Improving Education Through Standards-based Reform PDF Download

Author: Milbrey Wallin McLaughlin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Standards-based reform calls for the setting of challenging standards in academic subject areas as an important means of improving student achievement. In 1994, Congress passed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which enacted the education goals into law and provided resources for the development of standards and assessments. This report offers recommendations for the implementation of standards-based reform and outlines possible consequences for policy changes. It summarizes both the vision and intentions of standards-based reform and the arguments of its critics. Recommendations regarding the following elements in a system of standards and assessments are offered: content standards, performance standards, opportunity-to-learn standards, and assessments. The report advocates a cautious, "learn-as-you-go" approach to implementing standards-based education reform. Suggestions include: (1) conduct ongoing research on standards-based education; (2) establish a national or quasi-national organization to inform standards-based efforts across disciplines and states; and (3) address systemic inequities. A glossary of terms is included. (LMI)

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309057892
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
In the movement toward standards-based education, an important question stands out: How will this reform affect the 10% of school-aged children who have disabilities and thus qualify for special education? In Educating One and All, an expert committee addresses how to reconcile common learning for all students with individualized education for "one"â€"the unique student. The book makes recommendations to states and communities that have adopted standards-based reform and that seek policies and practices to make reform consistent with the requirements of special education. The committee explores the ideas, implementation issues, and legislative initiatives behind the tradition of special education for people with disabilities. It investigates the policy and practice implications of the current reform movement toward high educational standards for all students. Educating One and All examines the curricula and expected outcomes of standards-based education and the educational experience of students with disabilitiesâ€"and identifies points of alignment between the two areas. The volume documents the diverse population of students with disabilities and their school experiences. Because approaches to assessment and accountability are key to standards-based reforms, the committee analyzes how assessment systems currently address students with disabilities, including testing accommodations. The book addresses legal and resource implications, as well as parental participation in children's education.

Author: Linda R. Vogel
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 1607099837
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Standards-based education (SBE) has been the dominant educational reform movement since the early 1980s, reinforced by federal and state accountability systems. This book examines the efforts of educational leaders in implementing SBE to improve student achievement in a variety of demographic contexts but with common challenges. Four stages of SBE implementation are identified that focus on strong district leadership of the articulation of how SBE can benefit students, an investment in collaborative structures and teacher training, and the facilitation of dialogue among all educational stakeholders. The descriptions of leadership actions and educator development at each stage can serve as a guide for educators and policy makers to assess which stage schools and districts are in and what steps can be taken to effectively move SBE reform efforts forward. The reflective questions for district, school, and teacher leaders at each stage can facilitate the dialogues that can ensure that SBE reform supports changes in classroom instruction that improve the learning opportunities and educational outcomes of all students.

Author: Morgan Polikoff
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 9781682536124
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Beyond Standards highlights the structural conditions that have undermined the success of the standards movement and challenges us to confront them. The book offers an impassioned argument about the ways that our decentralized educational systems undermine the pursuit of educational equity and excellence. Morgan Polikoff applies a wide array of quantitative and qualitative data to provide a pointed critique of the US educational system. He addresses why standards have failed, whether standards-based reform can be salvaged, and what we can do to improve teaching and learning at scale across America's 13,000 school districts. Polikoff argues that no amount of tinkering can fix standards. Rather, we need to tackle the big, structural issues, such as decentralization. The author identifies curriculum reform as a high-leverage strategy for making meaningful progress at scale and emphasizes that states need to play a greater role in evaluating and recommending high-quality curriculum materials. Beyond Standards proposes a new, progressive vision that emphasizes the central role of states in challenging the antiquated, segregating structures that have thwarted educational improvement.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309172861
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.

