administrators and 100 university union officials from the 10...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Educational Administration, Academic Freedom, Institutional...
In this article, the author answers the question: "Why do Americans love to reform the public schools?" His answer has three parts. First, there is an old and persistent cultural strain in American history, derived from many sources, that seeks human perfection and sees education and schooling as essential to that perfectibility. That goal is high enough to guarantee that most people will not reach it. This means that numerous citizens at any point bemoan the quality of the public...
Topics: ERIC Archive, United States History, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement, Educational Change,...
This paper documents the development of a unique institution in Canadian higher education, the university college in British Columbia. From its roots as a comprehensive community college, the university college was confronted with numerous legislative and policy changes which culminated in its current claim to be called a regional university. In support of this assertion, a number of issues are addressed, including the role and mandate of the university college, academic freedom and tenure,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Community Colleges, Universities, Undergraduate Study, Academic...
Helping schools create environments where all students can learn is a worthwhile mission for schools big and small. Both multi and single site districts agree that providing equitable and meaningful learning opportunities for every student is essential, but find this challenging and difficult. What are the systemic factors that limit educators in considering new educational paradigms that might structure schools differently, increase learning outcomes for a wider spectrum of students, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Educational Environment, School Size, Change Strategies,...
This article describes a successful alternative school located in northwest Wyoming. Students who attend this school need an atmosphere that is accepting of their differences and allows them to express themselves without fear of ridicule or punishment. These children are looking for a safe, secure place to complete their education, a place where their unique differences are respected. Bear Lodge is one such alternative high school. Students at Bear Lodge share their perspective and provide a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Nontraditional Education, Dropouts, High Schools, Program Effectiveness, Dropout...
There has been an increase on the number of applicants and the average SAT scores of the admitted students to colleges and universities in the United States. The total number of applicants may increase for purely external reasons, such as more students graduating from high school or more students reading good things about a particular college, but the number may also be increasing because admission offices are driving it up by fair means and foul means. Similarly, SAT scores may be going up...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Entrance Examinations, College Admission, Higher Education, Rating Scales,...
Elementary students perceive scientists in stereotypical ways. This study examined the influence of historical, nonfiction trade books on children's images of scientists. Of the 13 self-contained third grade classrooms (n = 156), six randomly assigned teachers were instructed to read one trade book each week for six weeks to supplement their modular/kit-based instruction (n = 72). The other seven classrooms received only modular/kit-based instruction (n = 84). In the evaluation of their...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Childrens Literature, Nonfiction, Books, Grade 3, Elementary School Students, Student...
This study examined the use of science professors acting as mentors to enhance the science competency of early childhood educators. Findings indicate that mentor-mentee dyad interactions varied; however, mentors were able to assist with curriculum, science content, and resources. Although standards-based units were developed, there was little "real" science inquiry present. Findings did not support a higher-quality product that involved a mentoring relationship versus a nonmentoring...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Mentors, Science Instruction, College Faculty, Teacher...
This article explores the theoretical foundations and practical application of Teaching for Intellectual and Emotional Learning (TIEL), a pedagogical model that codifies a powerful way of thinking about the intellectual and social-emotional processes that underlie teaching and learning. It is is organized in three sections, and begins by offering a rationale for a new pedagogy. It goes on to discuss the theoretical foundations of the TIEL model. Finally it looks at contributions to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Role, Teacher Educators, Learning Theories, Educational Theories, Knowledge...
Health educators are providing students with the health knowledge and health skills that are prerequisites for becoming health literate and using assessment tools to demonstrate effectiveness. In the school health educators' world, accountability equates to improved student knowledge and skills. To expect them to be held accountable for students' behavior would be professional suicide. In this paper, the authors intend to show how and why educators have adopted a standards-based philosophy of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comprehensive School Health Education, Public Health, Accountability, Educational...
Randall Eberts explores the role of teachers unions in public education. He focuses particularly on how collective bargaining agreements shape the delivery of educational services, how unions affect both student achievement and the cost of providing quality education, and how they support educational reform efforts. Eberts's synthesis of the empirical research concludes that union bargaining raises teachers' compensation, improves their working conditions, and enhances their employment...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Standardized Tests, Collective Bargaining, Educational Quality, Unions, Educational...
