For those who presume the centrality, if not the supremacy, of the scientific method as a given in the elaboration of America's educational objectives, readers of this report will be in for a surprise. This study, published by the National Academy Press, explores the role and status of the scientific method in the development of American education. In particular, the report focuses on attempts to...

Published by the Brown Center on American Education at the Brookings Institution, this report asks the question: "How well are American students learning?" Released in December 2007, this most recent edition of the report examines the latest test score data on math and reaching achievement. The report also offers analyses of enrollment patterns in private and public schools as well as an...

Retrieved from the Education Policy Analysis Archives, this paper, authored by Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and Professor David Berliner of Arizona State University, offers a critical analytical examination of the academic achievements of students instructed by under-certified primary school teachers (including those participating in the Teach For America program). The study compares the performance on a...

From the October 1999 issue of Scientific American, "The False Crisis in Science Education," by W. Wayt Gibbs and Douglas Fox, is a select, Web-enhanced article available free at the Scientific American Website. With many hyperlinks to sites pertaining to points raised in the article, the piece discusses what the authors perceive as a "largely mythical decline in the quality of science education...

The Board on Science Education (BOSE) is a standing board within the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Research Council. The Board meets biannually to discuss and provide recommendations for future science education research and practice. On the homepage, visitors can look over recently commissioned papers such as "Discipline-Based Education Research:...

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is dedicated to an agenda of education reform not unlike the President George W. Bush: testing and accountability, charter schools, school choice, and the like. Its Website provides a number of recently written reports and papers relating to these issues. Recent documents include a "Memo to the New President," offering advice on how to bridge the "partisan divide"...

The mission of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is to "advance educational excellence for every child through quality research, analysis, and commentary." They also provide on-the-ground action and advocacy in Ohio, and they have offices there and in Washington, D.C. On their homepage, visitors can read through their latest briefing book, sign up to receive their weekly "Education Gadfly"...

The Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE) is a center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison dedicated to engaging key stakeholders (including faculty members, researchers, and administrators) in a dialogue about postsecondary education. To this end, their Web site contains information about their prime activities, which include research, instruction,...

In a report released earlier this week, the National Geographic Society announced the results of a recent survey of geographic knowledge among young persons (ages 18 to 24), from nine different countries. Conducted with the assistance of the RoperASW group, the survey revealed some rather disturbing gaps in the geographic knowledge base of young Americans and other young people around the world....