It's one of those assumptions of the English teaching game that students must learn and store up vocabulary as a precondition of tackling literature or history or any of those fields that feature big words. How, some ask, could a child read a challenging passage if he or she didn't understand those key, usually multisyllabic, words often sprinkled…

"Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups" examines the educational progress and challenges students face in the United States by race/ethnicity. This report shows that, over time, students in the racial/ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska…

Across the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast Region there is growing interest in strengthening the presence of online learning in all public schools to help equalize education opportunities for all students and prepare students for a digital future. For instance, the North Carolina General Assembly has required that the state transition to…

Strategic thinking is a skill needed by leaders at all levels of the organization. In this qualitative study, 10 experienced ministers were interviewed and identified the characteristics that were most important to the development of their expertise. The eight key experiences contributing to the development of the ability to think strategically…

Despite the clear long-term benefits of spaced practice, students and teachers often choose massed practice. Whether learners actually fail to appreciate the benefits of spacing is, however, open to question. Early studies (e.g., Zechmeister & Shaughnessy, 1980) found that participants' judgments of learning were higher after massed than after…

This report summarizes recommendations from NCTM, NRC, CCSSM, NMAP, and IES to guide early numeracy instruction for elementary age students in general and special education classroom settings. We highlight common threads among general and special education research recommendations and provide a numeracy intervention curriculum model connecting…

This first Japanese twin study of early literacy development investigated the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence individual differences in prereading skills in 238 pairs of twins at 42 months of age. Twin pairs were individually tested on measures of phonological awareness, "kana" letter name/sound knowledge,…

High-stakes assessments have been a major factor in education reform and student success in the 21st century. Assessments are used to measure a student's ability to transfer classroom learning to formalized assessments. In the state of Texas, legislative policy was implemented to ensure that all fifth and eighth graders are prepared for proceeding…

The Wake County Public School System's (WCPSS) retention rate has declined for the fifth year in a row. The vast majority of WCPSS' students are promoted to the next grade level at the end of each school year. In 2011-12, only 3.4% of WCPSS students were retained in grade. While only a small percentage of students are retained each year, this…

Apex Learning is the largest provider of secondary digital curriculum in Houston Independent School District (HISD). Introduced in January 2010 through Graduation Laboratories (Grad Labs) located at each high school, the program has grown from providing seniors with opportunities to recover credits required for graduation to providing secondary…

It has been almost 10 years since one of the greatest frauds in the history of physics was uncovered, namely, the case of Hendrik Schon. This case provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss scientific integrity and scientific misconduct with both undergraduate and graduate science students. This article explains the scientific data at the heart…

Methods and teaching tools have been researched to determine if they prove to be successful in effectively teaching the underprepared. This study was conducted to compare the differences in the utilization of alternative labeling on study guides to determine if the usage affects the outcome on participant's test scores. A quasi-experimental design…

What can be learned from the college transcripts of beginning postsecondary students who first enrolled in the 2003-04 academic year and were followed over a 6-year period ending in 2009? The Web Tables presented in this report provide an overview of classes taken and credits earned by a nationwide sample of first-time beginning postsecondary…

Teaching students to practice independently is an important part of a music teacher's work. Yet, many common techniques used to teach and enforce student practicing, such as practice charts and performance tests, can backfire, causing students to practice inefficiently or lose their love of music. In search of a method of teaching practicing that…

Unlike many other high-stakes exams which test students only at the end of a course, the English A levels use a modular format where students are allowed to resit past units within the course. Since the introduction of resits for A levels in 2000, the A level results have been improving significantly and resits are seen as the main reason for the…