By examining the top-performing countries in the TIMSS study, Schmidt and his team were able to identify what defines world-class standards.

The Common Core State Standards in mathematics have the potential to enhance students’ academic performance if properly implemented, but most states have a long way to go, according to research from William Schmidt, a University Distinguished Professor and co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University.

At an event co-sponsored by Achieve, Chiefs for Change, and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Schmidt presented a briefing on his work, titled “Common Core State Standards Math: The Relationship Between High Standards, Systemic Implementation, and Student Achievement.”

Schmidt’s research took existing data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to determine how the Common Core State Standards in math compared to math standards in countries whose eighth graders performed the best on math assessments.

“I think the time has come to really look more seriously at some of the issues surrounding these standards, especially as several states are [questioning their implementation],” Schmidt said.

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Schmidt was involved in the TIMSS, which laid the groundwork that prompted groups to move toward developing the common standards.

“These standards are world-class,” he said, noting that the definition of “world-class” has been somewhat fuzzy. But by examining the top-performing countries in the TIMSS study, Schmidt and his team were able to identify exactly what defines world-class standards.

Using TIMSS as the basis and concentrating on eighth grade performance, Schmidt’s team coded results and concluded that the top-achieving countries—those whose eighth graders performed the best—shared three distinguishing characteristics.

This list of six resources aims to help special-education stakeholders.

According to some education stakeholders, it’s not always easy finding information on special education, especially when it comes to technology tools. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of six special-education resources that provide vetted tools and technology that can help in many aspects of a child’s learning.

From video reviews of the best special-education apps to advice on professional development in a special-ed classroom, and from Universal Design for Learning (UDL) tools to an index of instructional technology for varying special needs, we hope these resources (listed in alphabetical order) give you a good starting point for your questions and interest.

1. AbilityHub Assistive Technology Solutions

An index, and description, of assistive technology for people with a disability who find operating a computer difficult, maybe even impossible. This website will direct you to adaptive equipment and alternative methods available for accessing computers.

2. Apps for Children with Special Needs

Gary James at A4CWSN.com maintains a large list of educational apps for children with special needs. James reviews the apps and posts demonstration videos so that users can see what each one is all about before spending money to purchase them. By producing these videos, James demonstrates how products designed to educate children and build their life skills really work from a user perspective.

3. CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) Learning Tools

CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through Universal Design for Learning. UDL free multimedia learning tools are designed for students, teachers, and parents.

Just 31 percent of students were considered proficient or better on the test.

Eighth-graders in the U.S. are doing slightly better in science than they were two years ago, but seven out of 10 still are not considered proficient, the federal government said May 10. What’s more, just 2 percent have the advanced skills that could lead to careers in the field.

The information comes from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, released by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The average score was 152, up from 150 in 2009.

Gerry Wheeler, interim head of the National Science Teachers Association, said the results showed “minuscule gains” in student achievement in science.

“When you consider the importance of being scientifically literate in today’s global economy, these scores are simply unacceptable,” Wheeler said.

Just 31 percent of students were considered proficient or better on the test, the data show.

The gap between minority and white students narrowed for both blacks and Hispanics, but both groups still lag far behind their white classmates. Hispanic students scored 137, up from 132 two years earlier, while black students scored 129, compared with 126 two years earlier.

White students scored an average of 163.

For more on science education, see:

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Federal and state officials have been working to improve student achievement in science by bolstering the number of top-notch science teachers in schools. ED has a goal of preparing 100,000 new science teachers over the next decade through incentive programs and bonuses for teachers that get certified in the subject.

Some states, like Georgia, pay science teachers more than their colleagues in other subjects in hopes of encouraging more college students to go into the field.

“This tells me that we need to work harder and faster to build capacity in schools and in districts across the country,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, pointing to the stagnation in the numbers of top-scoring science students on the NAEP. “We have to do things differently—that’s why education reform is so critical.”

If you follow the dictate that we teach what we test, it’s understandable why schools haven’t spent more time preparing students to be web literate since NCLB was passed.

In 1998, a 15-year-old high school student used the personal website of a professor at Northwestern University, Arthur Butz, as justification for writing a history paper called “The Historic Myth of Concentration Camps.”

That student, who we will call Zack, had been encouraged to use the internet for research, but he had not been taught to decode the meaning of the characters in a web address. When he read the web address, http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~abutz/di/intro.html, he assumed that the domain name “northwestern.edu” automatically meant it was a credible source. He did not understand that the “~” character, inserted after the domain name, should be read as a personal web page and not an official document of the university. As with any media, punctuation counts.

