Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations Used in Tennessee’s Value-Added Assessment Reports   3-Year-Average NCE Gain The average academic gain of the most recent 3 years expressed as an NCE (normal curve equivalent) score. These scores represent the average number of NCE points by which a school exceeds or falls short of the student achievement growth that occurred statewide in 1998-the benchmark year, a.k.a., the Growth Standard. These are the scores on which the Value-Added Achievement Awards are based. … Read More

Reversing American Decline

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From A Nation at Risk, 1983:  “We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” The SAT scores since since 1967 clearly document the decline and … Read More

Three-year-old’s Traits Predict Personality at Age 26

Children’s Behavioral Styles at Age 3 are Linked to Their Adult Personality Traits at Age 26 (click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By Avshalom Caspi, et al, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London & University of Wisconsin-Madison Journal of Personality, 71(4), 2003, p. 496-513.   Briefing Teachers and parents of a shy, clingy preschooler may hope that their child’s behavior is just a phase. But what they’re more likely to … Read More

The Free and Happy Student

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“The Free and Happy Student” By B. F. Skinner Phi Delta Kappan, 55(1), pp 13-16, 1973. The natural, logical outcome of the struggle for personal freedom in education is that the teacher should improve his control of the student rather than abandon it. The free school is no school at all. His name is Emile. He was born in the middle of the eighteenth century in the first flush of the modern concern for personal freedom. His father … Read More

The Free and Happy Student

(click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By B. F. Skinner Phi Delta Kappan, 1973 55(1), pp 13-16, 488     Briefing In a widely read article written more than 30 years ago, the famous behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner predicted disastrous consequences if schools adopted teaching methods based on the child-centered educational philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His critique was remarkably prescient. The theories that troubled Skinner have influenced a generation … Read More

Teaching Skill Under Scrutiny

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“Teaching Skill Under Scrutiny”   by W. James Popham Popham, W. J. (1971). Teaching skill under scrutiny. Phi Delta Kappan, 53(1), 599-602. Results of a recently reported series of investigations reveal that experienced teachers may not be significantly more proficient than “people off the street” with respect to accomplishing intended be- havior changes in learners. In three separate replications, groups of experienced teachers were unable to out-perform non teachers in bringing about specified changes in learners. This article … Read More

Teaching Skill Under Scrutiny

(click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By W. James Popham, Past President, American Educational Research Association; Founding Editor, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis; Professor Emeritus, UCLA. Phi Delta Kappan, 53(1), 1971, 599-602.   Briefing It has been an unquestioned article of faith among education professors that teachers who complete a lengthy menu of pedagogical courses are more effective in the classroom. A 2001 report by Kate Walsh of the Baltimore-based … Read More

Engaging Minds

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Motivation and Learning in America’s Public Schools (click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By David A. Goslin, PhD, Past President and CEO of the American Institutes for Research and Former Executive Director of the National Research Council’s Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Latham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003   Briefing Rising standards and accountability, by themselves, do little to increase student achievement. The task of acquiring knowledge … Read More

Issues in Public Education

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Policy Analyses by J.E. Stone, Ed.D. Research and Analysis A great deal of research and policy analysis is available and its ostensive purpose is to improve public education.  The problem, however, is that almost all of it is produced by and for educators, not consumers.  As a result, it tends to serve the aims and purposes of its educator audience, not those of the consuming public.  In general, the public want schools to produce better student learning outcomes.  … Read More

Policy Highlights

Tennessee’s Race to the Top Application Significant Reforms Found By J.E. Stone, Ed.D. President Education Consumers Foundation February 15, 2010 (click here for PDF) Introduction Tennessee can take justifiable pride in its Race to the Top (RTTT) application. It is a bold plan and it succeeds by ensuring that the key elements of schooling enterprise—governance, hiring, compensation, and training—all treat student achievement gains as schooling’s top priority. Even retention for tenured teachers is subject to job performance requirements. In … Read More

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