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The author shares his perspective on the fundamentals of expository writing criteria for high school students. He asserts that while style, fluency, tone, and correct grammar are certainly important in writing, content has value as well, but across the U.S. even the most prestigious writing workshops for teachers generally bypass substance to focus on style. However, students must know facts, dates, and the viewpoints of various experts and authors to write their college term papers. It is suggested that writing about oneself can be the work of genius, but limiting high school students to thinking and writing almost entirely about themselves can lead them to believe that they don't need to seek information about anything outside of their own feelings and experiences.

This article presents the author's views on the importance of creative supervision in education. Perhaps the supervisor's greatest challenge comes in the principle, supervision provides effective ways for the release of creative potentialities of the people involved, to the end that the maximum amount of growth and learning will take place. In order to follow this principle, supervisors must strive for a climate in which creativity of thought and action may be inspired and released. Because a democratic climate, conducive to creativity, existed in the author's school in West Hartford, Connecticut, she decided to conduct an experiment. She was in the sixth-grade classroom where the scarlet blossoms of the maples could be seen through the windows. She told her students to write an essay on spring. The author sent five of the students outside the classroom and told them to return to the classroom at the end of half an hour. Before she had read more than a paper or two, the teacher realized that something rare and very remarkable had occurred. Almost without exception the children could identify the papers written outdoors. Following the readings the class discussed the things that had made the writings effective, concluding that writing is more powerful when the author is close to his topic. Creation is found wherever learning is found. The experiment shows that supervision has gradually moved from the improvement of instruction to the improvement of learning.

The article presents news briefs from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) as of October 2015. The ASCD Nominations Committee is searching for a selection to its Board of Directors. A white paper tiles "Multimetric Accountability Systems: A Next Generation Vision of Student Success" was released. The Spring 2015 ASCD Report looked at the relationship between poverty and education.

The article focuses on developments in criterion-referenced measurement (CRT), an alternative to the traditional norm-referenced test (NRT). The CRT is used to identify an individual's status with respect to a previously established standard or performance. On the other hand, NRT requires that an individual's performance must be identified with respect to the performance of others on the same test. An overview of research, speculation and developmental work into the nature and consequences of CRT is presented. The authors contend that additional groundwork is necessary to establish a framework for CRT in the classroom on a daily basis.

In the article, the author discusses the importance of a coherent curriculum and high-quality education. Other topics include the evidence for the primacy of curriculum in student learning, the logic of coherent curriculum on student knowledge acquisition and science achievement, and how a good curriculum reduces teacher anxiety and teachers' workload.

The article discusses research which points out characteristic for feedback on instruction and mentions feedbacks that offer direction in school improvement efforts. Topics discussed include formal observations by school leaders focusing on action of teachers, knowledge of the curriculum along with expectation for learning and differences in measures of student achievement.

The article discusses school leaders prompted by COVID-19 pandemic to leverage digital learning and management. Topics discussed include benefits of technology for discussions with parents of students through video conferencing, increase in communication between families and schools, and shift to virtual learning that raised importance of integrating technology to support student achievement.

The article discusses the concept of mastery learning and its implications for the educational achievement of students. The author addresses concerns relating to the level of performance that students need to achieve before being considered good enough. Topics explored also include the use of competency-based schemes by schools in giving accolades, challenges associated with the mastery learning process, and contributing factors in the effective transfer of learning. INSET: Websites for Sample Test Items Measuring Wider-World Mastery.

The article discusses what a 21st-century education requires and whether or not schools are using data to help or delay education, based on the New York Performance Standards Consortium. The influence of standardized-tests on data-driven decision making is considered. The hallmarks of a 21st-century education are explored, according to the article. It was found that test preparation activities rather than authentic teaching and learning were responsible for some schools' increased test scores. At the Consortium, students and teachers focused on work that culminated in end-of-year projects. How consortium schools analyzed data to inform instruction is discussed.

The article discusses how formative assessments can increase academic achievement and student empowerment. The authors discuss the role of student-teacher communication in formative assessment as a way of increasing self-efficacy and motivation in students and improving teaching practices. They describe a program investigating the effects of formative assessment in the Armstrong School District in Pennsylvania. The program focused on intentional learning and has helped improve academic achievement, student motivation and engagement. The authors note practices to promote independent learning by students and the development of rubrics by students. They comment on the importance of stating educational goals and providing students with relevant feedback.

Focuses on cooperative learning methods. Problems of competitive classrooms; Student team learning; Impact on academic achievement.

