Test-based accountability systems that attach high stakes to standardized test results have raised a number of issues on educational assessment and accountability. Do these high-stakes tests measure student achievement accurately? How can policymakers and educators attach the right consequences to the results of these tests? And what kinds of tradeoffs do these testing policies introduce? This book responds to the growing emphasis on high-stakes testing and offers recommendations for more-effective test-based accountability systems.
This book tells the story of six secondary schools that have succeeded in eliminating or dramatically shrinking the achievement gap between whites and disadvantaged black and Hispanic students. It recounts the stories of the University Park Campus School (UPCS) in Worcester, the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, Amistad Academy in New Haven, the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, the KIPP Academy in the Bronx, and the SEED school in Washington, D.C.
This book by best-selling author Thomas Armstrong offers classroom strategies for ensuring the academic success of students in five special-needs categories: learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders.
The third edition of this established classic text reference builds upon the strengths of its very popular predecessors. Organized as a broadly useful textbook Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy, 3rd edition maintains its emphasis on basics, while updating the examples to include recent results from the scientific literature. The third edition includes new chapters on single molecule detection, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, novel probes and radiative decay engineering. Includes a link to Springer Extras to download files reproducing all book artwork, for easy use in lecture slides. This is an essential volume for students, researchers, and industry professionals in biophysics, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioengineering, biology and medicine.
How do you judge the quality of a school, a district, a teacher, a student? By the test scores, of course. Yet for all the talk, what educational tests can and can’t tell you, and how scores can be misunderstood and misused, remains a mystery to most. The complexities of testing are routinely ignored, either because they are unrecognized, or because they may be—well, complicated. Inspired by a popular Harvard course for students without an extensive mathematics background, Measuring Up demystifies educational testing—from MCAS to SAT to WAIS, with all the alphabet soup in between. Bringing statistical terms down to earth, Daniel Koretz takes readers through the most fundamental issues that arise in educational testing and shows how they apply to some of the most controversial issues in education today, from high-stakes testing to special education. He walks readers through everyday examples to show what tests do well, what their limits are, how easily tests and scores can be oversold or misunderstood, and how they can be used sensibly to help discover how much kids have learned.
"Marzano concisely and effectively shows how his three domains of learning and the New Taxonomy can be operationalized for teachers and administrators. This book integrates objectives, instructional approaches, and assessment options so that these critical aspects of teaching are aligned to promote student learning." —James McMillan, Professor and Chair, Foundations of Education Virginia Commonwealth University A hands-on guide for applying the New Taxonomy to develop meaningful and targeted educational objectives and assessments. Translating mandated standards into concrete objectives and then creating appropriate tasks to assess student learning of those objectives can be a challenge for educators. This practical resource provides a step-by-step process that shows readers how to make designing educational objectives and creating appropriate assessment tasks a part of their day-to-day practice. Written as a stand-alone volume, Designing and Assessing Educational Objectives reviews the framework and basic principles of Marzano′s New Taxonomy and illustrates how educators can utilize Marzano′s model to assess student performance on a broad scale or for a specific unit of instruction or grading period. The book explores objectives and tasks for each of the six levels of mental processing—retrieval, comprehension, analysis, knowledge utilization, metacognition, and self-system thinking—and features: Benchmark statements that provide a starting point for the process Step-by-step models, helpful diagrams, and useful charts Numerous detailed examples from multiple subject areas and grade levels Application of the taxonomy′s three domains of knowledge: information, mental procedures, and psychomotor procedures Comprehensive and profound, this resource is essential for teachers, school and district administrators, curriculum directors, and assessment specialists seeking to apply standards to curriculum and instruction for measurable results.
The New York Times bestselling debut novel from acclaimed children's author Katherine Hannigan is both very funny and extraordinarily moving. Who is Ida B. Applewood? She is a fourth grader like no other, living a life like no other, with a voice like no other, and her story will resonate long after you have put this book down. How does Ida B cope when outside forces—life, really—attempt to derail her and her family and her future? She enters her Black Period, and it is not pretty. But then, with the help of a patient teacher, a loyal cat and dog, her beloved apple trees, and parents who believe in the same things she does (even if they sometimes act as though they don't), the resilience that is the very essence of Ida B triumph...and Ida B. Applewood takes the hand that is extended and starts to grow up. This modern classic is a great choice for independent reading.
