Concern about rigor is not new, but its importance has been raised with the advent of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, the CCSS are only the beginning on a journey to increasing rigor in school. Equally important is the instructional rigor that supports the standards. Instructional rigor focuses on the how--what actually happens in…

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…

"Capstone" is a metaphor used to describe a final achievement that builds upon previous works and encapsulates them. Capstone projects are included in engineering curricula to integrate multi-disciplinary subjects and teach professional skills that are difficult to impart in a traditional lectured course. Since these projects serve to…

"Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adult Learners" offers performance indicators, vignettes, and evaluation tools for instructors. These clearly organized components will help instructors identify the qualities and practices to pursue in their teaching. The standards in this book address planning, instructing, and assessing as the basis…

Teachers are important for the success of students in schools. Research indicates that teachers are the most important in-school factor in determining student achievement. Traditional teacher education programs prepare the majority of new teachers for service in the K-12 school system. While there is empirical support that teacher education can…

The call to ensure that every student, including students with disabilities, graduates from high school well prepared for college and careers is acknowledged by policymakers, professionals and business leaders. This policy brief was developed to provide guidance to state education policy leaders to support the goal of ensuring that students with…

Increased attention on teacher accountability via student achievement gains has brought proposed policy changes which recommend teachers receive performance pay as recognition for effective teaching. In response to growing consensus that teachers' contributions to student learning should be a part of the teacher evaluation process, education…

This study is one of five thematic dissertations investigating the leadership practices of principals leading successful schools serving ELA learners. Schools selected for participation in this study had (a) an open enrollment policy, (b) at least 40% of total enrollment consists of ELL students, (c) has earned a School Performance Framework (SPF)…

High-stakes standardized testing has become ubiquitous in US education. In this article, the authors argue that not only is such testing bad for education, but it also contradicts curriculum and instruction aligned with professional standards promoted by NCTE and innovative educators. Additionally, contradictory to the concept of "no child…

This article describes original research to determine reasons graduate students do not complete requirements for a Master's (M.Ed.) in Middle Level Education degree at the Southeastern University. Since the program's initial cohort the graduation rate has decreased. Program faculty was concerned about the increasing difference between the number…

We investigated the relationship between Chichewa (L1) and English (L2) literacies in Malawi. Through our use of hierarchical linear modeling, we found that cross-language literacy transfer between Chichewa and English did occur, but that the pattern and the strength of the relationships varied depending on the literacy domain (i.e., reading or…

Animations have long been perceived as an effective tool in teaching and learning. While students' reception towards animations has often been studied, there is also literature covering how teachers perceive and incorporate animations into their classes. At a research intensive university in Hong Kong, animations on the topic of university…

This paper explores the interrelationships of the key influences on student satisfaction via multivariate analysis from three groups of university students in two popular private universities in Malaysia. The correlation coefficient and structural model indicated that student satisfaction is influenced not only by academic quality, but also by the…

One central component of a great school system is a clear set of expectations, or standards, that educators help all students reach. In Iowa, that effort is known as the Iowa Core. The Iowa Core represents the statewide academic standards, which describe what students should know and be able to do in math, science, English language arts, and…

The study, "The Impact of Indiana's System of Interim Assessments on Mathematics and Reading," examined the effects of using Diagnostic Assessment Tools (DAT) on mathematics and reading outcomes for students in 59 Indiana schools during the 2009-10 academic year. DAT consists of interim assessment tools--Wireless Generation's mCLASS for…