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Adaptive learning systems personalize instruction to students' individual learning needs and abilities. Such systems have shown positive impacts on learning. Many schools in the United States have adopted adaptive learning systems, and the rate of adoption in China is accelerating, reaching almost 2 million unique users for one product alone in the past 3 years. Given such rapid adoption in China, it is useful to examine the efficacy of adaptive learning within that country's educational system. This study aimed to compare the learning impacts of individualized adaptive learning courseware to two common instructional approaches in China: large-group and small-group classroom instruction. This paper describes the results of two efficacy studies of one of China's first adaptive learning systems, Squirrel AI Learning. One study compares classroom-based individualized adaptive learning instruction to large-group instruction, and another to small-group instruction. Chinese eighth-grade students from two provinces randomly assigned to use Squirrel AI Learning showed greater gains on a mathematics test than those randomly assigned to whole-class or small-group instruction led by expert teachers. Findings provide a basis for further research into the selection, use, and impact of adaptive learning systems in Chinese education.

Background and Context: In today's increasingly digital world, it is critical that all students learn to think computationally from an early age. Assessments of Computational Thinking (CT) are essential for capturing information about student learning and challenges. When programming is used as a vehicle to foster CT skills, assessment of CT skills needs to measure understanding of programming concepts alongside general problem-solving practices applicable in contexts beyond programming. Objective: In this paper, we discuss the development of and results from separate validated assessments of programming concepts and generic CT practices for 4th-6th grade students. Method: An Evidence-Centered Design approach was used for the development and validation of the assessments, that were used with 15,000 upper elementary students in Hong Kong. Findings: Results from assessment implementation indicate that the assessments worked as designed and reveal student challenges with CT concepts and practices. Implications: These results point to the utility of our assessment as a curricular tool and the need for emphasizing certain CT concepts and practices in future curricular initiatives and teacher professional development.

This paper describes a global professional development program called 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD), which helps teachers design academic lessons that integrate opportunities for students to develop 21st Century competencies in a variety of dimensions such as collaboration, knowledge construction, and the powerful use of ICT for learning. The framework and tools of 21CLD are grounded in learning science research, promoting aspects of these dimensions that have been shown to tie to deeper learning. The paper highlights the example of Crescent Girls' School in Singapore, which is implementing this program school-wide as a next step on its longstanding journey to leverage ICT for instructional innovation. Critical aspects of the school's supportive ecosystem include a clear and consistent vision for teaching and learning, strong teacher ownership and a common language of discourse, distributed leadership, and the use of ICT to support teacher professional development and lesson design. The paper describes results for teaching and learning through a Communicative Arts lesson that leverages place-based ICT tools for student knowledge construction. Although Crescent Girls' School is unusually well resourced and has a strong history of ICT use for learning, this case offers lessons that apply equally well for earlier-stage explorations into ICT.

In this paper we elaborate and extend the work of the EDUsummIT 2015 Thematic Working Group 7 (TWG7) by proposing a set of indicators on quality Technology-Enhanced Learning and Teaching (TEL&T). These indicators are intended as one component of a set of global indicators that could be used to monitor implementation of the Education 2030 agenda, which aims to "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all." The proposed indicators address conditions at the student, teacher, school and system levels, and are organized in a systemic framework to help foreground interactions and interdependencies within and across the different levels. This framework highlights the need for longitudinal, multilevel designs in evaluation studies of TEL&T implementations, which will also contribute to a better understanding of the links between policy, policy implementation, outputs, and outcomes. Sample indicators are presented to illustrate the framework, and suggestions are made for use of the framework in evaluation studies. Further, the proposed framework could be used to underpin the development of an open, worldwide collaborative of educational evaluation researchers, practitioners and policymakers, thereby adopting a crowdsourcing approach to systematically address the complex challenges in evaluating quality TEL&T.

