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To comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 and related U.S. Department of Education peer review guidance, state education agencies must provide evidence demonstrating clear alignment (technically referred to as correspondence) between their K-12 English language proficiency standards and their academic content standards. This technical paper provides evidence of match, breadth, consistency [balance of representation], and depth of correspondence between WIDA consortium member state academic content standards in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, as of Fall 2022, and the components of the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition--specifically the four WIDA Key Language Uses and their grade-level cluster and content area instantiation in the WIDA Language Expectations. It also illustrates the relationship between the grade-level cluster Language Expectations and Proficiency Level 5 of the Proficiency Level Descriptors. State correspondence evidence helps ensure that K-12 students identified as English learners (referred to as multilingual learners by WIDA) have the opportunity to learn the critical elements of language that facilitate access to and achievement of academic content. [For the summary report, see ED631052.]

This 15-page document provides a high-level summary and key excerpts from WCER Working Paper No. 2023-3 (ED631017). Readers should consult the full working paper for more in-depth detail and evidence, particularly in the extensive appendices. This technical summary reports on analyses conducted during the standards development process to establish a clear correspondence between the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition (WIDA's K-12 English language proficiency standards), and the academic content standards used by WIDA consortium member State Education Agencies (SEAs). The analyses assess the match, breadth, balance of representation [consistency], and depth between these two types of standards. The paper also offers evidence of correspondence between these two types of standards and offers a methodology for states to use. It reports on the broad analysis used to update the WIDA ELD Standards Framework to ensure it could be applied flexibly across the consortium. SEA correspondence mappings are specific to individual SEAs. As federal law and peer review indicate the final responsibility for standards lies with states, WIDA is able to offer this technical paper as a tool to support the state correspondence process. [For the full report, see ED631017.]

Anti-scientific attitudes can impose substantial costs on societies. Can schools be an important agent in mitigating the propagation of such attitudes? This paper investigates the effect of the content of science education on anti-scientific attitudes, knowledge, and choices. The analysis exploits staggered reforms that reduce or expand the coverage of evolution theory in US state science education standards. I compare adjacent cohorts in models with state and cohort fixed effects and conduct fine-grained placebo tests to rule out scientific, religious and political confounders. There are three main results. First, expanded evolution coverage increases students' knowledge about evolution. Second, the reforms translate into greater evolution belief in adulthood, but do not crowd out religiosity or affect political attitudes. Third, the reforms affect high-stakes life decisions, namely the probability of working in life sciences.

The Exploring Making Through Mobile Emergent Technologies (EMMET) program sought to disrupt the trajectory from rural high school to factory floor by introducing STEM and computational thinking (STEM+C) skills through mentorship training and hands-on activities involving creative production--often referred to as "making." The program also bridged the divide between formal school science education and informal opportunities for science learning outside of school--a division that has marginalized young people from science class and devalued everyday science experiences (Stocklmayer et al., 2010). The overall project focused on designing maker experiences, training local high school students as "maker-mentors" for their community, developing partnerships with area community-based organizations, and researching what program participants learn about STEM and computational thinking. The work described in this white paper offers a model for regions with distributed, rural populations to build capacity for young people to develop skills and self-efficacy in STEM+C fields. This paper aims to answer the following questions: (1) How are rural communities impacted by mobile making experiences that involve community mentors as instructors? (2) What do maker-mentors learn as a result of their participation in facilitating mobile making experiences? and (3) What aspects of the community-involved maker experiences are sustained beyond institutional intervention? [This paper was written with contributions from Tim Fetting, Vicki Jeppesen, and Darren Ackley.]

