Author: National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment (U.S.)

Publisher: Department of Education

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

This volume reports on the Case Study Project, an initiative that evaluates the experiences of math and science teachers across the United States and includes levels of schooling and achievement levels. The report focuses on typical public schools in the United States at three levels: elementary, junior high, and senior high with the intent of creating a composite profile of typical schools. The volume is divided into five chapters: "Rationale for the Study,""The Development and Implementation of Education Standards in the United States,""Individual Differences and the United States Education System,""The Role of School in United States Adolescents' Lives," and "Teachers and the Teaching Profession in the United States." Results show that the typical school had adopted curriculum standards or guidelines proposed by state departments of education, rather than by a national body. One exception to this was the influential set of national guidelines developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Despite the general interest in standards, the choices made by parents, teachers, and students reflected many values, of which the desire for independence was one of the strongest. Students who were surveyed exhibited high optimism, especially those students from middle- class families. (RJM)