Without web literacy, Zack believed Butz’s explanation. Zack read about how the Nazis were fighting typhus, a disease carried by head lice. He went on to read that the pesticide Zyklon was used to kill the head lice—not the prisoners in the gas chambers. Without basic knowledge of web punctuation or the skills necessary to validate internet content, Zack was at a disadvantage to think critically about what he was reading. He had been taught to read paper, but he had not been taught to read the web. Zack was illiterate in what undoubtedly has become the dominant media of our society. At the time, Zack’s teachers also were illiterate about the web.

It turns out that validating content is not rocket science. Even a first-grade student can begin to understand the organization of information on the web. It seemed obvious at the time that understanding the grammar, punctuation, and syntax of the internet was so basic to being literate in our web-based society that schools immediately would begin to teach all children web literacy. Yet, that hasn’t been the case in most schools.

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It is our sense that two forces have worked in historic tandem to create the conditions where most of our schools do not teach our children basic web literacy. One is NCLB, which—even though it included funding for technology and staff development—we believe has had a chilling effect on introducing any innovation to the U.S. curriculum. The second is that web filtering became the de facto policy for keeping children “safe” online.

Instead of taking the high moral ground to teach students how to deal with odious content and the ethics and critical thinking skills that go along with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, too many schools simply block these sites. As a point of information, the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) does not require schools to block social media sites (see “FCC opens access to social media sites for e-Rate users“).

To this day, when we visit schools and give students various research problems to solve, it is the very unusual student—who is usually self-taught—who understands how to decode content on the internet. We know many librarians and individual teachers who creatively include web literacy in their curriculum. Colleagues such as Joyce Valenza will tell you this is not enough. As we did with books, we need every teacher to be web literate and to be designing assignments that require students to learn how to research and decode across grade levels and subject areas.

Brenden Sewell, Quest Atlantis Remixed's executive producer, said that support has grown for using games as legitimate education tools.

Instead of pulling out books and paper at Nature Hill Intermediate School in Oconomowoc, Wis., on a recent morning, sixth-grader A.J. Remus and his peers practiced language arts and social studies in a mythical, virtual world.

Known as Quest Atlantis, the multi-user, 3-D interactive space allows students to direct avatars on screen through different environments to solve missions based on academic concepts and social skills. Chat windows allow them to engage with classmates’ digital personas, and with the avatars representing students working simultaneously in different states or different countries.

“You have to read a lot, and the stuff you submit to the Council has to be good or you can’t move on,” explained Remus, as he took a break to engineer a digital house.

In keeping with Quest Atlantis’ role-playing theme, the deciding “Council” is really technology teacher Sue Bolle (just don’t tell the kids).

Video games have long been associated with the entertainment industry, but the notion of using them for play and academic learning is starting to gain traction as a way to reshape education in powerful new ways.

The Oconomowoc Area School District, with about 5,200 students west of Milwaukee, has become a leader in trying out game-based learning models, which has included new classes for students to design games. At the same time, it’s pushing teachers to adopt new instructional techniques that rely on new media and position students to take more ownership of their learning.

At a time when rapid changes in technology, greater expectations for student achievement, and tighter fiscal environments are challenging schools, the district is one example of how to rethink traditional models of education, the focus of a new series, “The Changing Classroom.”

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The work has been under way for at least five years, and it’s helped lay the foundation for a recent and controversial announcement: The district intends to restaff the high school next year with 15 fewer teachers, and to pay $14,000 annual bonuses to those who can pick up the extra work and “transform their teaching,” as Superintendent Pat Neudecker puts it.

Even with the new stipends, the district estimates it will save $500,000 a year annually under the plan.

Models for incorporating games in education, and the proposed restaffing plan at the high school, aren’t the only big steps taken by Oconomowoc to stay current with the digital revolution.

It’s completing an $800,000 high-speed fiber-optic network upgrade to expand wireless access. A bring-your-own-technology initiative is being piloted at the middle and high schools, to allow students to use their own handheld devices in the classroom.

Students might not enrich their minds inside a classroom over summer break, but that doesn’t mean enrichment can’t be found in one of the original 24-7 tools for learning: books.

Be it on a Kindle, Nook, iPad, or the printed page, books keep students’ minds stimulated, encourage creativity and innovation, and allow for higher-order thinking.

The trick is to find books that not only provide educational value through themes such as self-discovery, culture, social mores, feminism, and political activism, but also to find books that inspire students to keep reading.