Adaptive learning systems personalize instruction to students' individual learning needs and abilities. Such systems have shown positive impacts on learning. Many schools in the United States have adopted adaptive learning systems, and the rate of adoption in China is accelerating, reaching almost 2 million unique users for one product alone in the past 3 years. Given such rapid adoption in China, it is useful to examine the efficacy of adaptive learning within that country's educational system. This study aimed to compare the learning impacts of individualized adaptive learning courseware to two common instructional approaches in China: large-group and small-group classroom instruction. This paper describes the results of two efficacy studies of one of China's first adaptive learning systems, Squirrel AI Learning. One study compares classroom-based individualized adaptive learning instruction to large-group instruction, and another to small-group instruction. Chinese eighth-grade students from two provinces randomly assigned to use Squirrel AI Learning showed greater gains on a mathematics test than those randomly assigned to whole-class or small-group instruction led by expert teachers. Findings provide a basis for further research into the selection, use, and impact of adaptive learning systems in Chinese education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The best science teachers are not only experts in teaching and knowledgeable about science content, but they are also great at teaching science. They have specialized teaching knowledge, including knowledge of effective pedagogical practices in science, student difficulties with understanding content, and curricular purposes. As a result, professional development that is both content-specific and anchored in what teachers must do in the classroom is becoming the norm for helping teachers improve their science instruction. Less widespread is professional development that prepares teachers to design units of instruction for students by using available materials or developing their own lessons. This may be in part because some education leaders and researchers do not believe teachers have sufficient skills and knowledge to design instruction for students, so they focus on preparing teachers to follow curriculum developed by subject-matter experts. But teachers inevitably do adapt curricula and programs to fit their classroom contexts. In their work, the authors have found that content-specific professional development that prepares teachers for principled adaptation of curriculum has potential for improving student learning. In this article, the authors describe the comparative teacher and student outcomes of three content-specific professional development programs that were tested in a school district in Florida. They also examine costs that districts may want to consider in selecting a professional development model to adopt.

Background/Context: In 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began an ambitious initiative intended to catalyze the fundamental transformation of American high schools. This article summarizes the results of a 5-year national evaluation of the first stage of the foundation's initiative. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article focuses on two contrasting strategies to small-school reform: starting new small high schools, and converting large schools into smaller learning communities. For each strategy, it reports on the progress of the reform in its first several years, student outcomes, and key implementation factors that shape progress and outcomes for start-up and conversion schools. Research Design: The evaluation summarized in this article used a mixed-methods design. Data and analyses in this article come from surveys of teachers, students, and school leaders; case study site visits that collected a range of qualitative data; the collection and analysis of teacher assignments and student work; and district records of attendance and achievement. Findings/Results: Results show that although both strategies have the potential to promote learning environments that are more personalized and that encourage students to work to higher standards, start-up schools in their first several years showed positive results in terms of attendance and some indication of student achievement gains, whereas these outcomes did not emerge for conversion schools during the time frame of the study. Conclusions/Recommendations: Results reported by the evaluation must be taken in the context of the typically slow pace of significant educational reform. Despite the many tasks facing start-up schools in their first 3 years and the challenges posed by limited budgets and incompatibilities with district systems, these schools were quickly able to establish strong and supportive school climates without apparent compromise to student academic achievement. Conversion school progress was slowed by an early focus on structural changes and the challenges of equitable reassignment of existing staff and students, with less initial clarity of vision for the learning environment or initial emphasis on instructional change. More evidence is needed concerning the long-term outcomes for students in these schools and the feasibility of creating small schools at scale, and therefore the degree to which either strategy is likely to support the ultimate goal of promoting educational excellence and equity for all high schoolers.

This study explores the roles that regional partners play in helping to support implementation of the GLOBE program, an international earth science and education initiative. Researchers at SRI International conducted case studies of two GLOBE partners' practices in an effort to identify the factors that contribute to effective implementation of the program within a teaching approach that emphasizes student research. The chief finding of the case studies is that intermediary organizations in GLOBE help teachers both to address obstacles to implementing GLOBE-based student research in their classrooms and to align their curriculum to state standards and assessments. Such intermediary organizations may play similar roles in other science education programs, helping teachers to find ways to make nationally or internationally oriented science curriculum materials locally relevant and easy to adopt in diverse school settings.