The concept of project-based learning (PBL) has garnered wide support among a number of K-12 education policy advocates and funders. This working paper builds on and updates a seminal literature review of PBL published in 2000. Focused primarily on articles and studies that have emerged in the 17 years since then, the working paper discusses the principles that underlie PBL, how PBL has been used in K-12 settings, the challenges teachers have confronted in implementing it, how school and district factors influence its adoption, and what is known about its effectiveness in improving students' learning outcomes. PBL is grounded in cross-cutting "design principles" often related to what is taught, how it is taught, and how students should be evaluated in a PBL classroom. PBL design principles emphasize the importance of the project as the central vehicle of instruction and of students as active participants in the construction of knowledge. There is little consensus among developers of PBL design principles, however, about how PBL fits in with other instructional methods, how long a PBL unit should last, the roles of student choice and collaborative learning, and how learning should be assessed. The lack of a uniform vision complicates efforts to determine whether PBL is being implemented with fidelity and to evaluate its effects. PBL can be introduced into classrooms in a number of ways: Teachers and schools can make use of externally developed PBL curricula, they can develop their own PBL approaches, or PBL can be part of a whole-school reform effort. Implementing PBL is often challenging. It requires that teachers modify their roles (from directors to facilitators of learning) and that they tolerate not only ambiguity but also more noise and movement in the classroom. Teachers must adopt new classroom management skills and learn how best to support their students in learning, using technology when appropriate. And they must believe that their students are fully capable of learning through this approach. Given these challenges, professional development -- both initial training and continuing support -- is likely to be essential to the successful implementation of PBL. The working paper suggests that the evidence for PBL's effectiveness in improving students' outcomes is "promising but not proven." Evaluations of its effectiveness have been hampered by the paucity of valid, reliable, and readily usable measures of the kinds of deeper learning and interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies that PBL aims to promote. Many studies, too, have used evaluation designs that leave open the possibility that factors other than PBL were responsible for the outcomes that were found. This said, some studies have found positive effects associated with the use of PBL curricula in science and social studies classes. Evidence for its effectiveness in math and literacy classes is more limited. In particular, it has been noted that math teachers have found it difficult to integrate PBL into their instruction. Some studies in schools that follow PBL approaches have pointed to positive effects on students' engagement, motivation, and beliefs in their own efficacy, although the specific PBL model and the intensity of its use have varied across these schools. The working paper concludes with recommendations for advancing research and knowledge about PBL. [This paper was written with: Janet Quint, Mary G. Visher, Michael R. Bangser, Sonia Drohojowska, Larissa Saco, and Elizabeth Nelson. An earlier version of this paper was funded and published by Lucas Education Research.]

When the University of California moved to a permanent campus site in Berkeley, many described what they found there as a wilderness. Early faculty and students proceeded to build a campus and community, creating clubs, musical groups, fraternities, and athletics. This experience is brought to life in this essay through contemporary memoirs and campus publications, notably, the papers of a leading university family, Joseph Le Conte with his son, J.N. Le Conte, and youngest daughter, Carrie Le Conte. Through these sources, we can glimpse student life between 1880, when Carrie matriculated, and 1891, when J.N. graduated. The burgeoning campus culture embraced a distant wilderness too. The Le Conte family joined other university folks in spending summers camping in Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra. Many UC scientists, like the Le Contes, blended recreation with field research and education in the mountains. When John Muir went looking for advocates to form a "Yosemite defense association" to protect the newly created national park, he found ready organizers and supporters from the university built in the wilderness to help him form the Sierra Club.

This case study presents and discusses the English for Academic Study Telecollaboration (EAST) project, carried out between Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) students from different higher education institutions. In this telecollaborative project, the students work across borders and cultures on real-life SET discipline-specific scenarios and develop a number of soft skills and attributes alongside. The paper shows how the telecollaborative exchange has been set up and what changes were required to adapt the existing course, particularly its assessment procedures, to ensure the project was well integrated into the curriculum. It also attempts to evaluate the project, taking into account the differing outcomes and learning experiences of the participants from the partnering institutions. It concludes that adding the telecollaborative project to the existing course resulted in a richer educational experience for the participants and development of a number of skills but points out imbalances in the treatment of the participants from the assessment point of view and suggests how these inequalities could be addressed in the future. [For the complete volume, "Assessing Virtual Exchange in Foreign Language Courses at Tertiary Level," see ED624433.]

