West Ed Web Site Offers Educators Tools and Resources for Common Core
October 2, 2014
West Ed has a new wed site to support educators cope with the demand for providing effective instruction under the guidelines of Common Core. Read More…
Categories for Monitoring
Voter Perceptions of the Common Core Standards
March 21, 2014
Forty-six states and Washington DC have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) first conceived of by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Thirty-five states plan to fully Read More…
The SAT is to be redesigned for 2016
March 10, 2014
The College Board announced a major revision of the SAT college admission test. The redesigned SAT will no longer require an essay, place less emphasis on certain vocabulary, as well as return to the 1600-point scoring scale. This is the second major revision of the SAT in its 88-year history. The College Board’s refurbishment of the SAT is intended to provide greater opportunities for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The College Board is also taking on the test-preparation industry that sells materials and courses at high costs to help students raise their scores. The College Board will offer free online tutorials to help students train for the SAT.
https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/redesign
Balefire Reviews Educational Apps
December 4, 2013
Balfire has produced a web site to help parents and educators make informed decisions when considering the purchase of educational apps. The site strives to be a non-biased and objective source of evidence based information that offers reviews of educational apps that can be searched by subject (Math, Science, English/language arts) as well as by the target age of the app developers (0-3 through 19 up). This can be a useful tool for both the parent and the educator who are confronted with a confusing array of apps purporting to be effective uses of technology in teaching. The reviews examine each program against meeting criteria for effective instructional design.
Criteria include:
- Feedback for Correct Answers
- Error Feedback
- Adapting Difficulty
- Error Remediation
- Mastery-Based Instruction
- Frequent, Meaningful Learner Interaction
- Clearly-Stated Learning Objective
Grade Math and Reading Scores in 2nd Grade Predict Adult Income
May 21, 2013
A study in England, Scotland, and Wales followed 17,000 individuals for 50 years to determine of it was possible to predict adult income based on four variables tracked throughout the student’s life. Read More…
Issues Relating to Value-Added Modeling
October 31, 2012
A special meeting of researchers and experts in the field of value-added modeling (VAM) was held in August 2012 sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The purpose of the Read More…
Food for Thought Talks on Education Practices
August 22, 2012
If you have a few moments and want to watch stimulating discussions on topics in education, visit a web site created for Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. The site offers seven video presentations: Brain-based Education: Fad or Breakthrough, Learning Styles Don’t Exist, Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading, Merit Pay, Teacher Pay, and Value-added Measures, Multi-tasking, and Teaching as an Art or a Science?
Dr. Willingham’s early work focused on the basis of the brain on learning and memory. His current research is centered on the application of cognitive psychology to K-12 education.
http://www.danielwillingham.com/videos.html
An Examination Of Issues Confronting Evidence-Based Practice
May 8, 2012
Evidence-based practice has been defined as a decision-making process that integrates the best available evidence, professional judgment, and client values and contextual factors. Thus far in education, identifying validating practices as Read More…
The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers and Student Outcomes
February 3, 2012
What are the long-term effects of teacher’s impact on a students test scores and the quality of a person’s life? The debate continues about whether value-added modeling is an effective and unbiased tool for assessing a teacher’s impact on Read More…
What impact has NCLB had on student performance?
December 20, 2011
A new analysis of NAEP scores by the Fordham Institute examines the impact of NCLB on student achievement by comparing Texas to national scores. Texas was one of the first states to adopt accountability through high stakes testing. Texas early implementation of the core components of NCLB provides researchers an Read More…