With the help of school library listings and literary awards, eSchool News compiled this list of 10 books (listed in alphabetical order) for high school summer reading.

1. Bluefish

Author: Pat Schmatz

Why it’s important: Focuses on the importantance of literacy, as well as having teachers as mentors and taking an interest in learning, all while overcoming personal obstacles.

Summary: Travis is missing his old home in the country, and he’s missing his old hound, Rosco. Now there’s just the cramped place he shares with his well-meaning but alcoholic grandpa, a new school, and the dreaded routine of passing when he’s called on to read out loud. But that’s before Travis meets Mr. McQueen, who doesn’t take “pass” for an answer–a rare teacher whose savvy persistence has Travis slowly unlocking a book on the natural world. And it’s before Travis is noticed by Velveeta, a girl whose wry banter and colorful scarves belie some hard secrets of her own.

Awards/Notes: 2012 Notable Children’s Book

Teachers most often use literacy or math games in the classroom.

In a national survey, teachers say they believe that using digital games in the classroom helps students maintain concentration and enthusiasm for learning, while making it easier for teachers to differentiate instruction and assess students.

The survey of 505 teachers who use digital games in their K-8 classrooms aims to identify what teachers think about game-based learning and how digital games affect students beyond academic achievement. It offers a mix of qualitative interviews with quantitative data to offer a more rounded picture of teacher opinions.

The survey, Teacher Attitudes about Digital Games in the Classroom, released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop in collaboration with and support from BrainPOP, was released at the NewSchools Venture Fund-Aspen Institute Summit in San Francisco.

The majority of teachers in the survey are K-5 classroom teachers, one-fifth are special education teachers, and 86 percent teach in public schools. K-5 teachers reported higher game usage than middle school teachers: 57 percent versus 38 percent, respectively.

Teachers who said they are “very or moderately comfortable” using digital games in the classrom also use games more frequently with their students. Thirty-two percent use games 2-4 times per week, and 18 percent use them every day.

For more news about educational gaming, see:

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A large majority of teachers (70 percent) said they agree that using digital games increases motivation and engagement with content and curriculum, and 62 percent said using games in the classroom makes it easier for them to level lessons and effectively teach a range of learners. Sixty percent said using digital games helps personalize instruction, helps them assess student knowledge better, and helps them collect helpful data.

Three in five teachers also said they believe that games encourage more collaboration among students and help students to keep their focus on specific tasks.

Fewer than 10 percent of teachers said they experienced negative side effects when it came to using digital games, such as delayed content delivery (8 percent), behavioral issues with lower-performing students (7.7 percent), or increased conflict between students (5.1 percent).

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Educators say the best part of the 3D program is that students become independent learners, invested in their own skill sets.

Some tech-savvy school districts are helping students take knowledge and creativity into their own hands by giving them the chance to create their own 3D content.

And many educators say that 3D is a logical path for today’s students, who are accustomed to customizing their technology tools for their own needs.

“With 90 percent of most learners being visual in nature, I definitely see 3D as the next step in curriculum,” said Jeff Epps, information technology director for Richmond County School District in Rockingham, N.C. “The ability to take a concept and visually display it with interactivity is a powerful teaching tool. Also, to provide students who possess the skill sets to produce concepts such as 3D simulations represents a quantum leap for K-12 education.”

Epps, who directs the Globally Ready Engineering and Technology (GREAT) 3D Academy and Classroom, said the program began when the county’s partner, the BRAC Regional Task Force at Fort Bragg, donated portable 3D theaters to various school systems in the county, with the initial goal of providing teachers with 3D content that could be used to enhance classroom instruction.

However, Epps decided to move in a different direction by having students create the content.

The 40 students in the program, ranging from grades 5-12, attend the GREAT 3D Academy as a class during the day, while others attend it as an after-school enrichment program.

The students learn to use AutoDesk’s 3ds Max software and Unity’s game design engine to create 3D simulations that are viewable on both passive (polarized) and stereo (presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer) 3D systems. Using a combination of internet-based tutorials, instructor-created tutorials, and student-created tutorials, students are introduced to simulation and game design as early as the fifth grade.

In the beginning, students create content specific to their weaknesses in math and science. They also create content that is career-specific. Many students also create content for their teachers for extra credit.

Examples of student work can be seen at the Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy, where students are using 3D design to visualize The Hunger Games book series. As a group project, students visualize the arena and immerse the reader into the story.