Classroom assessment research in the United States has shifted away from the examination of teacher-made tests, but such tests are still widely used and have an enormous impact on students' educational experiences. Given the major shifts in educational policy in the United States, including the widespread adoption of the Common Core State…

The authors of the Common Core State Standards and publishers of literacy programs focus on an essential aspect of comprehension, the process of drawing inferences. An inference refers to any piece of information that an author does not include in text but expects readers to use to make meaning. Four common inference types are anaphoric,…

We investigated six preservice secondary science teachers' implementation of reform-based science, in particular, their teaching of the "Next Generation Science Standards' (NGSS)" science and engineering practice of "using mathematics and computational thinking." A modified version of the Task Analysis Guide in Science served…

In the U.S., state adopted or developed college- and career-ready mathematics standards, including the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, not only impact districts, students, and their teachers, but also university teacher preparation programs. In order to attain and sustain Common Core's vision of developing mathematically competent…

In this paper, a learning progression for geometric transformations is developed based on research that demonstrates the importance of viewing transformations as functions of the plane. The 5 levels of the progression reflect a student's evolving understanding of transformations as functions and their evolving understanding of the domain of these…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M) aim to engage students in complex mathematical practices, including modeling, reasoning, and argumentation. Currently, little is known about how teachers' daily instruction supports these practices. This study draws upon data from daily logs completed by third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade…

Mathematical modeling has taken on increasing curricular importance in the past decade due in no small measure to the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) identifying modeling as one of the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP 4, CCSSI 2010, p. 7). Although researchers have worked on mathematical modeling (Lesh and Doerr 2003;…

How do we prepare students to become problem-finders, innovators, and entrepreneurs who can thrive in a global society? The Common Core charts a pathway to success, yet we know that checking off each standard one by one will not achieve the kind of results we want. This powerful book by bestselling author Nancy Sulla has the answers. She explains…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice (CCSSI 2010) elevate the ways of thinking used to create mathematical results to the same level of importance as the results themselves. These mathematical habits of mind (MHoM), or "specialized ways of approaching mathematical problems and thinking about mathematical concepts that…

Purposes: This study uses think-alouds and cognitive interviews to provide validity evidence for an online formative assessment--i-Ready Standards Mastery (iSM) mini-assessments--which involves a heavy use of innovative items. iSM mini-assessments are intended to help teachers determine student understanding of each of the on-grade-level Common…

The "TextEvaluator"® text analysis tool is a fully automated text complexity evaluation tool designed to help teachers and other educators select texts that are consistent with the text complexity guidelines specified in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This paper provides an overview of the TextEvaluator measurement approach and…

The most challenging parts of teaching mathematics are engaging students and helping them understand the connections between mathematics concepts. In this volume, you'll find a collection of low floor, high ceiling tasks that will help you do just that, by looking at the big ideas at the fourth-grade level through visualization, play, and…

We report results from the following three analyses of PARCC [Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers] cognitive complexity measures, based on 2014 field test item and task development and field test data. We conducted classification and regression tree analyses using 2014 PARCC field test data to do the following: (1)…

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).…

The author investigated the relationship between aspects of student motivation and performance on mathematical tasks varying in cognitive demand relevant to meeting the expectations of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M). A sample of 479 primarily Latino middle school students completed established survey measures of…