The article emphasizes that the learner should be made an integral part of the evaluation process by evaluating himself or herself for further improvement. Students must be helped to develop an adaptive approach to problem solving in order to accomplish goals. Procedures are being formulated to focus attention upon the learner so that he may attain the necessary skills to achieve such goals. evaluation in elementary education has been primarily concerned with the assessment of student achievement. This function of evaluation is most often carried out by teachers after instruction has occurred and apart from the learning process. Most authorities agree, however, that evaluation should be considered as an integral part of the learning process rather than something which occurs after instruction has taken place. The role of the learner may be enhanced when such integration occurs. The learner can act intelligently to understand and to improve his behavior when he is included in the evaluation process. In most educational settings, the learner is "the doer," while the teacher plays the roles of "the observer" and "the judge." The learner is then expected to be an "actor" based upon the assumptions made by the teacher's observations. If the evaluation process is to become an integral part of the learning process, then it is necessary that one should study how the learner can have an opportunity to play an important role in all phases of the evaluation process.

The article reports that exceptional children develop through art expression. In Evans School, exceptional boys and girls associate with typical children, yet have the skilled teachers and special facilities needed to meet their special requirements. Evans school has in attendance some 450 children. Of this number, 160 arc exceptional children, and 290 are typical children of the neighbor-hood. The exceptional children are brought to the school by bus from all parts of the city. They represent all socioeconomic levels. The exceptional children include the deaf, hard-of-hearing, partially sighted, blind, and speech defective children. Ages range from three years to fourteen years. A majority of exceptional children are assigned to rooms with the typical children of their grade levels in academic achievement and are identified with that group. Part of their time is spent with teachers trained to give special instruction, individually or in small groups, in speech, language, lip reading; and with equipment such as large print books, typewriters, Braille writers, Braille books, hearing aid equipment, and the like.

The article discusses ways to make grading more meaningful. Topics discussed include providing multiple grades for each subject area or course on students' report cards as standards based approaches to education, issues associated with implementing meaningful grading reform, three major types of grading criteria in reporting student performance and grading and reporting as challenge in effective communication rather than being a simple task of quantifying data on students' performance.

The article highlights the case for minimalist literacy standards. It mentions the levels of literacy that nearly eliminate the achievement gap for high school and college dropout rates and also mentions the recent research on the English Language Arts Common Core standards along with should engagement in unprecedented amounts of purposeful reading, discussion, and writing.

Suggests that research does not support group-based mastery learning or Madeline Hunter's methods in increasing student achievement. Debate on the subject of mastery learning; Analysis of the Hunter model.

The article discusses the needs of teenagers in the early 21st century, particularly focusing upon a school environment that encourages engagement, meaning, and connection, and the potential that curricula will need to be altered in order to meet the needs of teenagers for optimum academic achievement.

The author argues that teenagers suffer negative effects of pressure to succeed academically and athletically, which leads to psychological stress and overwork. The author suggests that parents and schools can lessen stress upon teenagers by permitting teens to read for pleasure, reflect and dream, and limiting homework and coordinating workloads.

The article discusses what the authors refer to as the importance of having school leaders give and receive feedback, and it mentions the potential impact of feedback on student achievement and teaching practices. Evaluations of teachers are addressed, along with coaching to help teachers improve their methods. Educational jargon and role models are examined, along with the process of learning from the feedback received from parents, teachers, students, and peers.

In this article the authors discusses value-added performance assessments for teachers. They argue that data from such evaluations often does not provide a comprehensive rating of a teacher's effectiveness and cite an example from New York City 6th grade teacher Pascale Mauclair of ways in which value-added data can provide an assessment that does not account for variables such as student's language ability and attendance. The authors address several topics including how a student's home environment impacts their academic achievement, the placement of students with teachers, and variations in teachers' ratings from year-to-year. The authors argues that such evaluations should be combined with other forms of assessment to gain a true measure of a teacher's ability.

In this article the author presents her suggestions to school principals on how to prioritize and organization their work schedules in order to complete the workload demands of the position. She overviews how daily schedules for principals are often dominated by meetings, student disciplinary issues, and ever-changing school district educational initiatives and provides recommendations on how to delegate work to other school administrators and teachers. She also emphasizes that principals should make sure to devote their time towards issues that deal directly with improving student learning opportunities.

The article looks at the performance of teachers in the U.S. after their first few years of teaching. A study challenges the assumption that teachers face a performance plateau during first few years on the job. The association between student achievement and years of teaching experience is described. In addition, the article discusses how schools can promote teacher improvement.

The article looks at the use of mental health programs in schools and how they can improve students' social and emotional well-being as well as promote academic achievement. Particular attention is given to comprehensive mental health services that offer schoolwide services and target at-risk students.

The article discusses the opinions of U.S. Latino high school students on schools as addressed by the research program Project FUERTE (Future Urban Educators conducting Research to Transform Education). Topics include problems with a deficit perspective on cultural diversity and academic achievement, opportunity gaps caused by tracking, and school improvement efforts.