Student teaching may require student teachers to address the demands of two masters that often have very different expectations and philosophies. They are caught in a bind of being expected to implement methods advocated in university coursework while also being expected to fit into the classroom to which they are assigned. This bind is further complicated by the tensions inherent in school reform efforts. As schools try to meet the needs of every child, they have adopted all manner of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Student Teachers, Educational Environment, Academic Standards,...
The hyper-regulation of education (and most recently the teacher preparation component of education) thrives on the premise that any perceived deficiencies in the educational system can be alleviated by reducing differences among the ways in which people are educated and by demanding adherence to standards. In its impact, however, this simplification has an opposite effect. Rather than raising expectations, a reliance on standards as the solution to perceived ineffectiveness has disconnected...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Case Studies, Academic Standards, State Standards, Instructional Effectiveness,...
The purpose of this study was to validate the instrument, Administrator Dispositions Index (ADI), that measures the dispositions of effective school leaders. The ADI could be used to assess administrator candidate dispositions and to integrate dispositions of effective school leaders into the curricula of administrator preparation programs. (Contains 6 tables.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Education, Administrator Characteristics, Administrator Role,...
This article deals with the increasing academic pressure facing five-year-old children who are in kindergarten schools in the U.S. Part of the reason kindergarten is becoming more and more academic is a growing understanding of the importance of early learning and the capabilities of young children. Proponents of ramping up standards in early elementary education tend to focus on the numbers: more children learning to read or do math sooner must be good. These achievements, however, may come at...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Kindergarten, Young Children, Child Development, Academic Standards, High Risk...
According to a February 9, 2006 "New York Times" story headlined, "Panel Explores Standard Tests for Colleges," a new accountability era is descending upon a resistant higher education domain. The story describes the deliberations of a Bush-appointed commission considering imposition of standardized tests on college students. Ten days earlier, the "Boston Globe" reported that Massachusetts community colleges have a three-year graduation rate of 16 percent. Last...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Colleges, Graduation Rate, Outcomes of Education, Standardized Tests, Accountability,...
The message that college matters is getting through to more and more young people. Young people understand that a middle-class lifestyle increasingly requires at least an associate degree. Yet the percentage of college students actually completing a two- or four-year degree has not increased significantly in more than 30 years. College completion correlates highly with academic preparedness for college-level work. Yet, according to one study, only 32 percent of high school graduates are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Family Income, Family...
To mark New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE) 50th anniversary year, "Connection" invited a small group of visionary commentators to submit short "statements" on the future of New England's economic and civic development, tomorrow's technologies and the changing shape of higher education. This article includes the following "statements": (1) In Search of New NEBHEs (Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson); (2) Demography Is Still Destiny (Peter Francese); (3) New...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Demography, Futures (of Society), Economic Development, Human...
In this article, the author describes a key challenge facing liberal arts presidents: to accommodate a reciprocal relationship between thinking and doing. Achieving a continuum between thought and action has never been easy--on the academic side is the fear of diluting intellectual rigor matched on the practical side by the fear of paralysis. Increasing specialization and narrowing of academic disciplines over the past decades has deepened this divide. Moreover, academic rigor is increasingly...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Liberal Arts, Colleges, College Presidents, College Curriculum, Curriculum Design,...
Higher education authorities are embracing the latest movement in education known as "P-16." Its proponents argue that colleges have operated too long as a separate realm from America's public schools. As a result, many high school graduates are not properly prepared for college, despite the unrelenting national push in public schools for rigorous standards and tougher tests. That standards gap, the P-16 proponents contend, is burdening colleges with too much remedial training and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Public Schools, Academic Standards, College Preparation, College...
With current considerations for reauthorization of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, national attention remains focused upon public education student outcomes. The purpose of this manuscript was threefold: to review the historical background of the standards reform movement; to discuss a research project to redesign program content and align standards in an EC-12 Special Education certification preparation program; and to discuss survey results concerning pre-service and experienced teacher...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Academic Standards, Program Content, Professional Associations,...
