This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Deborah La Torre, Motoko Akiba, Bryan Wilkinson, Jia Wang, Sergei Abramovich, Stephanie A. Flores-Koulish, Jeong-Hee Kim, Michael B. Henderson, Robert F. Cunningham, and Anthony Rappa.
(2016). "The Three Pigs": Can They Blow Us into Critical Media Literacy Old School Style?, Journal of Research in Childhood Education. In this article, the authors show how groups of 2nd- and 4th-grade students in an urban school district responded to a postmodern children's book, The "Three Pigs" by David Wiesner (2001). The students came to the project from basal-based direct instruction, and here they were offered a more constructivist opportunity to engage with a text. The authors found that this text afforded the students with opportunities for discussion and thus were able to hone critical literacy skills, which correspond with critical media literacy concepts and new expectations within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The authors also make the case that these texts can be especially useful in settings still lacking sophisticated technologies. Thus, students can still gain complex literacy concepts despite a school's limited resources. What they find then is that students gain conceptual depth from postmodern children's literature using constructivist teaching methods. [More] Descriptors: Grade 2, Grade 4, Elementary School Students, Urban Schools
(2016). The Cake Contest, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), many teachers are changing their classroom structure from teacher-directed to student-centered. When the author began designing and using problem-based tasks she saw a drastic improvement in student engagement and problem-solving skills. The author describes the Cake Contest, in which her students used a 3D printer and geometry software, along with various volume formulas, to design a tiered cake. This problem-based task was completed by seventh-grade students working in groups of three or four. Tasks like the Cake Contest help reinforce concepts previously learned and provide a real purpose for using them. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Problem Based Learning, Instructional Innovation, Instructional Effectiveness
(2016). Close Reading and Far-Reaching Classroom Discussion: Fostering a Vital Connection, Journal of Education. One reaction to the Common Core State Standards is a new emphasis on "close reading," an approach to teaching comprehension that requires students to extract meaning from text by examining how language is used in a passage. The intent is to strengthen their ability to learn from complex text independently and thus enhance college and career readiness. This article is an expansion of a Policy Brief from the Literacy Research Panel of the International Reading Association in which we examined the basis for this view, considered the advantages and limitations, and suggested ways in which close reading might be usefully supplemented by other classroom practices, both to ensure that they support comprehension and to avoid problems from an excessive focus on close reading. Instructional implications for students for whom English is an added language are offered. [More] Descriptors: Critical Reading, Reading Comprehension, Difficulty Level, Reading Instruction
(2016). Understanding "The Other" through Art: Fostering Narrative Imagination in Elementary Students, International Journal of Education & the Arts. Teachers in many countries live the language of standards although it is confined to uniformity and standardization. In the United States, for example, teachers teach to what is now called the Common Core State Standards that focus on students' college and career readiness while falling short of developing good judgment and wisdom. In this article, drawing upon Nussbaum's notion of narrative imagination, we address the following research question: How do we foster narrative imagination in elementary students in the midst of the external demands to meet standards? This research is conducted as "grounded practice" between a teacher educator and an elementary art teacher, who collaboratively created an integrated art curriculum unit, called Storytelling/Mural Painting Project, involving 68 fifth grade students, three storytellers from the local community, and three classroom teachers. Based on our findings, we suggest a model for rethinking education in the age of standards. [More] Descriptors: Art Education, Imagination, Elementary School Students, Teacher Educators
(2016). Relating Aspects of Motivation to Facets of Mathematical Competence Varying in Cognitive Demand, Journal of Educational Research. The author investigated the relationship between aspects of student motivation and performance on mathematical tasks varying in cognitive demand relevant to meeting the expectations of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M). A sample of 479 primarily Latino middle school students completed established survey measures of motivation and a constructed response assessment of two facets of mathematical competence. The assessment measured students' progress toward performing a procedure and demonstrating understanding by providing a written critique of a peer's work, a more cognitively demanding facet. As predicted, higher interest and efficacy in mathematics, lower performance-avoidance goals, and fewer experiences of negative emotions related to performance levels for both facets, while utility and mastery-approach goals (i.e., focusing on understanding mathematics) related only to the more cognitively demanding facet. Implications of these findings for preparing students to be successful mathematical learners, especially in the many states implementing the CCSS-M, are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Student Motivation, Mathematics Achievement, Cognitive Processes, Difficulty Level
