WCER : Cover Stories 2001-1998

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2001

Risk and Resilience in the Urban Neighborhood	September 2001
How do children’s neighborhood environments contribute to, or detract from, their academic achievement? School-age children become socialized in community mores, play, make friends, and obtain support in their neighborhoods. Historically, neighborhoods functioned as a social center for children and families.
Can Failing Students Have Successful Teachers?	August 2001
Students of color historically have been underserved by public schooling. Teacher assessments need to do a better job of identifying teacher strengths that can be translated into real classroom practices that meet the needs of real urban students of color.
New Technology Advances Research and Teaching	July 2001
In the areas of mathematics, science, special education, and teacher education, investigators at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) are using new digital media, hypertext, and computer networks to analyze and disseminate research data and to develop training tools.
Professional Development That Addresses School Capacity: Lessons From Urban Elementary Schools	June 2001
Effective professional development can advance the achievement of all students in a school, according to recent research by Fred Newmann and colleagues at UW-Madison. They found that improving student achievement is more likely to happen when professional development addresses not only the learning of individual teachers, but also other dimensions of the school’s organizational capacity.
Embedded Research Spurs Systemwide Change	May 2002
How can a large urban school district advance systemwide change? In a study of systemic reform in the Milwaukee Public Schools, UW-Madison Professor William Clune and Senior Scientist Norman Webb use an approach they call embedded research.
Videotaped Lessons Enhance Analytical Ability	April 2001
The STEP (Secondary Teacher Education Project) Web is an innovative learning environment on the World Wide Web that supports case-based instruction for teacher education.
Professional Development for Teaching With Understanding	March 2001
Students should learn to reason competently, think constructively and understand key ideas in mathematics and science. They need to comprehend and manage new information, technologies, and ever more complex problems as these emerge throughout their lifetimes.
Teachers Develop Algebra "Eyes and Ears"	February 2001
Although elementary teachers are a critical part of algebra reform they typically have little experience with the rich and connected kinds of algebra that need to become the norm in their instruction. researchers at WCER's National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in mathematics and science are developing ways to enhance teachers' understanding of the kinds of algebraic thinking that need to occur in elementary school mathematics.
Framing the Question	January 2001
Jane Zuengler and colleagues at WCER’s Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA) are examining learning by students who are English language learners, compared with those who are monolingual in English.

2000

Writing Skills Shaped by Classroom Discourse	December 2000
Writing an effective argumentative essay means getting your own points across while anticipating and addressing the reactions of a potential reader. But lacking proper guidance, students assigned to compose argumentative papers often end up writing reports, rather than arguments.
Professional Development in Classroom Assessment	November 2000
Although standardized tests measure end-result student achievement; they do not measure formative gains or strength of reasoning, says UW-Madison Education Professor Thomas A. Romberg, a codirector of this study.
CPRE Helps Develop Skills-Based Pay System	October 2000
With assistance from staff of WCER’s Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), Cincinnati Public Schools has developed a knowledge- and skill-based pay system for teachers, coupled with a knowledge- and skill-based evaluation system. The plan was approved Sept. 15 by the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers.
Teaching Children Equations	September 2000
Part of the job of teaching mathematics to children is uncovering and correcting misinformation they bring with them to the classroom. In research funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, WCER researcher Tom Carpenter found that some children develop concepts about equations and the “equals” sign earlier than was supposed.
Surveys of the Enacted Curriculum	August 2000
Standards-based reform may not yet have brought instruction into alignment with state tests, according to recent findings by WCER’s Andrew Porter and John Smithson. Their recent study, unveiled at this spring’s AERA convention, also found that mathematics instruction was slightly more aligned with NAEP standards (National Assessment of Educational Progress) than with state tests. In science, the opposite was true.
Making Education Technology Work	July 2000
Technology is redefining undergraduate mathematical and physical sciences (MPS) instruction. Developments including digital libraries, sensors, databases, and distance learning are reshaping the tools and the boundaries of undergraduate mathematics and science education.
Teacher Research Spurs Professional Development	May 2000
Teacher research can be a professional development experience of great importance and have a significant effect on teaching and learning, according to UW Madison Education professor Kenneth Zeichner. His recent meta-analysis of studies of teacher-research activities nationwide* shows teacher-researchers gaining a new sense of confidence from conducting research, beginning to see themselves as learners, and developing closer relationships with their students and colleagues.
It’s in the Genes	April 2000
WCER researcher and classroom teacher Susan Johnson sees her classroom as an opportunity for students to experience "science in the making." Johnson teaches at Monona Grove (Wisconsin) High School and is a researcher in WCER’s National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in mathematics and science.
The Pros and Cons of “Holding Out”	March 2000
You often hear that statement. But the suggestion is unsubstantiated by research, according to UW-Madison Education Professor Elizabeth Graue and Lehigh University’s James DiPerna. Their recent study challenges conventional wisdom about the value of redshirting and early retention. In fact, some children who are “held out” miss receiving needed attention in areas of learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities.
Aligning State-Level Standards and Assessments	February 2000
In a classroom in a standards-based education system, the teacher evaluates student performance using assessments that align well with the established standards. Standards and assessments work together to guide the system toward students learning what they are expected to know and do.