This issue explores the nature of childhood by offering selections that re/imagine the idea of the child as art maker; inquire about the relationships between children and adults when they are making art; and investigate how physical space influences approaches to art instruction. Readers are invited to join a dialogue that questions long-standing traditions of early childhood art--traditions grounded in a modernist view of children's art as a romantic expression of inner emotional and/or developmental trajectories. Selected essays create liminal spaces for reflection, dialogue, and critique of the views that have governed understandings of children and their art. Individual essays in this paper include: (1) Entering the Secret Hideout: Fostering Newness and Space for Art and Play (Shana Cinquema); (2) The Affective Flows of Art-Making (Bronwyn Davies); (3) Seeing Meaning (Barry Goldberg); (4) The Existential Territories of Global Childhoods: Resingularizing Subjectivity Through Ecologies of Care and the Art of Ahlam Shibli (Laura Trafí-Prats); (5) Visualizing Spaces of Childhood (Heather G. Kaplan); (6) A "Widespread Atelier" for Exploring Energy (Giulio Ceppi); (7) Art Education at Bank Street College, Then and Now (Edith Gwathmey and Ann-Marie Mott); (8) Theorising through Visual and Verbal Metaphors: Challenging Narrow Depictions of Children and Learning (Sophie Rudolph); and (9) Time for a Paradigm Shift: Recognizing the Critical Role of Pictures Within Literacy Learning (Beth Olshansky). Individual essays contain references and figures.

Informal science education institutions have been identified as critical participants in helping students succeed in science by working in collaboration with school systems across the country. The results of one such collaboration, the Urban Advantage (UA) program found that participation in UA improved student achievement, on average, by 0.6 standard deviations on the 8th grade New York State Intermediate Level Science exam. However, while some UA schools performed exceedingly well, others performed well below expectations. In the current study, we explore the heterogeneity in the results and look deeper into what may be the cause of this variation, focusing closely on the school-level factors that may help or hinder success. After identifying a set of high and low-performing UA schools, we use qualitative research methods to uncover the ways in which successful schools are implementing UA, as well as other school-level factors that may influence the degree to which the school is able to benefit from the UA program. Identifying these best practices across different school contexts may help UA program staff develop strategies to support UA schools having more limited success. Additionally, findings from this study may aid UA staff in the school selection process, for example choosing schools they previously may not have based on their school-level characteristics. The following is appended: Teacher Interview Protocol.

In recent years, state policymakers have increased high school course requirements--particularly in mathematics and science. This research examines whether stricter requirements have been effective at improving student outcomes. Student-level evidence from a state's recent reform suggests that higher requirements had little effect on trends in course-taking, student performance, and college enrollment. Our evidence suggests that state policies that simply raise math and science graduation requirement may not be effective alone for improving student outcomes. This shortcoming may reflect that the laws primarily affect lower-ability and less-motivated students who often have weaker preparation for advanced coursework. Districts and states may require greater efforts at preparing these students for advanced coursework or redesigning the curriculum to improve student outcomes.

Historically, educational policymakers have focused on and invested heavily in accountability testing of "learning" to leverage improvement in student learning. Through accountability testing, policy makers aim to communicate standards, establish performance goals, provide data through which educators can analyze and improve school programs and student performance, and establish incentives and sanctions to motivate action. Today, however, there is growing recognition of the limitations of accountability testing of learning, and wide acknowledgment and accumulating evidence of the crucial role that formative assessment--"assessment for learning"--can play in helping all students achieve rigorous standards. This paper pairs an in-depth exploration of current formative assessment practices and research with guidance on application of the presented conceptual model to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The paper includes a selective review of diverse literature focused on effective formative assessment practice, and uses this literature to describe and justify a proposed model. The paper highlights special considerations for, and provides examples of the model's application in Next Generation Science Standards. Implications for the design of coherent assessment systems that support student learning are included.

In this paper we provide the first rigorous evidence of the impact of a partnership between public middle schools and informal science institutions (ISIs), such as museums and zoos, on student outcomes. This study focuses on Urban Advantage (UA), a program in New York City (NYC) that explicitly draws upon the expertise and resources of the city's ISIs, bringing these institutions together with NYC public schools to improve science education through intensive professional development, access to ISIs for teachers and students, and other science resources. We conclude that attending a UA school in eighth grade increases middle school science achievement, and there is some evidence that it may also increase the likelihood of passing standardized science exams in high school. [Major public support for Urban Advantage is provided by the Speaker and the City Council of New York and the New York City Department of Education.]