(2016). The 2015 "EdNext" Poll on School Reform, Education Next. In May and June 2015, the ninth annual "Education Next" survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of some 4,000 respondents, including oversamples of roughly 700 teachers, 700 African Americans, and 700 Hispanics. The 2015 survey posed many new questions exploring opinion on curricular and other issues that have never before been examined in a nationally representative survey of the American public. This article highlights four important findings yielded from the poll: (1) Support for standardized testing remains strong; (2) Support for the Common Core State Standards declined a bit further in 2015, after falling sharply between 2013 and 2014; (3) Union agency fees are not popular; and (4) A majority of people oppose the federal government's new policy on school discipline. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Surveys, Standardized Tests, Common Core State Standards, Unions
(2016). Architecture: A Nexus of Creativity, Math, and Spatial Ability, Gifted Child Today. The United States is dependent on innovations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields for the growth of its economy and improvements to quality of life, but too few students are prepared for them. To help meet the challenges in filling the STEM pipeline, teachers of gifted elementary students can nurture important talents, including mathematics achievement, creativity, and spatial ability, through problem-based architectural projects. The importance of developing each of these talents for STEM success is described and related to architecture. Four projects are offered in architecture and various architectural sub-disciplines that are sufficiently challenging for gifted elementary students, including example Common Core State Standards in mathematics that can be incorporated. The usefulness of problem-based learning is described, and problem statements are offered that can be easily revised and extended to meet unique classroom needs. A framework is provided for teachers to create their own architectural projects. [More] Descriptors: Architecture, Spatial Ability, STEM Education, Talent Development
(2016). Integrated Spreadsheets as a Paradigm of Type II Technology Applications in Mathematics Teacher Education, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The paper presents the use of spreadsheets integrated with digital tools capable of symbolic computations and graphic constructions in a master's level capstone course for secondary mathematics teachers. Such use of spreadsheets is congruent with the Type II technology applications framework aimed at the development of conceptual knowledge in the digital era. The paper reviews educational documents developed worldwide that set standards for teaching mathematics and offer recommendations for teacher preparation. In particular, these include Common Core State Standards and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences recommendations for high school teachers, the most recent guidelines for mathematics educators in the U.S. A course assignment associated with extended explorations of Fibonacci numbers that connect undergraduate mathematics coursework and school mathematics curriculum is presented along with the author's analysis of the teacher candidates' reflections on their work. [More] Descriptors: Spreadsheets, Technology Uses in Education, Mathematics Education, Teacher Education
(2016). Intensity of Focus, Richness of Content: Crafting Tier 2 Response to Intervention in an Era of the Common Core, Reading Teacher. This article describes a Tier 2 intervention program for fourth graders that is well suited to supporting implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Screening assessments and miscue analyses were used to clarify students' strengths and challenges. Students then attended only classes that were suited to their particular literacy needs, spending the remainder of their time participating in classroom lessons that integrated language arts throughout content area curriculum. This program supported struggling readers in effective and efficient ways. A Tier 2 class in prosody is explained in depth. Findings demonstrate clear growth on progress-monitoring assessments and overall reading gains as measured on an informal reading inventory. The study has implications for adjusting RTI protocols to better suit contemporary literacy practices. [More] Descriptors: Elementary School Students, Grade 4, Response to Intervention, Program Implementation
(2016). Survey of Mathematics Teachers' Static and Transformational Performance and Perspectives for Teaching Similarity, European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. Surveys were used to examine mathematics teachers (15) on their ability to solve similarity problems and on their likely implementation of lesson objectives for teaching similarity. All correctly solved a similarity problem requiring a traditional static perspective, but 7 out of 15 failed to correctly solve a problem that required a more transformational perspective. A set of 10 lesson objectives on similarity were composed using Geometry textbooks, using the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), (NGA Center and CCSSO 2011), and using some generated by the authors. When asked to select from the list of objectives the ones they would most likely implement, teachers favored traditional textbook objectives that might be presented using a static perspective, rather than similarity transformations, manipulatives, or technology that might support a more transformational perspective. In fact, these were among the objectives most likely not included in their lesson plans. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Surveys, Mathematics Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Mathematics Instruction
