Using Data to Improve Student Learning in High Schools

Using Data to Improve Student Learning in High Schools
Author: Victoria Bernhardt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2013-10-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317922816

This book helps you make sense of the data your school collects, including state student achievement results as well as other qualitative and quantitative data. Easy-to-use templates, tools, and examples are available on the accompanying downloadable resources. High stakes accountability requires that you develop your understanding of who your students are and how to get them where you want them to be.

Improving Student Learning

Improving Student Learning
Author: Herbert J. Walberg
Publisher: Information Age Pub Incorporated
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2011
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781617352126

This book summarizes the major research findings that show how to substantially increase student achievement. This book draws on a number of investigators who have statistically synthesized many studies. A new education method showing superior results in 90% of the studies concerning it has more credibility than a method that shows results in only 60% of the cases. Research synthesis of many studies can also test the possibility that the new method works with a variety of students and circumstances. A robust method shown to work well at many grade levels with boys and girls in cities and suburbs is more desirable than one that only works well in special cases. Subsequent chapters weigh these considerations. Obviously policymakers and educators must also consider the costs and difficulties of implementing new policies and practices. Some innovations, however, are not only more effective but less costly. Teachers well prepared in their subject matter are usually a better investment than small classes, and, despite conventional beliefs, the Internet and other distance instruction delivery can be both more effective and cheaper than traditional classroom teaching. Thus, both old and new methods should be viewed in terms of efficacy, frugality, ethics, and other considerations. The remaining chapters begin with the most fundamental, well-established principles of academic learning within and outside schools. Because children spend approximately 92% of the total hours in the first 18 years of life outside school and under the responsibility of parents, the features of home conditions and parents' behaviors that foster learning before and during the school years are described. In successive chapters, the book describes the most effective classroom practices and school, district, and state policies.

Middle School Matters

Middle School Matters
Author: Phyllis L. Fagell
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0738235091

A counselor and popular Washington Post contributor offers a new take on grades 6-8 as a distinct developmental phase--and the perfect time to set up kids to thrive. Middle school is its own important, distinct territory, and yet it's either written off as an uncomfortable rite of passage or lumped in with other developmental phases. Based on her many years working in schools, professional counselor Phyllis Fagell sees these years instead as a critical stage that parents can't afford to ignore (and though "middle school" includes different grades in various regions, Fagell maintains that the ages make more of a difference than the setting). Though the transition from childhood to adolescence can be tough for kids, this time of rapid physical, intellectual, moral, social, and emotional change is a unique opportunity to proactively build character and confidence. Fagell helps parents use the middle school years as a low-stakes training ground to teach kids the key skills they'll need to thrive now and in the future, including making good friend choices, negotiating conflict, regulating their own emotions, be their own advocates, and more. To answer parents' most common questions and struggles with middle school-aged children, Fagell combines her professional and personal expertise with stories and advice from prominent psychologists, doctors, parents, educators, school professionals, and middle schoolers themselves.

Enhancing Student Learning in Middle School

Enhancing Student Learning in Middle School
Author: Martha Casas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2010-09-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136938958

A comprehensive introduction to middle school teaching, this textbook focuses explicitly on instructional strategies that encourage adolescents to become active participants in their own learning within a world of accountability and standardized testing. The author, an experienced middle school teacher and teacher educator, takes a constructivist approach to teaching that considers the whole child, including the emotional, psychological, social, and cultural variables uniquely associated with adolescence. The text examines the full range of middle school topics, from the development and diversity of middle school learners, to the structures, curriculum, and management of the classroom itself. Special features include: "Empowering Middle School Students to Take Ownership of their Learning," "Teaching Scenario," "Key Points," and "Creating an Anti-Oppressive Atmosphere in Your Classroom" textboxes help teachers gain a clearer understanding of content presented and encourage them to become reflective practitioners. Callouts throughout explicitly link chapter content to NMSA standards. Discussion of the unique challenges of actively engaging bilingual students, special needs students, and students exhibiting antisocial behavior. Accounts about middle school students illustrate the ways adolescents think about school and learning. A chapter that focuses on ways teachers can apply the general teaching strategies to specific subject areas. Sample Lesson Plans, Focus Questions, Chapter Summaries, Journal Entries, and Student Activities/Assignments are included throughout to encourage readers to actively participate with the text.

Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement

Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement
Author: James H. Stronge
Publisher:
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2000
Genre: Education
ISBN:

This book discusses four approaches to incorporating student achievement in teacher evaluation. Seven chapters discuss: (1) "Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement: An Introduction to the Issues"; (2) "What is the Relationship between Teaching and Learning?" (e.g., whether teachers are responsible for student learning and how to measure student learning); (3) "Assessing Teacher Performance through Comparative Student Growth: The Dallas Value-Added Accountability System"; (4) "Assessing Teacher Performance through Repeated Measures of Student Gains: The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System"; (5) "Assessing Teacher Performance with Student Work: The Oregon Teacher Work Sample Methodology"; (6) "Assessing Teacher Performance in a Standards-Based Environment: The Thompson, Colorado, School District"; and (7) Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement: What are the Lessons Learned and Where Do We Go from Here?" (e.g., basic requirements of fair testing programs that are to be used to inform teacher evaluation). Chapters 3-6 include information on the purposes of the accountability system and how it was developed; student assessment strategies; how the accountability system works; how the accountability system relates to teacher evaluation; the advantages and disadvantages of the accountability system for teacher evaluation; and results of implementation. (Contains 66 references.) (SM)

Inspiring Middle School Minds

Inspiring Middle School Minds
Author: Judith A. Willis
Publisher: Gifted Unlimited
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2009
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Teaching adolescents can be quite challenging. Dr. Judy Willis, a neurologist and teacher, explains the inner workings of the adolescent brain. She uses the findings of brain research in her classroom to explain how parents and teachers can trigger untapped inspiration in students. Middle school education has often been a "black hole" for gifted students, seldom providing adequate challenge. By understanding how the brain works, however, we can make learning for all youngsters exciting and stimulating. The information and advice in this book will help parents and teachers design positive and rewarding learning experiences that will then be stored in long-term memory rather than "deleted" or "filtered out."

Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners, Grades K-12

Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners, Grades K-12
Author: Nancy Frey
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-01-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1506390617

“When students know how to learn, they are able to become their own teachers.” —Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and John Hattie Imagine students who describe their learning in these terms: “I know where I’m going, I have the tools I need for the journey, and I monitor my own progress.” Now imagine the extraordinary difference this type of ownership makes in their progress over the course of a school year. This illuminating book shows how to make this scenario an everyday reality. With its foundation in principles introduced in the authors’ bestselling Visible Learning for Literacy, this resource delves more deeply into the critical component of self-assessment, revealing the most effective types of assessment and how each can motivate students to higher levels of achievement.

The Cambridge Handbook of Cognition and Education

The Cambridge Handbook of Cognition and Education
Author: John Dunlosky
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1130
Release: 2019-02-07
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1108245102

This Handbook reviews a wealth of research in cognitive and educational psychology that investigates how to enhance learning and instruction to aid students struggling to learn and to advise teachers on how best to support student learning. The Handbook includes features that inform readers about how to improve instruction and student achievement based on scientific evidence across different domains, including science, mathematics, reading and writing. Each chapter supplies a description of the learning goal, a balanced presentation of the current evidence about the efficacy of various approaches to obtaining that learning goal, and a discussion of important future directions for research in this area. It is the ideal resource for researchers continuing their study of this field or for those only now beginning to explore how to improve student achievement.

How Students Learn

How Students Learn
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 633
Release: 2005-01-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309074339

How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed using the latest exciting research on cognition, teaching, and learning. How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the bestselling How People Learn. Now, these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even greater effectiveness. Organized for utility, the book explores how the principles of learning can be applied in teaching history, science, and math topics at three levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Leading educators explain in detail how they developed successful curricula and teaching approaches, presenting strategies that serve as models for curriculum development and classroom instruction. Their recounting of personal teaching experiences lends strength and warmth to this volume. The book explores the importance of balancing students' knowledge of historical fact against their understanding of concepts, such as change and cause, and their skills in assessing historical accounts. It discusses how to build straightforward science experiments into true understanding of scientific principles. And it shows how to overcome the difficulties in teaching math to generate real insight and reasoning in math students. It also features illustrated suggestions for classroom activities. How Students Learn offers a highly useful blend of principle and practice. It will be important not only to teachers, administrators, curriculum designers, and teacher educators, but also to parents and the larger community concerned about children's education.

What Works in Schools

What Works in Schools
Author: Robert J. Marzano
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2003
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0871207176

Schools can and do affect student achievement, and this book recommends specific-and attainable-action steps to implement successful strategies culled from the wealth of research data.