Education Commons^™

Alignment Of Classroom Assessments With The Virginia Standards Of Learning (Sol), Joan A. Rhodes, Valerie J. Robnolt, Susan P. Mckelvey

MERC Publications

Parents, teachers, and school administrators all have one common goal — student success. Teachers have been trusted to impart knowledge to students, while hopefully fostering a love of learning, then assessing how much the students know. Assessment in the classroom, whether informal, formative, or summative, has been the major source of identifying student strengths and weaknesses. Today, many people believe that teachers must be accountable for what they do in the classroom. Within the educational system, students’ success has been measured inconsistently from state-to-state, district-to-district, and even classroom-to-classroom. In this age of accountability, national and state standards have been developed, …

Accountability Testing And Students With Learning Disabilities: Factors Of Passing And Failing The Virginia Sol Tests, Paul J. Gerber

MERC Publications

Since the landmark work A Nation At-Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1988), school systems in the United States have been evolving by a myriad of reform efforts, particularly with regard to the “standards movement.” Outcomes of standards-based education are measured by accountability and assessment systems. Currently, all states have some kind of assessment system that (1) provides information about individual student achievement and (2) gauges the success of schools and school systems. Conventional wisdom is if standards are raised all students will benefit through greater student achievement and the efforts of educators will, in essence, be validated.

All …

Research-Based Practices As A Protective Factor For Students At-Risk For Academic Failure, Kevin Sutherland, Donna Jovanovich

MERC Publications

Increasing pressure on teachers and administrators due to high-stakes testing has led to increased risk to our most vulnerable population, those students who arrive at school without the prerequisite skills necessary to successfully participate in the academic climate of the classroom. Unfortunately, given the large range of ability levels often present even in early elementary school, teachers face enormous challenges in meeting the needs of all their students. Further, due to the challenges inherent in teaching low-achieving students, and the ensuing classroom behavior problems often presented by these students, teachers may be conditioned to avoid interacting with these students, particularly …