Describes collaborative effort to evaluate and improve the Web-based Quest adventure series. Finds, for example, that students' reasoning ability improved after implementation of research-based instructional design guidelines. (Contains 22 references.) (PKP)

Describes how science education partnerships composed of educational researchers, technologists, classroom teachers, natural scientists, and pedagogy experts can create effective instructional innovations using Internet technologies. Illustrates how the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration (SKI) framework gives partnerships a head start on effective designs. Concludes with suggestions for future partnerships. Contains 30 references. (Author/AEF)

The role that regional partners play in helping to support implementation of the GLOBE program, an international earth, science and education initiative is explored. Such organizations help the teachers to find ways to make and adopt in diverse school settings.

Summarizes activities and perspectives from the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies' (CILT) annual conference in 2000. Focuses on technology and equity, seeking to promote collaborative discourse and deeper understanding of the complex challenges and opportunities for improving the quality of learning for all students. (Author/YDS)

In this paper we elaborate and extend the work of the EDUsummIT 2015 Thematic Working Group 7 (TWG7) by proposing a set of indicators on quality Technology-Enhanced Learning and Teaching (TEL&T). These indicators are intended as one component of a set of global indicators that could be used to monitor implementation of the Education 2030 agenda, which aims to "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all." The proposed indicators address conditions at the student, teacher, school and system levels, and are organized in a systemic framework to help foreground interactions and interdependencies within and across the different levels. This framework highlights the need for longitudinal, multilevel designs in evaluation studies of TEL&T implementations, which will also contribute to a better understanding of the links between policy, policy implementation, outputs, and outcomes. Sample indicators are presented to illustrate the framework, and suggestions are made for use of the framework in evaluation studies. Further, the proposed framework could be used to underpin the development of an open, worldwide collaborative of educational evaluation researchers, practitioners and policymakers, thereby adopting a crowdsourcing approach to systematically address the complex challenges in evaluating quality TEL&T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: In 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began an ambitious initiative intended to catalyze the fundamental transformation of American high schools. This article summarizes the results of a 5-year national evaluation of the first stage of the foundation's initiative. Purpose/Objective: This article focuses on two contrasting strategies to small-school reform: starting new small high schools, and converting large schools into smaller learning communities. For each strategy, it reports on the progress of the reform in its first several years, student outcomes, and key implementation factors that shape progress and outcomes for start-up and conversion schools. Research Design: The evaluation summarized in this article used a mixed-methods design. Data and analyses in this article come from surveys of teachers, students, and school leaders; case study site visits that collected a range of qualitative data; the collection and analysis of teacher assignments and student work; and district records of attendance and achievement. Findings/Results: Results show that although both strategies have the potential to promote learning environments that are more personalized and that encourage students to work to higher standards, start-up schools in their first several years showed positive results in terms of attendance and some indication of student achievement gains, whereas these outcomes did not emerge for conversion schools during the timeframe of the study. Conclusions/Recommendations: Results reported by the evaluation must be taken in the context of the typically slow pace of significant educational reform. Despite the many tasks facing start-up schools in their first 3 years and the challenges posed by limited budgets and incompatibilities with distinct systems, these schools were quickly able to establish strong and supportive school climates without apparent compromise to student academic achievement. Conversion school progress was slowed by an early focus on structural changes and the challenges of equitable reassignment of existing staff and students, with less initial clarity of vision for the learning environment or initial emphasis on instructional change. More evidence is needed concerning the long-term outcomes for students in these schools and the feasibility of creating small schools at scale, and therefore the degree to which either strategy is likely to support the ultimate goal of promoting educational excellence and equity for all high schoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study described a partnership in which researchers from SRI International worked with developers and explorers from Classroom Connect Inc. to evaluate and augment the learning environment that their Web-based products offer. Methodology used; Results and discussion; Conclusions.