The article discusses successful establishment and implementation of the International Baccalaureate (IB) instructional program of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York. It acknowledges contributing factors to college success that the school considered in designing the said program. It also explores student achievement gap observed by the high school management, preparation of students for IB courses, and availability of an English language arts support class.

The article presents an interview with Cornelius Minor, former middle school teacher, author and a lead staff developer with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. Topics discussed by him includes how grading practices support students who fell behind during the recent closures of educational institutes due to COVID-19, some of the most precious grading practices in use today and need to change grading practices.

The article discusses the increasing number of students in the U.S. who live below the poverty line and who deal with hunger daily, particularly focusing on efforts to solve the problem of childhood hunger. It addresses the negative impact of hunger on children's educational outcomes, as well as notes the action of teachers to prevent their students from going hungry. Other topics explored include the importance of breakfast for student achievement, the work of the No Kid Hungry campaign, and problems of feeding students over the summer during school vacation.

The author argues that the 2012 U.S. Common Core State Standards for education may not promote academic achievement, and cites research into the effects of teacher development and instructional materials on the success of Common Core implementation. Curriculum evaluation, elementary reading and mathematics scores from the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and teacher effectiveness are also discussed.

The article discusses the positive and negative aspects of using technology in classrooms. Particular focus is given on embracing all forms of technologies in classrooms for creating more skilled students for the future. It further informs that technology is not an enemy of the society and if used with patience and planning, it can be used as a tool for students' success.

The article discusses teachers' opinions on their educational preparation as well as suggestions for educational reform. The article reports that the teachers felt unprepared to manage classrooms, teach content, and teach with technology. Teachers said they would like more instruction in keeping track of student achievement, making lesson plans, and teaching special needs students. The article suggests that universities collaborate with schools to match working teachers with preservice teachers, increase standards for admitting people to teaching programs, and require students to observe working teachers.

In this article the author examines five fallacies associated with the grading and marking of students. The topic is discussed in light of the efforts of educational leaders to reform grading systems in the U.S. The fallacies, which are described as obstacles to grading reform, are the beliefs that grades should be the basis for differentiating students, grade distributions should look like a bell curve, students' grades should be based on the performance of classmates, poor grades motivate students, and one grade should be given per student per course.

The article presents suggestions from schools that won the Education Trust's Dispelling the Myth award about ways to decrease the achievement gap in U.S. schools among minority and low-income students. School principal Elain Thompson talks about academic success belonging to the entire school, not only to students, teachers, and administrators. Former principal Molly Bensinger-Lacy comments on teacher expectations as her key to success. Other suggestions include the importance of performing inspections so principals can directly oversee their schools, educational accountability, tenacity, providing support to teachers, and using measurements of student achievement effectively.

In this article the author examines elements of mastery learning. The discipline is defined as an instructional approach developed by educator Benjamin S. Bloom that incorporates feedback, the corrective process, and congruence among learning components. A number of topics are addressed including the the impact of mastery learning on the Response to Intervention teaching method, the use of diagnostic pre-assessment and pre-teaching, and the importance of of high-quality, group-based initial instruction.

The article discusses how teachers can work collaboratively to yield productive student results. The authors studied several professional learning communities of secondary-level math and science teachers who analyzed students' work. The teachers shared their different beliefs about teaching and learning, finding resources that informed their inquiry, identified which students' work to consider and made sense of students' thinking in relation to learning goals. The difference in teachers' proving and improving approaches regarding student learning is explored. It was found that an improving approach gave teachers more understandings about teaching and learning and more informed classroom decisions.

The article discusses the experiences of Sergio, an illegal alien and English language learner (ELL) attempting to attend college. The author notes how fear of being reported to or discovered by immigration officials can affect immigrant students' academic achievement and discusses how Sergio was inspired by the success of fellow students to pursue a college education. She notes how Sergio attended summer sessions and extended classes to earn the required amount of academic credits and comments on his success on standardized tests and involvement in student government and extracurricular activities. The inability of undocumented students to receive financial aid is noted.

The article discusses demographics of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools. The authors note high numbers of ELLs in preschools and elementary grades and discuss the geographic distribution of immigrant families in the U.S. They note that Mexico is the largest source of immigrants to the U.S. and that Spanish is the native language of a majority of ELLs. They discuss how family language, socioeconomic status and parental education can affect the academic achievement of ELLs. They suggest how the employment of bilingual teachers and the use of educational interventions and peer-assisted learning can improve ELL achievement. They recommend collaboration between federal and state governments, educators and education researchers.