Using data from the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey, we show that study time and academic conscientiousness were lower among students in humanities and social science majors than among students in science and engineering majors. Analytical and critical thinking experiences were no more evident among humanities and social sciences majors than among science and engineering majors. All three academically beneficial experiences were, however, strongly related to participation in class and interaction with instructors, and participation was more common among humanities and social sciences students than among science and engineering students. Bok's (2006) influential discussion of "underachievement" in undergraduate education focused on institutional performance. Our findings indicate that future discussions should take into account differences among disciplinary categories and majors as well. (Contains 4 tables and 13 footnotes.)

Although educational leaders, policy makers, and researchers have long emphasized the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the country's continued prosperity, increasing participation in STEM has remained a challenge for both the education and scientific communities (Pearson & Fechter, 1994; National Academies, 2007; President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989). A historic imbalance in STEM participation persists whereby proportionately fewer female and minority students enroll in STEM courses and seek employment in STEM professions (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, 2010). Historically the subject area instruction of English Language Learners (ELLs) in math and science has received limited attention by the research community, which has instead focused on English proficiency and literacy of ELLs (Lee, 2005). Thus, the research fields of math and science education have developed independent of the research field involving ELLs. However, this trend is beginning to fade as science and math education researchers and their ELL education peers have begun to crossover to one another's domains to produce new understandings and strategies in math and science education specific to the needs of English Language Learners. For its part, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program is contributing to the growth of knowledge in these areas of crossover by funding ELL math and ELL science education projects that seek to understand and improve STEM learning and STEM instruction with ELLs. To investigate the contribution of the DR K-12 portfolio to the knowledge base on math and science learning among ELLs, the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) designed a study to explore the ELL work that is being conducted in the DR K-12 projects. This paper summarizes the work of this study. It begins with a description of the methodology employed, followed by a presentation of the findings, and finally a discussion of the conclusions drawn from this work. The findings are organized into discussions about the expertise held by the DR K-12 ELL researchers and research teams, the characteristics of the ELL research being conducted by the DR K-12 projects, and a comparison of the research conducted by the DR K-12 projects with published research on ELL-science education and ELL-math education. The following appendices are included: (1) Description of DR K-12 Projects; (2) Research in Science Education and ELL; and (3) Research in Math Education and ELL.

This paper explores the possibilities and challenges games and simulations pose for informal science education. The authors begin with a brief overview of the recent history of games and games research. They then attempt to clarify the distinctions between games and simulations. Next, they examine types of informal learning environments--"structured" informal learning environments such as workshops and after-school programs and relatively "unstructured" learning environments such as home and online environments--contrasting them with more formal learning environments such as school. The authors then turn their focus to research on learning across these contexts. They conclude by offering some thoughts on the opportunities and challenges for informal science education with games. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure, 6 footnotes, and 21 software citations.)

With the tuition cost of traditional colleges and universities soaring and education technology advancing, online courses and degree programs are becoming more common. Some critics argue that an online degree cannot provide all the important features of a traditional college education, from extracurricular activities to new professional networks, but the evidence disputes much of that criticism, especially for certain groups of students. Indeed, some aspects of online education may provide a better experience than a traditional brick-and-mortar college for some students. (Contains 49 footnotes.)

This paper describes the analysis of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program's January 2008 Learning Network Conference (LNC). This study focuses on the methodologies used by the MSP community to generate evidence and seeks to understand topics of interest to the 320 LNC participants. The data set for this study included the 47 abstracts accepted for presentation, 68 interviews conducted during the conference, observations of all 26 breakout sessions, and 98 "think pieces" written by conference attendees. The analytic procedures included a holistic scoring rubric for the abstracts and inductive analyses of the interview, observation, and think-piece data using a structured approach to grounded theory. Findings included enthusiasm for the conference theme, respondent focus on realistic and field-tested ways to generate evidence instead of theory and implementation reports, and a strong assumption that student learning outcomes are the type of outcome data of primary interest to the NSF. The study also identified factors that influence the MSP community's approach to evaluation. Overall, the study is framed by observed patterns in how principal investigators (PIs) and their teams responded to project evaluation requirements. Some PIs experienced a dilemma as to whether their dominant operational approach should be discovery--as for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research projects--or delivery of pre-specified outcomes. Other PIs and project leaders were slow to start the evaluation and were impressed by the complexity of producing sound evaluation findings. Three appendices are included: (1) Data Collection Instruments; (2) Methodology; and (3) LNC Call for Abstracts. (Contains 17 footnotes.)