With the mandate of "No Child Left Behind," high-stakes achievement testing is firmly in place in every state. The few studies that have explored the effectiveness of high-stakes testing using NAEP scores have yielded mixed results. This study considered state demographic characteristics for each NAEP testing period in reading, writing, mathematics, and science from 1992 through 2002, in an effort to examine the relation of high-stakes testing policies to achievement and changes in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Academic Achievement, High Stakes Tests, Standardized Tests,...
The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, it reports on a study of the distribution of reform-oriented instructional practices among Black, White and Hispanic students, and the relationship between those practices and student achievement. The study identified many similarities in instruction across student groups, but there were some differences, such as Black and Hispanic students being assessed with multiple-choice tests significantly more often than were White students. Using...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Responsibility, Educational Change, Change Strategies, Hispanic American...
This integrative review of literature on online educational best practices is intended to provide a quick reference for those interested in designing online business courses and programs. Primarily American in its perspective, this review may be helpful for business schools seeking optimal online course designs that foster quality learning experiences comparable in outcomes to traditional methods. Paramount in this review is the emphasis on consistency, cohesiveness, and assessment. (Contains 2...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Online Courses, Business Administration Education, Literature Reviews, Instructional...
According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (1989, 2000), students at all levels should be exposed to geometry and measurement topics. Standards documents have identified the importance of primary school students selecting appropriate units for measurements in one- and two-dimensional space (NCTM 1989, 2000). This paper provides teachers with an overview of the research regarding students' understanding of one- and two-dimensional units and presents an activity that will...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Instruction, Geometry, Measurement, Academic...
It's become a truism that Australian higher education nowadays is in a state of perpetual change. The next round of changes to research and teaching funding, however, will permanently alter the face of the sector. We asked five of Australia's most prominent Vice-Chancellors to anticipate the future face of higher education. NTEU's Carolyn Allport responds. (Contains 5 endnotes.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Foreign Countries, Academic Achievement, Academic Standards,...
Because teachers' efforts are central to the success of standards-based reform, it behooves the policy community to look carefully at the beliefs about instruction that are rooted in this reform theory. Building on teacher-centric research on standards-based reform and ideas about teaching practice from research on multicultural education, this paper focuses on the assumptions embedded in Washington state's approach. Survey data from a representative sample of teachers suggest that the state's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multicultural Education, Educational Change, Accountability, State Standards,...
The "No Child Left Behind" legislation requires states to classify schools based on students meeting the state's academic standards. A combination of factors, including scores on state specific tests and nationally normed tests, can result in a school being awarded a low classification or a high classification. In the authors' state, schools in the low classification are labeled "underperforming," and schools that are persistently classified as underperforming can eventually...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Effectiveness, Federal Legislation, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement,...
In this paper we sought to understand how teachers chose to integrate a hybrid online education program in their classrooms, how students responded to this choice, and how students' experiences were influenced by the integration model chosen by the teachers. Data collected via classroom observations, personal interviews, and focus groups suggest four integration models: curriculum-based, activities-based, standards-based, and media-based. We discuss these models in the context of hybrid online...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adventure Education, Focus Groups, Online Courses, Computer Uses in Education,...
The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which cognitive and non-cognitive measures predict academic success for conditionally-admitted students enrolled in a comprehensive public university. Stepwise multiple regression analyses reveal that one cognitive variable (high school grade point average) and two non-cognitive measures (realistic self-appraisal and understanding and coping with racism) are the three best predictors of first semester grade point average (GPA) for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Predictor Variables, Academic Achievement, College Admission, Academic Standards, At...
Facilitating participatory processes in graduate leadership classrooms appears to be a natural precursor to students modeling the development of democratic environments in their future work. Doing so, however, might require the involvement of students in a variety of activities heretofore the domain of professors. One example of such a democratic activity is the involvement of students in the establishment of course assessment criteria. This study was designed to gain perspectives from students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Evaluation Criteria, Instructional Leadership, Educational...
In this article, the authors explore whether educational systems have the institutional capacity to implement comprehensive, systemic reform, as envisioned in legislation such as No Child Left Behind. Drawing upon evidence from various state-level reform initiatives, the authors highlight the ways in which systemic reform appears to positively impact organizational change. However, they caution that systemic reform initiatives are uneven across the states and may produce unintended...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Federal Programs, Academic Standards,...