(2016). Adopting an International Innovation for Teacher Professional Development: State and District Approaches to Lesson Study in Florida, Journal of Teacher Education. The state of Florida has taken an unprecedented approach to teacher professional development in its Race to the Top (RTTT) Program application by proposing to promote an international innovation that originates in Japan, "lesson study," as a statewide teacher professional development model. Since winning the US$700 million RTTT funding in 2010, the Florida Department of Education and districts have been promoting lesson study as one of the statewide vehicles to implement the state standards aligned with the Common Core State Standards. This study analyzed the state and districts' approaches to promote lesson study using policy documents, statewide district survey data, and interviews. We found that a majority of districts mandated lesson study implementation without securing or spending sufficient funding. In addition, the existing organizational structures and routines for professional development pose a major challenge in capacity building of district leaders and teachers to engage in lesson study. [More] Descriptors: Faculty Development, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, Federal Programs
(2016). Benchmarks for Deeper Learning on Next Generation Tests: A Study of PISA. CRESST Report 855, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). This report presents the results of expert panels' item-by-item analysis of the 2015 PISA Reading Literacy and Mathematics Literacy assessments and compares study findings on PISA's representation of deeper learning with that of other related studies. Results indicate that about 11% to 14% of PISA's total raw score value for reading and mathematics literacy respectively are devoted to deeper learning, defined as items addressing depth of knowledge (DOK) Levels 3 or 4, based on Norman Webb's framework (Webb, Alt, Ely, & Vesperman, 2005). These levels are compared to those in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and in recent tests of the CCSS. Study results suggest the complexity of establishing deeper learning benchmarks. Five appendices are included: (1) Panelist Recruitment; (2) Panelist Biographies; (3) Review Panel Training and Data Collection; (4) Reading Literacy Analyses; and (5) Mathematics Literacy Analyses. [More] Descriptors: Achievement Tests, International Assessment, Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students
(2016). Evaluating Multiple Perspectives: Approaching the Synthesis Task through Assessing Credibility, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Introduction of the Common Core State Standards and assessments like the synthesis performance task pose new challenges for secondary English teachers. As students of all ability levels engage with complex text and in tasks that target higher level cognitive skills, teachers need strategies to support their understanding. This article describes development and implementation of a differentiated unit for a synthesis performance task in three ninth-grade English classes. The unit's summative assessment required students to evaluate the credibility of survivor accounts of the tragic events atop Mt. Everest in 1996, select the most credible account, and support their argument with evidence from multiple sources. This article includes descriptions of how the unit was differentiated for students of varying skill levels, examples of student work to illustrate how all were able to complete the synthesis task, and reflections for future practice. [More] Descriptors: Secondary School Students, Grade 9, Summative Evaluation, Credibility
(2016). Developing and Assessing Educator Beliefs about the Common Core, Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) potentially shifts the way US schools approach teaching and learning. Research suggests that it is important to understand how educators view the CCSS and how they believe the CCSS may impact their practice. We developed and tested an instrument to investigate educator beliefs about the implementation of CCSS. We collected data from two samples of educators regarding their beliefs about the CCSS in mid-size school districts in California that had begun to introduce the CCSS. Our results indicate that the instrument consistently measured three interrelated, yet distinct, sub-constructs of educator beliefs about the CCSS implementation and that the sub-constructs are statistically significantly associated with trust, professional knowledge, and the pattern of CCSS-related professional interaction. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Attitudes, Beliefs, Common Core State Standards, Program Implementation
(2016). Creating Quadrilaterals from Quadrilaterals, Mathematics Teacher. A part of high school geometry is devoted to the study of parallelograms in the context of proving some of their properties using congruent triangles (CCSSI 2010). The typical high school geometry book's chapter on quadrilaterals focuses on parallelograms (e.g., their properties, proving that a given quadrilateral is a parallelogram, and special parallelograms) with an additional section about trapezoids and kites. Wayne Nirode wanted to go beyond what is required by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and what is in the usual textbook chapter on quadrilaterals and give students the opportunity to pose and investigate their own questions about quadrilaterals. Here he describes a project in which students created rules to form a new quadrilateral starting from a special quadrilateral: parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, square, kite, trapezoid, isosceles trapezoid, and cyclic quadrilateral. They used Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) to construct, explore, and conjecture; and, last, they proved their conjectures either synthetically or analytically. [More] Descriptors: Geometry, Geometric Concepts, Mathematics, Mathematics Instruction