The Impact of a National Science Foundation Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation on an Undergraduate Chemistry Course for Non-Chemistry Science Majors

In 1999 and 2000 Chemistry 312: Analytical Chemistry for non-chemistry science majors (taken in the junior or senior year), was revised as a result of the instructor’s involvements in the Center for Excellence in Teacher Preparation project and an NSF equipment grant. Changes included the introduction of a K-12 teaching requirement, more emphasis on co-operative learning and on inquiry-based exercises. These latter two pedagogical practices had more impact on the laboratory activities than on the classroom activities. Students in the laboratory were assigned defined roles in the groups and all groups undertook a three-week research project. Students’ responses to the teaching requirement were (with a few exceptions in a class of over forty) positive, and several students identified themselves as future teachers. Responses to the group work associated with the laboratory and several homework exercises were less uniformly positive, with a significant number of students articulating a concern that their grades were compromised by the presence of weaker students in the groups. The grades awarded, the overall percentages and the exam scores of the students were compared for the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. There was a significant improvement in the overall percentages (and the exam scores) between 1998 and 1999, and between 1998 and 2000. Had the thresholds for the awarding of letter grades not been increased for 2000, there would have been 31 A’s awarded to the 44 students who completed the course

Understanding the Education Trajectories of Young Black Men in New York City: Elementary and Middle-School Years

Making targeted decisions about how, when, and where to intervene to improve educational outcomes for black males requires understanding the complex pathways that shape these outcomes. This study, undertaken for the Black Male Donor Collaborative, uses longitudinal data on a cohort of black males from New York City Schools to gain insights about the different possible student paths, with specific focuses on middle school and math scale scores

Toward Informative Assessment and a Culture of Evidence

Examines how campuses in the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges initiative combined traditional and innovative measures of student performance such as "think-aloud" protocol and pre-post testing to improve teaching and learning

Individual Teacher Incentives, Student Achievement and Grade Inflation

Teacher incentives, pupil attainment

The Development of the WISE (Writing to Inspire Successful Education) Writing Mentoring Program: A University-School Collaboration

Abstract This paper describes the development of a service learning writing mentoring program designed to close the achievement gap in writing proficiency for economically disadvantaged seventh grade students. Compared to writing mentoring studies found in the published literature, this program has three distinguishing components. First, it focused on economically disadvantaged middle school students. Second, it provided writing mentoring through a university-school partnership in which college students provided the intervention in collaboration with a seventh-grade teacher. Third, the program used technology to facilitate the mentoring process. Over the course of an academic year, mentors created videos with feedback on 19 writing assignments. The writing mentoring program was associated with a four-fold increase in the percentage of students who were graded as ‘proficient’ on a state standardized writing exam. These results suggest that semi-virtual, intensive writing mentoring and individualized feedback from college students can close the achievement gap and improve the quality of middle level education provided to economically disadvantaged students

Basic Skills for Complex Lives: Designs for Learning in the Community College

Outlines the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges project's activities, results, and lessons learned, including five principles for teaching underprepared students. Recommends an institution-wide focus and faculty collaboration

The Evolution of Student Engagement: Writing Improves Teaching in Introductory Biology

In response to calls for pedagogical reforms in undergraduate biology courses to decrease student attrition rates and increase active learning, this article describes one faculty member’s conversion from traditional teaching methods to more engaging forms of practice. Partially told as a narrative, this article illustrates a.) the way many faculty initially learn to teach by modeling the pedagogy from their own undergraduate programs; b.) the kind of support biology faculty may need to break out of traditional molds; c.) how writing can promote active learning; and d.) the impact of reformed pedagogy on student levels of engagement. The latter will be demonstrated through assessment results gathered from student surveys, reflective writing, and focus group interview. Ultimately, the study challenges misunderstandings some faculty might have regarding the value of writing in science classes and offers inspiration, urging critical reflection and persistence

Reading and writing connections: scaffolding students’ learning and use of an organizing strategy for understanding text

Research shows that successful students are actively engaged in the learning process and have access to a repertoire of learning strategies that they can apply to different learning contexts. Yet many incoming college students arrive academically underprepared for the demands they will face in college. Fortunately, research has also shown that students can benefit from strategy instruction and can learn to become strategic learners. This case study of an introductory psychology course presents a set of instructional practices to foster students’ use of an organizing strategy and to help promote students’ reading of course content. The impact on students’ performance in the class as well as the pedagogical benefits of using the organizing strategy are discussed