Search

Since the "National Science Education Standards" were published in 1996, it has become apparent that the standards did not provide sufficient guidance on the key topics needed for implementation. Assessment was identified as a topic requiring more detail and guidance, as well as scientific inquiry, technology in the science curriculum, selection of instructional materials, and development of science programs. This book examines the ongoing assessment that occurs each day in classrooms. Chapters include: (1) "An Introduction to Assessment in the Science Classroom"; (2) "The Case for Strengthening Assessment in the Science Classroom"; (3) "Assessment in the Classroom"; (4) "The Relationship between Formative and Summative Assessment in the Classroom and Beyond"; (5) "Professional Development"; and (6) "Beyond the Classroom--System-Level Supports." (Contains 122 references.) (Author/YDS)

This document on changing patterns of teacher education in the United States is divided into three sections. Section 1, "Some Contextual Factors," covers the following topics: governmental issues; planning and management, the scientific base for educational practice, ideology and politics, and governance of teacher education. Section 2, is concerned with current patterns. Among the topics covered are the offering of options, teaching for competencies, cooperating in the field, reexamining inservice teacher education, developing teacher centers, and the traditional teacher education program. Section 3, discusses "Implications for Policy Analysis and Research." In this final section, policy issues are examined, and some recommendations for research and development in teacher education are offered. (JA)

This document contains three research reports dealing with teacher education in the U.S. "Changing Patterns of Teacher Education," by Atkin and Raths, attempts to (a) highlight innovative trends in preservice and inservice training; (b) outline relevant political, economic, and social factors; and (c) identify resulting policy issues. "The Effect of Innovations on Staffing Patterns and Teacher Roles," by Hyer and McClure, discusses 14 innovative practices now being used. The paper focuses on (a) rationale for adoption; (b) changes which resulted in instructional strategies; (c) teacher tasks and staffing patterns; (d) changes in resources; (e) use of technology and building design; (f) capital and operating costs; and (g) evaluation. "Staffing Patterns and Costs in Alternative Educational Futures," by Kiesling, discusses four promising educational practices that may be available by the 1980s. The first section of this paper discusses likely ramifications of present-day educational innovations. Section two presents four types of future schools which are suggested by present reforms. Section three illustrates staffing and cost ramifications and estimates. The appendix is entitled "Individualization of Instruction and Educational Reform and Criticism." (JS)

The federal government became involved in the development of public school curriculum in order to pursue broadly accepted national goals. During the first two decades of federal curriculum activity, however, the country became increasingly fragmented socially and politically, making the federal role more complex and controversial. Federal attempts at curriculum revision have affected materials and teaching activities, but have often ignored the wishes, habits, and needs of users. Still, an unprecedented degree of intrusiveness of federal regulation into the teaching process has become acceptable. Federal education policy tends to be a melange of the often conflicting policies of different special interest groups and governmental bureaus. In most cases these interests hope to develop curriculum changes at, diffuse them from, and evaluate them by a central agency--the federal government--without encouraging development of new policies in the field. Federal involvement in curriculum can be understood and interpreted from three analytical perspectives: the technological perspective was most important when there was a high consensus on national goals; the political and cultural perspectives have become important as the society has divided. Consideration suggests favoring strategies for change based on teacher initiatives and designed to meet varied, complex, and sometimes contradictory demands. (Author/PGD)

Using examples from the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.), the authors investigate the use of special or expert commissions in government policy-making in education. They analyze such commissions' impacts, the criticisms made of them, their role in political legitimation, and some alternative instruments for policy formation. After a brief introduction the paper presents past and present opinions in the U.S. and the U.K. on commissions (chiefly noneducational ones) and their utility. The authors then look in detail at the role of three U.S. and five U.K. educational commissions of the 1960's and 1970's, examining their reports and the results of their recommendations. The U.S. reports are the California Master Plan on Higher Education, the Bundy report on New York City, and the Kerr report on higher education; the U.K. documents include the Robbins, Plowden, James, Auld, and Taylor reports. The paper's following section places educational commissions within the larger context of political policy-making and discusses the extent to which commissions are legitimated and the extent to which they legitimate particular policies. The final section considers such alternatives to commissions as legislative committees, think tanks, one-person studies, political parties' research groups, and academic studies. (RW)

Collaborations between public schools and national and corporate laboratories, universities, museums, and other institutions may be a significant force in upgrading science education at the elementary and secondary levels. This report focuses on the new, inter-institutional approaches to the improvement of science education and attempts to assess the importance of the collaboration activities based on case studies of approximately 30 programs. Chapters are: (1) "Improving Science Education, Collaboratively"; (2) "The Corporate World"; (3) "Universities"; (4) "Museums"; (5) "'Third-Party' Agencies: Brokers for Change"; (6) "When a School District Takes the Lead"; (7) "Problem 1: Will the Alliances Last?"; (8) "Problem 2: What Science Should Be Taught?"; (9) "What Works: Practices and Policies That Promote Science Education Partnerships"; and (10) "Postscript: Are the Times Different for Educational Change?" The report concludes that educational partnerships could become a more significant force in modernizing science education but their replication and expansion are currently hampered by the lack of a guiding vision of good science teaching and by their marginal impact on the mainstream science curriculum. The report warns that without a substantial commitment to sustained funding by the large national foundations, states, and the Federal Government, the local alliance movement could fall well short of its potential. (YP)