This article examines in detail the Ohio WINS (Writing Institute Network for Success), a program whose goal is to provide continuing education for teachers. The aim of the program is to use up-to-date research to help teachers improve students' critical thinking and to better prepare them for both the rigorous Ohio Graduation Tests (OGTs) and college. With the Ohio Academic Standards at the heart of its inception, the summer program immerses the teachers in current writing and educational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Summer Programs, Educational Theories, Continuing Education, Academic Standards,...
One of the key themes of the 2006 Perkins Act was strengthening connections between secondary and postsecondary education. While that idea was certainly not new to career and technical education (CTE) programs, there were several new elements in the legislation. The most systemic, and the one that has gotten the most attention, is the new requirement for "programs of study." This article takes a closer look at programs of study and focuses on the new requirement for programs of study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, Vocational Education, Articulation (Education), Alignment...
Over the past twenty years American education has seen many changes, and most notable have been those related to accountability and assessment. One aspect of these changes has been the movement toward more specified student learning outcomes. In discipline after discipline content standards have been developed outlining that which students should achieve as a result of their schooling. The field of technology education has been no exception. Early in the game, in the 1980's, standards for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Academic Standards, Program Effectiveness, Program...
When asked to demonstrate that they set standards for their higher education qualifications which are equivalent to Australian and international standards, Australian universities typically refer to a range of measures, and many refer to the accreditation of their programs by vocational bodies or registration boards. However, writes the author, this is an inadequate assurance of academic standards. The Australian Universities Quality Agency explicitly does not aim to examine universities'...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Academic Standards, Foreign Countries, Universities, Teachers,...
Our analysis explores the agenda for student learning communicated in interviews with school district officials from four Ontario districts. Using research methods drawn from collective action framing theory, we identified six core frames and one broader frame in the discourse on student learning: (a) measureable academic achievement, (b) personalized preparation for post-secondary destinations, (c) a well-rounded education, (d) personal development, (e) faith/values-based education, (f) social...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Policy Analysis, Foreign Countries, Accountability, Educational Policy, Academic...
Fifty years ago poetry was a key element in the English programme in most secondary schools in New Zealand. Today many teachers avoid teaching poetry for several reasons, one of these being the nature of the assessment of the subject, English, by the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) set up by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). The outcome has been the setting up of a cycle of disadvantage whereby many students may never have the opportunity to study or write...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poetry, National Competency Tests, Language Tests, English Curriculum, Secondary...
Every state in the United States, under the NCLB act, has set state standards and is testing all students in grades 3-8. Students are given printed questions to which they write answers with a pencil on an answer sheet. These written tests are usually given to determine the academic achievements of students. This paper traces the early history of the written examination and the change in the meaning of "standards" from the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century. Although...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Testing, Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, Standard Setting, Measurement,...
Filling the Gap with Innovations is a study of a higher education professional development model used to infuse a teacher education program with technology innovations in order to address curriculum gaps. Professional educators at the university level are not traditionally collaborative. Yet, when an assessment of program alignment to state professional teacher standards identified six areas inadequately addressed by program content, instructors participated in a collaborative process to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education Programs, Educational Change, Professional Development, Educational...
This paper examines an important component of the developing field of education in emergencies: curriculum decision-making processes. The paper argues that in order to fully meet the commitment articulated by the INEE Minimum Standards to provide quality education for all, curricula decisions cannot be ignored or postponed until after a crisis has occurred. Practitioners, advocates, and policy makers in the field of education in emergencies must recognize that in order for quality education to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Design, Educational Quality, Participative Decision Making, Alignment...
This article details a pilot Minimum Standards assessment in Afghan refugee schools supported by the International Rescue Committee's Female Education Program in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. A set of specifically selected, contextualized indicators, based on the global INEE Minimum Standards, served as a tool for teachers and school administrators to look holistically at the quality of education in their schools and as a stimulus for developing actions to further improve the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Quality, Foreign Countries, Refugees, Educational Indicators, Standards,...
High-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs can launch America's future competitiveness through increased student engagement, the innovative integration of traditional academic courses, and by meeting the needs of both employers and the economy as a whole. American students failing to keep pace with their international counterparts have given serious cause for concern as the gap continues to widen despite myriad education reform movements. Recent reform efforts have focused on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Vocational Education, Educational Methods, Emerging Occupations,...