This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that incorporate technical, social, cultural, and cognitive elements. Guiding questions include (a) how the institutional context influenced the project, (b) whether project activities affected science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction, interdisciplinary collaboration on preservice programs, and inter-institutional collaboration on in-service programs, and (c) if and how change initiatives are accepted and incorporated. In-depth interviews (N = 34), relevant documents, and observation data were collected in 2006 and 2007. Findings identified several factors that supported and several that inhibited achievement of SCALE goals. Supportive factors included reform efforts already underway at CSUN, an institutional mission emphasizing undergraduate education, an active social network of STEM educators, and faculty experienced with inquiry-based STEM instruction. Inhibiting factors included a heavy faculty and staff workload, a lack of pedagogical training for new faculty hires, a limited pipeline of preservice science majors, funding limitations, and a pervasive sentiment that scientific legitimacy is equated with basic research and not teaching expertise. Into this context, SCALE introduced two activities, including thirteen 5-day science professional development workshops for 270 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) personnel, and four 15-day math professional development workshops for 83 LAUSD personnel. The project's success was limited by the absence of SCALE leaders at CSUN, and the subsequent lack of an explicit theory of institutional change for CSUN. Instead, SCALE engaged CSUN as primarily a site for its already existing math and science institutes, and largely ceded the effort at institutional transformation to chance and the extant reforms at CSUN. An enduring lesson from this study is that efforts to change the culture of teaching and learning in STEM departments should focus on illuminating and then shifting the pervasive cultural schema that faculty hold for teaching and learning. This analysis suggests that shaping the culture of an organization may require comprehensive efforts to change the structural, social, and symbolic milieu in which individuals operate, in addition to efforts to change the cognitive processes that constitute individuals' habits of mind. To accomplish this, leaders are encouraged to (a) conduct regular institutional assessments prior to program planning, (b) design neutral spaces in which different groups may interact, (c) recruit a skilled culture-broker when working with interdisciplinary groups, (d) marshal existing resources and reform projects to collectively target key leverage points, and (e) focus on developing cohorts of STEM educators in specific departments. (Contains 5 figures and 3 tables.)

Although the University of California, Berkeley has increased efforts to involve undergraduates in scientific research, little data exists regarding the number of undergraduate researchers. The University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) presents an opportunity to investigate the extent of undergraduate research involvement at the UC Berkeley. The data (N=5,347) show that the frequency of student participation in research under the direction of a faculty mentor varies significantly based on whether students are receiving course credit, pay, or working as a volunteer. Undergraduate research participation also varies between STEM majors and social science or humanities majors (non-STEM), with slightly more STEM majors participating. The data show that women are participating in STEM research opportunities at a lower rate than men but participating in non-STEM research opportunities at a higher rate than men. The data also show that Asian, Filipino, and Pacific Islanders (AFP students) account for 50% of all undergraduate researchers in STEM fields and 35% of all non-STEM researchers. However, the data also reveal that African American, Chicano-Latino, AFP, White, American Indian, and international students are all participating at almost the exact same rate in undergraduate research (between 24% and 27% by ethnic or racial category). Further analysis regarding the relationship between undergraduate research experience and the highest parental education level reached, as well as high school grade-point average and standardized test scores (SAT I and ACT) is presented. Implications for higher education administrators, education researchers, faculty mentors, and undergraduate students are discussed. (Contains 10 tables.)

For the pat 40 years, educators and researchers have largely discussed sex equity issues, particularly in the K-12 settings. However, within the last few years gender equity issues have become a hotly debated area of research. One may contend that sex is biologically determined maleness and femaleness; whereas, gender is influenced by cultural, social, and historical factors. Although, there has been a lot of emphasis on unfair treatment or exclusion of girls from formal science, the focus was mainly on White, middle class girls with little focus placed on Black girls. This has fueled the debate for the promotion of the "Black Girl Turn" in research on gender and science education, as over the centuries Blacks and girls have been denied their turn in science due to cultural and historical reasons. This literature review addresses the strengths and limitations of the existing bodies of work and concludes with directions toward a student-based inquiry approach that can explore and help others to understand Black females' perspectives with an aim at filling in some of the missing information in the science education literature.