1999

Lynn McDonald Helps Keep Families and Schools Together	December 1999
A family's interest and support in a child's school work plays an important part in the child's success. The quality of the family's interaction with the school and with other families also plays a role. A program developed by WCER researcher Lynn McDonald is demonstrating, in schools around the country, that family-school relationships can be improved, and that such enhancement helps children succeed in school. Families and Schools Together (FAST) creates structured opportunities for families of elementary school students to participate in repeated, positive, personal experiences with their children in the school setting.
Stephen N. Elliott Appointed Associate Director of WCER	July 1999
For many years Elliott has been an active principal investigator of WCER projects. He is also a nationally recognized professor of school psychology. School psychology is a part of the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

1998

More Coursework Benefits All Students	September 1998
Our country’s racial and ethnic diversity is greater now than at any previous period in history. It seems to be on course to become progressively more diverse for some time to come.
The Why Files Users Match Profile	August 1998
Who uses the World Wide Web? How do they use it? The Why Files is the National Institute for Science Education’s (NISE) award-winning Web site that communicates science information to the public. Every two weeks, The Why Files posts a new science-related feature story package that contains a feature article, a bibliography page, a glossary of terms, a credits page, and a "story map" or index page. About 20,000 individuals access The Why Files during each two-week content cycle.
Kentucky's School Reform Efforts Bear Fruit	July 1998
A state-level accountability program can lead to significant improvement in school performance, according to recent studies by UW-Madison Education Professor Carolyn Kelley. She found that Kentucky schools successfully meeting student achievement goals in the state's school-based performance award program did so by making considerable changes in curriculum and instruction.
Link Funding to Standards Reform	June 1998
Although there are many ways to approach education reform, UW-Madison Education Professor Allan Odden likes to focus on the dollars-and-cents side. Schools could teach students to higher standards, Odden says, if schools, rather than districts, had the power to determine how to best use the dollars in the education system.
Let's Renovate Our School Finance Systems	May 1998
For most of this century education funding has been channeled to school districts. But since the 1980s, education reform has created a variety of new policy initiatives that require states to consider how to finance school sites (e.g., school-based management, school-level accountability, and charter schools). As states address this new task, they realize that their current district-based finance structures require significant modification, if not a complete overhaul, to produce a system that fairly and adequately responds to fiscal and curricular goals of the future.
Math and Science Teachers Deserve Better Professional Development	April 1998
Effective professional development is an essential part of helping teachers meet the challenges of teaching mathematics and science. Yet most current professional development programs are inadequate, say Susan Loucks-Horsley and colleagues at the National Institute for Science Education (NISE).
Alignment Critical to Successful Reform	March 1998
Just as a schooner’s speed increases when its sails are set properly, alignment among the policy elements of an education system will strengthen that system and improve what the system is able to attain. Norman Webb, a senior researcher with the National Institute for Science Education, uses this image to illustrate the importance of aligning the elements of systemic reform in mathematics and science education.