3/12/2013 - Education Week
Emerging technology and research on learning have the potential to dramatically improve assessments, if educators and policymakers take a more balanced approach to using them. That's the conclusion of two years of analysis by the Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education, a panel of top education research and policy experts that was launched in 2011 with initial funding from the Educational Testing Service.
1/17/2013 - Education Week
The public-comment period has opened on two key pieces of a policy that will govern how accommodations are designed for tests on the Common Core State Standards.
1/11/2013 - Education Week
Student feedback, test-score growth calculations, and observations of practice appear to pick up different but complementary information that, combined, can provide a balanced and accurate picture of teacher performance, according to research released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
1/8/2013 - Education Week
A second and final public draft of common standards aimed at reshaping K-12 science education was released today for comment, following eight months of review and rewriting. Organizers emphasized that the latest version reflects substantial changes from the draft issued last May, with a clear focus on taking to heart feedback gathered from more than 10,000 individuals and organizations.
8/30/2012 - Education Week
Statewide test results released Wednesday show more Washington state students are passing their science and math exams, but reading scores are down at some grade levels.
8/22/2012 - The Oklahoman
Oklahoma students do as well as the rest of the country in English and reading, but fall behind in science and math, according to an assessment by the ACT, a college-entrance exam company.
8/7/2012 - EducationNext.org
Student achievement gains, student surveys, and classroom observations—for teacher evaluation systems, rather than rely on any single indicator, schools should try to see effective teaching from multiple angles.
8/6/2012 - The Republic
Science proficiency scores among Hawaii's high school sophomores remained the same for a second year. According to the state Department of Education, just 22 percent of 10th-graders tested proficient in science last school year.
7/12/2012 - Los Angeles Times
DemiDec Dan is a legend in Academic Decathlon's rarefied world.
7/3/2012 - Futurity.org
Offering students rewards just before standardized testing and giving the incentive right afterward can improve test performance dramatically, say researchers.
6/21/2012 - The Dallas Morning News
Students in third through eighth grade took the newly implemented State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams, or STAAR tests. The highest percentage of correct answers on average was in seventh-grade science, a subject many schools traditionally struggled with in the former TAKS system.
5/17/2012 - West Virginia Radio Network
The latest standardized test results show that West Virginia students are still below average in science. The National Assessment of Educational Progress report card for eighth grade students gave West Virginia a score of 149 out of a possible 300; that’s two points below the national average and lower than all five neighboring states.
5/12/2012 - ScienceInsider
U.S. eighth graders did slightly better last year on a national science test than did their counterparts in 2009. But what that result says about the state of science in U.S. schools is open to debate.
5/12/2012 - NPR.org
Eighth-graders in the U.S. are doing better in science than they were two years ago, but seven out of 10 still are not considered proficient, the federal government said Thursday.
5/11/2012 - The Wall Street Journal
U.S. eighth-graders made modest gains on the latest national science exam, but more than two-thirds still lacked a solid grasp of science facts, according to data released Thursday.
5/11/2012 - The Washington Post; requires free registration
National tests to measure science knowledge among eighth-graders show slight improvement compared with two years ago, but one-third of all students still lack a basic understanding of the physical, life and earth sciences, according to a federal study made public Thursday.
5/10/2012 - Education Week
Fewer than one-third of American 8th graders are proficient in science, but most students are improving, and achievement gaps are closing between students who are black or Hispanic and their white peers, a special administration of the test known as “the nation’s report card” shows.
5/10/2012 - USA Today
Despite years of educators' complaints that reading and math are crowding out other school subjects, new findings from the federal government show that USA middle-schoolers' basic knowledge of science is improving—at least a bit.
4/17/2012 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Can the MCAT identify that ethereal mix of scientist, humanist, and spiritualist that makes a good doctor?
2/9/2012 - The Reno Gazette-Journal
A national think tank gave Nevada a “D” for its state science standards and said that it provides “a very shaky foundation” for science education in the state, which some local educators say will change soon.
1/26/2012 - Education Week
We hear it said often that "what gets tested gets taught." With that in mind, advocates for teaching science and history may be concerned about a bill just approved by the Virginia Senate that would eliminate standardized testing for the state's 3rd graders in those two subjects.
1/12/2012 - insidebayarea.com
You can't teach an old dog new tricks, but for teachers, learning is lifelong. A Watsonville high school science teacher was one of 39 California science teachers selected from among hundreds of applicants nationwide to receive a national fellowship from the National Science Teacher Association.
1/12/2012 - gazette.net
Laura Donaldson, a middle-school teacher at St. John’s Regional Catholic School in Frederick recently was chosen by the National Science Teachers Association as a fellow in the association's New Science Teacher Academy.
1/11/2012 - Education Week
Higher standards. Better assessments. Accountability. Merit pay for teachers. Charter schools. These are among the familiar strands of education reform that have dominated the national dialogue in recent years. But a new book from a 25-year veteran of educational publishing argues that improving the curriculum—what actually gets taught in classrooms—is all too often left off the table.
1/11/2012 - US News & World Report
As the United States enters 2012, a growing number of college graduates are being held back with student loan debt. In fact, the average graduating student has to repay $25,250, which can take years if a student majored in a low-paying subject. The answer, according to a look at the data by crisp360.com, is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).