Data from 20 years (1970-90) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are summarized. The NAEP represents the nation's only ongoing assessment of the academic achievement of American students. Its assessments of educational achievement of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 are presented as "The Nation's Report Card". Chapter 1 of this report contains information about the students' competency in subject matter across the curriculum and their ability to use their minds well. Chapters 2 and 3 include information about the trends across time related to the performance of elementary school, middle school, and secondary school students in higher-order reasoning, problem solving, and communication skills as well as information about the academic achievement of minority students. Chapter 4 summarizes information about background variables related to education. In general, the data indicate that the educational performance of U.S. students is low and not improving. It is estimated that more than half of the nation's elementary through high school students are unable to demonstrate competency in challenging subject matter in English, mathematics, science, history, and geography. Fewer than half of all U.S. students appear to be able to use their minds well. Although considerable progress has been made in closing the performance gaps among different racial/ethnic and gender groups, the gaps still remain too large to meet the nation's objective of close parallels between the performance of minority students and the student population as a whole. Much that research has identified as effective in improving education is still not being implemented in the nation's schools. Nineteen tables and five figures summarize NAEP data. (SLD)

This two volume handbook provides a comprehensive examination of policy, practice, research and theory related to English Language Teaching in international contexts. More than 70 chapters highlight the research foundation for best practices, frameworks for policy decisions, and areas of consensus and controversy in second language acquisition and pedagogy. The Handbook provides a unique resource for policy makers, educational administrators, and researchers concerned with meeting the increasing demand for effective English language teaching. It offers a strongly socio-cultural view of language learning and teaching. It is comprehensive and global in perspective with a range of fresh new voices in English language teaching research.

Too often, students who fail a grade or a course receive remediation that ends up widening rather than closing achievement gaps. According to veteran classroom teacher and educational consultant Suzy Pepper Rollins, the true answer to supporting struggling students lies in acceleration. In Learning in the Fast Lane, she lays out a plan of action that teachers can use to immediately move underperforming students in the right direction and differentiate instruction for all learners—even those who excel academically. This essential guide identifies eight high-impact, research-based instructional approaches that will help you * Make standards and learning goals explicit to students. * Increase students' vocabulary—a key to their academic success. * Build students' motivation and self-efficacy so that they become active, optimistic participants in class. * Provide rich, timely feedback that enables students to improve when it counts. * Address skill and knowledge gaps within the context of new learning. Students deserve no less than the most effective strategies available. These hands-on, ready-to-implement practices will enable you to provide all students with compelling, rigorous, and engaging learning experiences.

Research indicates that the culturally responsive teaching strategies outlined in this book accelerate literacy, language development, and academic growth for students in grades K–8, particularly for English language learners. Completely revised and updated, this bestselling resource speaks to the social-emotional needs of learners and helps teachers support each child’s development of a positive self-concept. The authors present best practices, aligned with reading and content standards, and tools for developing academic talk and instructional conversations in the classroom. Special emphasis is placed on using student culture and language as a means for promoting meaningful relationships among communities of learners. The text includes tips for using the strategies for parental involvement, gathering knowledge of the student's background, and promoting social-emotional learning. A companion website provides new video of the strategies being used in classrooms. "Accelerating Literacy for Diverse Learners provides teachers a powerful framework to guide their decisionmaking processes in support of their students’ sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic biographies. The book presents a varied set of strategies that actively engage students in communicating, displaying, sharing, analyzing, reflecting on, and using their own understandings to develop new understandings and gain access to a high-quality curriculum." —Ester J. de Jong, EdD, professor, University of Florida, and 2017-18 President of TESOL

Acceleration, which involves the reorganization of instruction and curricula in ways that facilitate the completion of academic requirements in an expedited manner, is an increasingly popular strategy at community colleges for improving the outcomes of developmental education students. This paper reviews the literature on acceleration and considers the quality of evidence available on the effects of acceleration on student outcomes. After examining various definitions of acceleration to better understand what it is and how it works, the paper describes and categorizes the different acceleration models in use. Then, the recent empirical literature on acceleration is reviewed to assess the effectiveness of these approaches. While the empirical basis for acceleration is not as strong as is desirable, existing evidence suggests that there are a variety of models of course redesign and mainstreaming that community colleges can employ to enhance student outcomes. The paper closes with a discussion of the challenges involved in implementing acceleration strategies and recommendations for policy, practice, and research. (Contains 1 figure and 3 footnotes.).