The article discusses how the results of the working-conditions survey answered by the staffs at Millbrook Elementary School in Wake County, North Carolina, and Peace College in Raleigh, North Carolina can help determine the relationship between teacher working conditions and academic achievement. The results of the years 2006 and 2008 working-conditions survey completed by Millbrook teachers are explored. The working-conditions survey results from the Center for Teaching Quality with the National Education Association during the years 2004 and 2007 are discussed.

The article discusses how several schools use achievement data to establish goals to improve student performance. The Data Wise improvement process was used by teachers from the Mason Elementary School in Boston, Massachusetts, who analyzed data from a state assessment, found an area of student underperformance, sought to understand the problem, and developed a collective solution. The teachers' collaborative approach to data use resulted in organizational learning, improved internal accountability, and room for professional risk. How research supports collaboration is discussed.

The article discusses ways to motivate students to aspire to academic excellence. The author discusses high school experiences that demonstrated the importance of knowledge and individual choices and suggests that students must find their purpose to be academically motivated. He comments on how discussing the ethics and goals of scientific research can interest students in science education and suggests class discussions should focus on vocational applications of school knowledge. He comments on ways that teachers can promote moral excellence and citizenship in students.

The article discusses how teacher effectiveness can affect student achievement. The authors note research suggesting that students taught by proficient teachers show greater progress than students with ineffective teachers. They suggest that accurate methods to evaluate teaching quality are not being developed. Tennessee has implemented teacher evaluation methods that measure student performance which suggest that poor and minority children were the most likely to be assigned to inept teachers. The authors discuss the Benwood Initiative, a plan to improve teaching in the school district of Hamilton County, Tennessee by removing weak teachers and offering professional development resources, and the Teaching Fellows program in New York City, which was developed to recruit teachers.

The article discusses methods to improve the instruction of science in elementary schools. The poor performance of U.S. students in science and mathematics illustrates the need to build a foundation of scientific learning in elementary school, which often greatly affects a student's academic career. To improve the quality of scientific education, effective teachers must possess deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and engage students with relevant and important content while creating an environment conducive to learning.

The authors assert that U.S. educators, struggling under the accountability requirements of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, might have a hard time imagining an assessment program driven by teachers' need for formative information about student learning instead of by high-stakes accountability demands. However, they say, for New Zealand educators, it is an integral part of a comprehensive assessment program designed to help teachers enhance students' literacy skills. They explain that New Zealand assesses the learning progress of elementary and middle-level students through the National Educational Monitoring Project, which offers an innovative approach to understanding student achievement in language arts. The article explores the frameworks and distinctive qualities of the program.

The article focuses on the programmes related to data collection of students that may help in improving student achievement. In Penn-Delco School District that is located in a suburban area outside Philadelphia, the author with her team used a one-day process to gather authentic, rich data that not only propelled student achievement to new levels but also transformed the schools into collaborative communities focused on results. In the late 1990s, while attending a regional meeting, a small group of administrators viewed a video demonstrating a walk-through process developed by Lauren Resnick from the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. A walk-through is an organized school or classroom tour focused on teaching and learning. The walk-through process developed by Resnick focuses on looking at student work and talking with students to determine what they can express about their learning. The author has presented a complete information on how they gather data from such programmes, what the questions are put to identify the problem-solving strategies and how they assess the students.

The article focuses on an approach to the teacher evaluation. According to the authors, the peer assistance and review (PAR) has no longer been a risky experiment and it is a well established approach to supporting new and veteran teachers. Research has shown that student achievement is directly related to the preparation that teachers receive, particularly in the subjects they teach, and to the overall effectiveness of teachers in delivering instruction. The vast majority of teachers do not enter the profession as highly effective instructors, even those with strong academic backgrounds typically take several years to refine their skills and acquire the stock of skills necessary to meet student needs. PAR reduces the burden on principals, the isolation of the classroom teacher, and sometimes even the antagonism and hostility between labor and management by involving teachers in the formal evaluation of other teachers and making them responsible for employment recommendations. A complete evaluation on how PAR works has been presented in the article.

The article focuses on a study conducted by the author which reveals that students in an urban high school learn to appreciate diversity and respect multiple viewpoints as they help one another succeed in mathematics. In the four-year longitudinal study conducted in three high schools between 2000 and 2004, the author followed approximately 700 students as they progressed through their mathematics classrooms. The urban school included in the study was referred to as Railside because trains passed just feet away from classroom windows. In addition to Railside, the study included two suburban schools in the study. The author administered mathematics tests to students at the beginning and end of their freshman year and at the end of their sophomore and junior years. Incoming freshmen at Railside scored significantly lower on the test than did incoming students at the other two schools. By the end of the year, however, they had caught up with their suburban peers. By the end of their sophomore year, they were outperforming the students from the two suburban schools. The methods used by the author enabled him to understand features of the schools approach that encouraged positive and respectful intellectual relations and high achievement.