This paper is part of a research paper series that the Applied Research Branch of Human Resources Development Canada commissioned in 2001 to contribute to the development of a research strategy for young Canadians completing their education and starting their careers. The series focuses on various elements of the school-work transitions of Canadian youth. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on the transitional experiences of young women. Research has documented that gender differences exist in educational and occupational choices, experiences, and attainments and that these differences have special characteristics. The additional dimensions of marriage and family can also generate differences in transition pathways between women and men. Two key impressions emerge from this review: how much we know and how little has changed. Female inequality, whether in reference to participation in mathematics and science, different fields of study at post-secondary institutions, employment status, family responsibilities in relation to work, or the income earnings gap, has been remarkably stable over time in the research literature. However, the accounts of persistent stability mask the educational and occupational, and earnings outcomes for certain groups. The least advantaged continue to be female lone parents and low income families. Several recommendations for further research emerge from the studies reviewed in this paper. Further research is needed, especially using longitudinal research designs, to document changes in attitudes, course selection, post-secondary field chosen and eventual occupational attainment. In addition, policies for access to and participation in education and labour market require monitoring. (Contains 17 figures and 5 footnotes.)

Stressed by high poverty levels, a low tax base and low teacher salaries, the East Feliciana School District competes, most often unsuccessfully, with neighboring districts and states, and with a relatively segregated white academy system for qualified teachers and pupil resources. Consequently, at the dawn of the federal government's landmark education reform initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 55.8% percent of the district's K-8 teachers were not fully certified to teach and 80% of its students were performing below average in at least one core subject. At the same time, only 31.8% of the parish's adult population had completed high school and fewer than 5% were college graduates. With a median household income of $26,864, 26% of the parish's children were living below the poverty level. This paper describes the implementation and results of a reform effort, undertaken in the late 1990s, that focused on place-based science and mathematics education. Standardized test scores have improved, and parish schools are now developing lasting school-community partnerships. The district is connecting its residents, including students, with natural resources located in East Feliciana and the surrounding communities by collaborating with educators, parents, community members, clergy, businesses, and nonprofits. (Contains 6 figures and 6 tables.)

This report was conceptualized as a document to offer perspective on mathematics and science reform in the Southeast. The intent was to provide a panoramic view of K-12 mathematics and science education reform in each SERVE state (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina) and, ultimately, a synthesis of mathematics and science reform in the Southeast region. It begins with an overview of mathematics and science education reform at the national level, including a section on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which will most certainly have an enormous impact on mathematics and science education across the country. The story of the Southeast's mathematics and science reform journey from the 1990s to the present. The paper highlights trends across the region in terms of standards and accountability, student achievement, teacher development, and programs supporting reform. Appendix A provides greater detail about reform initiatives for each of the individual SERVE states. Appendix B includes charts and detailed data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) for the six states. Appendix C lists the Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium @ SERVE's Regional Coordinating Board members. (Contains 10 tables and 11 figures.) [This report was produced by the Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at SERVE.]

This document represents the first of two volumes presented in "Study of the Impact of the Statewide Systemic Initiatives Program" (Norman L. Webb and Iris R. Weiss). In an effort to evaluate the impact of the Statewide Systemic Initiatives (SSIs) on student achievement and the lessons that could be learned from the National Science Foundation's effort to reform mathematics and science education on a statewide basis, research studies identified the technical strategies, the political strategies, and the interactions with funders that were critical factors in the attempt to effect significant change in student learning over large populations. Documents were received on 21 of the 26 SSIs. More intensive data were collected via telephone interviews of key personnel in seven of these states and during site visits in six other states. Among a number of lessons learned were the following: It was vital to incorporate enough flexibility within the design so that information produced by research, evaluation, and monitoring could be effectively used (technical lesson); the creation of partnerships with policy organizations significantly advanced policy work (political lesson); and, SSI leaders and funders needed to develop a shared, in-depth understanding of the reform strategies as these fit the local context (interaction with funders). The following are appended: (1) SRI International Evaluation Reports; (2) Abt Associates Inc. Monitoring Reports; (3) Coding Scheme: Chronology and Components; (4) Coding Scheme: Strategic Planning, Decision-Making, and Thinking; (5) Coding Scheme: Key Challenges; (6) Interview Protocol for Telephone Interviews and Site Visits; (7) Case Report: Arkansas Statewide Systemic Initiative; (8) Case Report: Maine Statewide Systemic Initiative; (9) Case Report: Michigan Statewide Systemic Initiative; (10) Case Report: Nebraska Statewide Systemic Initiative; (11) Case Report: Puerto Rico Statewide Systemic Initiative; and (12) Case Report: Vermont Statewide Systemic Initiative. [For Volume II of this report, see ED497577.]

