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This paper investigates engagement (E), alignment (A), and rigor (R) as vital signs of high-quality teacher instruction as measured by the EAR Classroom Visit Protocol, designed by the Institute for Research and Reform in Education (IRRE). Findings indicated that both school leaders and outside raters could learn to score the protocol with adequate reliability. Using observations of 33 English language arts (ELA) teachers and 25 mathematics teachers from four high schools, findings indicated that engagement, alignment, and rigor were all predictive of math and ELA standardized achievement test scores when controlling for the previous year's scores, although some of the associations were marginal. Students' self-reports of their engagement in school were also generally predictive of test scores in models that included perceived academic competence and observed engagement, alignment, or rigor. We discuss the importance of classroom engagement, alignment, and rigor as markers of instructional quality and the utility of the EAR Protocol as a means of assessing instructional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the influence of high school science class size on students' achievement in introductory college science courses and on the variation of teacher practice across class size. Surveys collected information about high school science class experiences from 2754 biology, 3521 chemistry, and 1903 physics students across 36 public and 19 private institutions from 31 different states. The first analysis includes a cross-tabulation of 6 different class sizes and the frequencies of teacher practices reported by students. The second analysis includes a multiple linear regression of class size and student achievement. Results show no differences for pedagogy and student achievement until class sizes fall to 10 or fewer students. These findings suggest that incremental reductions in class size are likely not to have a significant impact on later student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine participation in Career and Technical Education (CTE) using a typology that better reflects the CTE credit-taking experience of all public high school students, and it is based on the several changes in academic requirements that all students need to meet in order to graduate, including those considered CTE students. We argue that the more traditional approach of classifying students as either academic or vocational concentrators does not reflect the current requirements. We propose this typology using restricted data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Our analyses show that the typology provides a more effective means of understanding the credit-taking experience of high school students than analyses based on dichotomous, CTE versus academic classifications. About 17% of all high school students complete high-intensity CTE in addition to their academic requirements. Although CTE has historically targeted low-income and special populations, our study reveals high levels of participation among higher income students and those with parents with higher levels of educational achievement. Positive results were also found for academic outcomes, such as a high rate of high-intensity CTE participation among students who were also enrolled in advanced mathematics and, to a lesser extent, in advanced science classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of the educational policies and practices reforms on public schools in the U.S. It examines how the educational system in the country was influenced by the compelling and dystopian political narratives constructed in 1980s, as told in the document entitled "A Nation at Risk," and the film "Teachers." Furthermore, it explains the meaning and concept of dystopian narrative to understand how it shaped the education system in the country.

This study investigates how comments that Mexican nationals made about U.S. schools influenced Mexican immigrant adolescents' perceptions of and experiences in U.S. schools. I investigated the diffusion of this information at three specific points in time-prior to immigration, upon entry to the U.S., and after a few years of living in the U.S. and attending schools here. By sharing information across borders, these Mexican immigrant students and their co-nationals formed a transnational social space, where immigrant children established and maintained productive ties between their country of origin and their receiving country. The themes that these transnational messages revealed included issues of cost of education, concerns with academic quality, value of the English language, social struggles, and racial confrontations in U.S. schools. This article also addresses how U.S. teachers can develop a teaching agenda that addresses the concerns revealed by these transnational messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study approach was used to examine the perspectives of three high school department chairs and their work at providing instructional supervision to the teachers in their departments: math, science, and social studies. We sought to discover the beliefs and practices of three department chairs in one high school, located in a southeastern state. From interview data, three primary findings emerged: 1) The high school department chairs experienced role conflict and ambiguity relative to providing instructional supervision; 2) The meaning of instructional supervision for the department chairs was intuitive and reflected in differentiated approaches; and 3) The constraints of instructional supervision include time and lack of emphasis. The findings indicate that the department chairs were not prepared for the practice of instructional supervision in that the participants received little instruction to enact the role of instructional supervisor, and the participants were compelled to create their own roles given the lack of direction by the principal. The participants indicated instructional supervision was not a "priority" of either system or local school administrators. The participants did evidence some important knowledge concerning instructional supervision, albeit intuitively concluded rather than formally learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes the High Poverty Schools Conference, held October 13, 2006 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The author notes three points of view, around which discourse about high poverty schooling general revolves: equity of school resources, high performance in spite of poverty status, and the impact of social policy change and economic opportunity on school reform. He states that the consensus at the conference was that high poverty schools are below average in student achievement, graduation rates, and other important school outcomes, and that schools should play a significant role in alleviating social inequalities. Disagreement occurred over the significance of schools' contributions, as distinct from external factors, to the negative outcomes.