Author: Adam Gamoran
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815730349
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the latest in more than two decades of federal efforts to raise educational standards and an even longer stream of initiatives to improve education for poor children. What lessons can we draw from these earlier efforts to help NCLB achieve its goals? In Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap, leading scholars in sociology, economics, psychology, and education policy take on this critical question. Armed with the latest data and up-to-date research syntheses, the authors show that standards-based reform has had some positive effects, particularly in the area of teacher quality. Moreover, some of the critics' greatest fears have not been realized: for example, retention rates have not shot upward. Yet the overall pace of improvement has been slow, owing in part to poor implementation. Based on these findings, the contributors offer recommendations for the implementation and impending reauthorization of NCLB. These proposals, such as national testing and a rethinking of achievement targets, are sure to be at the center of the upcoming debate. Contributors include Thomas Dee, Laura Desimone, George Farkas, Barbara Foorman, Brian Jacob, Robert M. Hauser, Paul Hill, Tom Loveless, Meredith Phillips, Andrew C. Porter, and Thomas Smith.

Author: Alfie Kohn
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618083459
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Arguing against the tougher standards rhetoric that marks the current education debate, the author of No Contest and Punished by Rewards writes that such tactics squeeze the pleasure out of learning. Reprint.

Author: Lawrence B. Joseph
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780962675560
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
"Amid widespread concern that schools are failing to prepare students for workforce participation, higher education, and the economic and technological challenges of the twenty-first century, public school reform efforts across the nation have focused increasingly on standards, performance, and accountability. A particularly critical question involves improving educational opportunities for children in poverty and for other ""at-risk"" students who represent an increasing proportion of public school enrollment.Education Policy for the 21st Century examines a range of key issues in standards-based education reform. Contributors focus on educational trends and issues in metropolitan Chicago, state education policy in Illinois, lessons of Chicago school reform, and standards-based, systemic reform in other states. The volume also includes chapters on standards and assessment in school accountability systems, effects of school spending on student achievement, and ""building-level"" obstacles to urban school reform.Presenting valuable data and a variety of perspectives, this book illuminates both the challenges and opportunities presented by standards-based education reform."

Author: Joel I. Klein
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 087609521X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309056922
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
In February, 1996, representatives of departments of education and major teacher education colleges in 39 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Department of Defense met at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. to identify and discuss issues surrounding the preparation and credentialing of science teachers. Central to this symposium were the criteria identified by the National Science Education Standards for effective science teaching and effective professional development for science teachers. This synopsis is intended to encourage reflection by participants and their colleagues at the state level on the issues identified, reactions to those issues from a variety of perspectives, and strategies for addressing those issues as outlined by others. Responses include: (1) "The Need for Scientifically Literate Teachers" (Bruce Alberts); (2) "The Need for Reform in State Policy" (William Randall); (3) "The Need for Reform in Teacher Preparation Programs" (Robert Watson); (4) "Implications of the Standards for Teacher Preparation and Certification" (Pascal Forgione); (4) "Response to Dr. Forgione" (Angelo Collins); (5) "The Standards: A Guide for Systemic Reform" (Rodger Bybee); (6) "The Standards: A Guide for Professional Development" (Susan Loucks-Horsley); (7) "The Montana Systemic Teacher Education Preparation Project" (Robert Briggs and Elizabeth Charron); (8) "The Louisiana Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers" (Kerry Davidson, William Deese, Linda Ramsey, and Carolyn Talton); (9) "The Connecticut Science Education Assessment Program" (Michal Lomask and Raymond Pecheone); (10) "Reflections on Pre-service Education and Teachers' Needs" (William Badders and Celeste Pea); (11) "Response to the Teachers' Comments" (Arthur Wise); (12) "A Science Educator's Perspective on Teacher Education" (Paul Kuerbis); (13) "The Role of Undergraduate Science Courses in Teacher Preparation" (Patricia Simpson); (14) "A Principal's Perspective on the K-12 School's Role in Preparing Teachers" (Mary Ann Chung); (15) "A Perspective on the State's Role: Motivation and Policy" (William Randall); (16) "Concern, Collaboration, Coordination, and Communication" (Jane Butler Kahle); (17) "Response to Dr. Butler Kahle from the State Perspective" (Terry Janicki); and (18) "Closing Remarks and Challenge for Next Steps" (Virginia Pilato). (ASK)