The state government of West Virginia has been motivating a reform of high school science and technology education by actively funding projects that lead to innovative computer-based teaching techniques. Faculties at Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia) have been active participants in this reform, and have been developing computer-based interactive multimedia models for high school students. These models are designed to promote and enhance high school science education, particularly in remote Appalachian high schools that lack ready access to either extensive laboratory equipment or computer resources, and to help high school teachers utilize computer technology in the classroom. The primary benefit of the models for students is that they learn the scientific processes of making their own hypotheses, and proving or disproving them using inferences, analysis, and critical thinking skills. (AEF)

This report results from an evaluation of the National Research Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship program. The study sought to determine: (1) whether NSF fellows show evidence of more timely degree completion and early career success; (2) whether graduate fellows and minority graduate fellows experience similar education and career success; and (3) whether the individual award aspect of the program enhanced the educational experience and career options of fellows. A 52-item survey questionnaire measured attendance patterns, completion rates, and time to degree of 9,035 NSF fellows who received first-year awards between 1979 and 1993. The study found positive effects on all three dimensions for female fellows and for recipients of minority graduate fellowships, suggesting a "signaling" effect both for individuals and their departments. The importance of the individual award aspect of the fellowships varied by discipline and by other sources of graduate funding support available in individual departments. Appended are seven data tables and illustrative graphics. (Contains 17 references.) (CH)

This paper provides an overview of the growth of new technology industries in Great Britain and the skills needed for these industries. The industries are advanced materials, biotechnology, and opto-electronics. The report profiles the current status, expected growth, and skills needed for each of these industry sectors. It also points out the need for people with technical skills to learn business skills and identifies how high level scientific and technical skills are best provided. The report lists 35 references. (KC)

This study investigated student use of commercial note-taking services as a predictor of class attendance and examined the effects of their use on academic performance in science courses. The study draws upon results of a survey distributed to 1,874 undergraduate students (response rate 58.2 percent) enrolled in two large-lecture chemistry courses during the fall 1995 term at a large midwestern research university, and examines the relative influence of two independent variables (student personal characteristics and student academic background) vis-a-vis commercial course note use on student academic performance. The initial section of the paper presents an extensive literature review of the social environments of learning, student academic behaviors, and commercial note-taking services. This is followed by sections discussing the conceptual framework of the study, the research questions to be answered, the methodology used, and study limitations and results. The study found little correlation between students' academic backgrounds and the likelihood of using commercial note-taking services; it also found no correlation between the use of note-taking services and poor class attendance; however, the study did show a negative effect of the use of commercial note-taking services on student academic performance. Data tables are appended. (Contains 23 references.) (CH)

States, school districts, and individual schools have created standards that indicate what content teachers should teach and students should learn. This document suggests that in order to have substantive effect in mathematics and science classrooms, other components must be addressed and linked to the content standards which include establishing criteria for selecting programs or materials, building a common vision for instruction, prioritizing funds, setting up appropriate teacher professional development exercises, constructing student assessments aligned with the standards, and articulating policies about resources. This briefing paper describes program and system standards and shares implications for their use. Contains 11 references. (ASK)

This Occasional Paper uses historical and recent concerns about mathematics and science content standards to demonstrate conflict and tensions that surround the process of setting standards. The tension between flexible and specific standards is analyzed. No simple recipe will resolve differing viewpoints, but this Occasional Paper analyzes key actors and provides guidance for reaching consensus. While subject matter specialists are an important component of any resolution, this Occasional Paper stresses the multiple perspectives that must be considered. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/YDS)