Instruction

This study compares block scheduling to traditional scheduling used for college level science courses. The researchers surveyed more than 7000 high school students enrolled in introductory college biology, chemistry, and physics courses. Survey results revealed that teaching methods were similar in both scheduling types. Students in AB scheduling, especially those in peer tutoring classrooms, performed less well then students in other scheduling conditions.

This document extends the National High School Center’s Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework and offers specific school-level benchmarks that provide a deeper level of detail for each indicator of effectiveness and describe school-level practices that can be implemented to support high school improvement at the local level. High school improvement teams will find this tool useful once they have already identified areas of strengths and concerns through the use of the Center’s self-assessment tool.

Implementing response to intervention (RTI) in high schools requires educators to work across traditional boundaries. This brief presents a portrait of RTI implementation in three Colorado high schools as well as the state and district practices that support implementation at the school level.

This brief from Achieve identifies the key areas that state policymakers should consider in order to implement the new Common Core State Standards with fidelity. The brief provides suggestions for aligning these new standards with their existing standards and course requirements, as well as aligning assessments for collecting data and measuring achievement. The brief lists steps each state can take to ensure they are implementing the standards effectively.

This policy brief discusses the growing second-language learner population in schools. Through case studies of schools in Austin and the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas, it provides state and federal policymakers recommendations for policy changes that can help schools increase student achievement among this population.

This guidebook is a step-by-step guide for schools, families and the community on how to be involved in addressing the dropout crisis. The authors provide research-based information and tools with each section to be used in implementing programs specific to the community. Each section provides background information on topics relevant to the community as a whole such as the cost of high dropout rates, along with questions techniques, strategies, and additional resources to address the community needs.

This policy statement from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) provides reasons why the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should be reauthorized. The authors include recommendations for ESEA reauthorization in the four core areas of reform: standards, assessments, and accountability; data and reporting; teachers and leaders; and supports for next-generation learning.

EPIC's 2010 Annual Report focuses on the work being done in a range of topics such as comprehension assessment, out-of-school learning, writing in adolescence, literacy coaching standards, instructional needs of second language learners, and literacy. The report introduces EPIC's CollegeCareerReadyTM System and provides overviews of key projects with the goal of enabling more students to enter college ready to succeed.

This paper describes the Gates Foundation's beliefs regarding Common Core Standards and the need for the criteria to be “fewer, clearer, higher.” The authors discuss the criteria necessary to support state leaders as they wrestle with decisions new standards, assessments, and teaching tools are implemented. The report ends with a brief discussion of the next steps that the Gates Foundation will take to continue to support making standard real and productive.

This report, sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, discusses the challenges and next steps for expanding learning time that were discussed at a May 2011 Wallace Foundation National Forum. The authors explain that despite a tight economic climate and a need for stronger research on what works in expanding learning time, the time is right to work on increasing learning time.