TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Jay P. Heubert A2 - Robert M. Hauser TI - High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and Graduation SN - DO - 10.17226/6336 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6336/high-stakes-testing-for-tracking-promotion-and-graduation PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - Everyone is in favor of "high education standards" and "fair testing" of student achievement, but there is little agreement as to what these terms actually mean. High Stakes looks at how testing affects critical decisions for American students. As more and more tests are introduced into the country's schools, it becomes increasingly important to know how those tests are used—and misused—in assessing children's performance and achievements. High Stakes focuses on how testing is used in schools to make decisions about tracking and placement, promotion and retention, and awarding or withholding high school diplomas. This book sorts out the controversies that emerge when a test score can open or close gates on a student's educational pathway. The expert panel: Proposes how to judge the appropriateness of a test. Explores how to make tests reliable, valid, and fair. Puts forward strategies and practices to promote proper test use. Recommends how decisionmakers in education should—and should not—use test results. The book discusses common misuses of testing, their political and social context, what happens when test issues are taken to court, special student populations, social promotion, and more. High Stakes will be of interest to anyone concerned about the long-term implications for individual students of picking up that Number 2 pencil: policymakers, education administrators, test designers, teachers, and parents. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - James W. Pellegrino A2 - Lee R. Jones A2 - Karen J. Mitchell TI - Grading the Nation's Report Card: Evaluating NAEP and Transforming the Assessment of Educational Progress SN - DO - 10.17226/6296 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6296/grading-the-nations-report-card-evaluating-naep-and-transforming-the PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - Since the late 1960s, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—the nation's report card—has been the only continuing measure of student achievement in key subject areas. Increasingly, educators and policymakers have expected NAEP to serve as a lever for education reform and many other purposes beyond its original role. Grading the Nation's Report Card examines ways NAEP can be strengthened to provide more informative portrayals of student achievement and the school and system factors that influence it. The committee offers specific recommendations and strategies for improving NAEP's effectiveness and utility, including: Linking achievement data to other education indicators. Streamlining data collection and other aspects of its design. Including students with disabilities and English-language learners. Revamping the process by which achievement levels are set. The book explores how to improve NAEP framework documents—which identify knowledge and skills to be assessed—with a clearer eye toward the inferences that will be drawn from the results. What should the nation expect from NAEP? What should NAEP do to meet these expectations? This book provides a blueprint for a new paradigm, important to education policymakers, professors, and students, as well as school administrators and teachers, and education advocates. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Richard F. Elmore A2 - Robert Rothman TI - Testing, Teaching, and Learning: A Guide for States and School Districts SN - DO - 10.17226/9609 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9609/testing-teaching-and-learning-a-guide-for-states-and-school PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged students—state and local administrators and classroom teachers. ER - TY - BOOK TI - Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests, Year 2: Interim Report DO - 10.17226/9652 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9652/evaluation-of-the-voluntary-national-tests-year-2-interim-report PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academy of Sciences TI - Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition DO - 10.17226/6024 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6024/science-and-creationism-a-view-from-the-national-academy-of PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Biology and Life Sciences KW - Education AB - While the mechanisms of evolution are still under investigation, scientists universally accept that the cosmos, our planet, and life evolved and continue to evolve. Yet the teaching of evolution to schoolchildren is still contentious. In Science and Creationism, The National Academy of Sciences states unequivocally that creationism has no place in any science curriculum at any level. Briefly and clearly, this booklet explores the nature of science, reviews the evidence for the origin of the universe and earth, and explains the current scientific understanding of biological evolution. This edition includes new insights from astronomy and molecular biology. Attractive in presentation and authoritative in content, Science and Creationism will be useful to anyone concerned about America's scientific literacy: education policymakers, school boards and administrators, curriculum designers, librarians, teachers, parents, and students. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs: A Guide for Using Mathematics and Science Education Standards SN - DO - 10.17226/9658 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9658/designing-mathematics-or-science-curriculum-programs-a-guide-for-using PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - With the publication of the National Science Education Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, a clear set of goals and guidelines for achieving literacy in mathematics and science was established. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs has been developed to help state- and district-level education leaders create coherent, multi-year curriculum programs that provide students with opportunities to learn both mathematics and science in a connected and cumulative way throughout their schooling. Researchers have confirmed that as U.S. students move through the grade levels, they slip further and further behind students of other nations in mathematics and science achievement. Experts now believe that U.S. student performance is hindered by the lack of coherence in the mathematics and science curricula in many American schools. By structuring curriculum programs that capitalize on what students have already learned, the new concepts and processes that they can learn will be richer, more complex, and at a higher level. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs outlines: Components of effective mathematics and science programs. Criteria by which these components can be judged. A process for developing curriculum that is structured, focused, and coherent. Perhaps most important, this book emphasizes the need for designing curricula across the entire 13-year span that our children spend in elementary and secondary school as a way to improve the quality of education. Ultimately, it will help state and district educators use national and state standards to design or re-build mathematics and science curriculum programs that develop new ideas and skills based on earlier ones—from lesson to lesson, unit to unit, year to year. Anyone responsible for designing or influencing mathematics or science curriculum programs will find this guide valuable. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Helen F. Ladd A2 - Janet S. Hansen TI - Making Money Matter: Financing America's Schools SN - DO - 10.17226/9606 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9606/making-money-matter-financing-americas-schools PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - The United States annually spends over $300 billion on public elementary and secondary education. As the nation enters the 21st century, it faces a major challenge: how best to tie this financial investment to the goal of high levels of achievement for all students. In addition, policymakers want assurance that education dollars are being raised and used in the most efficient and effective possible ways. The book covers such topics as: Legal and legislative efforts to reduce spending and achievement gaps. The shift from "equity" to "adequacy" as a new standard for determining fairness in education spending. The debate and the evidence over the productivity of American schools. Strategies for using school finance in support of broader reforms aimed at raising student achievement. This book contains a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of financing public schools by federal, state, and local governments in the United States. It distills the best available knowledge about the fairness and productivity of expenditures on education and assesses options for changing the finance system. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Helen F. Ladd A2 - Rosemary Chalk A2 - Janet S. Hansen TI - Equity and Adequacy in Education Finance: Issues and Perspectives SN - DO - 10.17226/6166 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6166/equity-and-adequacy-in-education-finance-issues-and-perspectives PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - Spending on K-12 education across the United States and across local school districts has long been characterized by great disparities—disparities that reflect differences in property wealth and tax rates. For more than a quarter-century, reformers have attempted to reduce these differences through court challenges and legislative action. As part of a broad study of education finance, the committee commissioned eight papers examining the history and consequences of school finance reform undertaken in the name of equity and adequacy. This thought-provoking, timely collection of papers explores such topics as: What do the terms "equity" and "adequacy" in school finance really mean? How are these terms relevant to the politics and litigation of school finance reform? What is the impact of court-ordered school finance reform on spending disparities? How do school districts use money from finance reform? What policy options are available to states facing new challenges from court decisions mandating adequacy in school finance? When measuring adequacy, how do you consider differences in student needs and regional costs? ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - M. Alfred Haynes A2 - Brian D. Smedley TI - The Unequal Burden of Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved SN - DO - 10.17226/6377 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6377/the-unequal-burden-of-cancer-an-assessment-of-nih-research PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - We know more about cancer prevention, detection, and treatment than ever before—yet not all segments of the U.S. population have benefited to the fullest extent possible from these advances. Some ethnic minorities experience more cancer than the majority population, and poor people—no matter what their ethnicity—often lack access to adequate cancer care. This book provides an authoritative view of cancer as it is experienced by ethnic minorities and the medically underserved. It offers conclusions and recommendations in these areas: Defining and understanding special populations, and improving the collection of cancer-related data. Setting appropriate priorities for and increasing the effectiveness of specific National Institutes of Health (NIH) research programs, to ensure that special populations are represented in clinical trials. Disseminating research results to health professionals serving these populations, with sensitivity to the issues of cancer survivorship. The book provides background data on the nation's struggle against cancer, activities and expenditures of the NIH, and other relevant topics. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Fred B. Schneider TI - Trust in Cyberspace SN - DO - 10.17226/6161 PY - 1999 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6161/trust-in-cyberspace PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Computers and Information Technology AB - Whether or not you use a computer, you probably use a telephone, electric power, and a bank. Although you may not be aware of their presence, networked computer systems are increasingly becoming an integral part of your daily life. Yet, if such systems perform poorly or don't work at all, then they can put life, liberty, and property at tremendous risk. Is the trust that we—as individuals and as a society—are placing in networked computer systems justified? And if it isn't, what can we do to make such systems more trustworthy? This book provides an assessment of the current state of the art procedures for building trustworthy networked information systems. It proposes directions for research in computer and network security, software technology, and system architecture. In addition, the book assesses current technical and market trends in order to better inform public policy as to where progress is likely and where incentives could help. Trust in Cyberspace offers insights into: The strengths and vulnerabilities of the telephone network and Internet, the two likely building blocks of any networked information system. The interplay between various dimensions of trustworthiness: environmental disruption, operator error, "buggy" software, and hostile attack. The implications for trustworthiness of anticipated developments in hardware and software technology, including the consequences of mobile code. The shifts in security technology and research resulting from replacing centralized mainframes with networks of computers. The heightened concern for integrity and availability where once only secrecy mattered. The way in which federal research funding levels and practices have affected the evolution and current state of the science and technology base in this area. You will want to read this book if your life is touched in any way by computers or telecommunications. But then, whose life isn't? ER -