Assessment and Testing
Assessing Student Performance: Exploring the Purpose and Limits of Testing, by Grant P. Wiggins (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, Calif. 94104; 316 pp., $28.95 cloth). The author examines the design and role of testing in a student-assessment system.
Authentic Assessment: A Handbook for Educators, by Diane Hart (Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1 Jacob Way, Reading, Mass. 01867; 120 pp., $16.50 paper). A history of the assessment movement that also provides explanations of the issues and the language surrounding assessment.
Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model, by Robert J. Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jay McTighe (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1250 North Pitt St., Alexandria, Va. 22314; 138 pp., $13.95 paper). The authors discuss how their research-based Dimensions of Learning Model relates to the national standards.
Special Education
The Reality of Dyslexia, by John Osmond (Cassell, c/o P.C.S. Data Processing Inc., 360 West 31st St., New York, N.Y. 10001; 132 pp., $14.65 paper). A parent recounts his struggles to attain remedial help for his dyslexic child.
Communication Skills in Children With Down Syndrome, by Libby Kumin (Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Ln., Rockville, Md. 20852; 241 pp.,$14.95 paper). A speech/language pathologist traces the progress of language acquisition and facility in children with Down syndrome from infancy to the early teenage years.
Frames of Reference for the Assessment of Learning Disabilities, ed. by G. Reid Lyon (Paul H. Brookes Publishing, P.O. Box 10624, Baltimore, Md. 21285-0624; 650 pp., $46.00 cloth). A collection of new research in the field of learning disabilities that examines practical applications for student assessment.
Multicultural Issues in the Education of Students With Behavioral Disorders, ed. by Reece L. Peterson and Sharon Ishii-Jordan (Brookline Books, P.O. Box 1046, Cambridge, Mass. 02238; 291 pp., $33.95 paper). These essays question whether special education for students with behavioral disorders is culturally biased.
The Directory of Exceptional Children, ed. by Linda M. Cole and Daniel P. McKeever (Porter Sargent Publishers, 11 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. 02108; 1,312 pp., $60 cloth). A detailed listing of more than 3,000 schools, facilities, and organizations that serve children and adolescents with special needs.
Research and Monographs
Building Coalitions To Restructure Schools, by David Peterson-del Mar (Oregon School Study Council, 1787 Agate St., Eugene, Ore. 97403-5207; 48 pp., $7.00 paper). A description of the coalitions that schools are building with parents, businesses, and social agencies as they attempt to restructure.
Striving for Excellence: The National Education Goals, Volume II, ed. by Laurie E. Gronlund (Educational Resources Information Center, 1600 Research Blvd., Rockville, Md. 20850; 94 pp., $8.00 paper). This booklet offers educators practical information and strategies about how to reach the eight national education goals.
Educational Innovation: An Agenda to Frame the Future, ed. by Charles E. Greenawalt (The Commonwealth Foundation, 600 North Second St., Suite 300, Harrisburg, Pa. 17101; 520 pp., $29.50 paper). An analysis of the education reform efforts of the past decade.
Preventing Early School Failure: Research, Policy, and Practice, ed. by Robert E. Slavin, Nancy L. Karweit, Barbara A. Wasik (Allyn and Bacon, 160 Gould St., Needham Heights, Mass. 02194; 237 pp., $36.95, paper). A comprehensive comparison of programs that succeed in preventing student failure.
Using Children’s Literature to Develop Core Values, by Linda J. Gibbs and Edward J. Earley (Phi Delta Kappa, P.O. Box 789, Bloomington, Ind. 47402-0789; 40pp., $1.25 plus shipping and handling, paper). One of eight monographs that make up the spring 1994 fastback series, a series which offers focused examinations of current education topics of interest.
Handbooks and References
Election Results Directory 1994 Edition, compiled by the National Conference of State Legislators Research Staff (National Conference of State Legislators, 1560 Broadway, Suite 700, Denver, Colo. 80202; 278 pp., $35.00 paper). A one-stop source of all address and position changes for federal and state executive and legislative branch officials.
Environmental Education Teacher Resource Handbook: A Practical Guide for K-12 Environmental Education, ed. by Richard J. Wilke (Kraus International Publications, 358 Saw Mill River Rd., Millwood, N.Y. 10546-1035; 448 pp., $19.95 paper). A comprehensive guide to designing, implementing, and evaluating environmental curricula or education programs.
Curriculum and Methods
Thinking Like Mathematicians: Putting the K-4 N.C.T.M. Standards into Practice, by Thomas Rowan and Barbara Bourne (Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, N.H. 03801-3912; 134 pp., $16.00 paper). Through anecdotes and research, the authors give teachers strategies for implementing and assessing a standards-based program.
Seeing With Magic Glasses: A Teacher’s View from the Front Line of the Learning Revolution (Great Ocean Publishers, 1823 North Lincoln St., Arlington, Va. 22207; 176 pp., $14.95 paper). A Minneapolis teacher details recent brain-based models of learning that allow teachers to educate the “whole child.’'
Multiage Portraits: Teaching and Learning in Mixed-Age Classrooms, by Charles Rathbone, et al. (Crystal Springs Books, Box 577, Peterborough, N.H. 03458; 185 pp., $24.95 paper). A look at the benefits of teaching and learning in a multi-age classroom.
Constructing Buildings, Bridges, and Minds: Building an Integrated Curriculum Through Social Studies, by Katherine A. Young (Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, N.H. 03801-3912; 160 pp., $17.50, paper). A guide for how to use a major classroom project to integrate the curriculum through social studies.
The Governance of Curriculum: The 1994 A.S.C.D. Yearbook, ed. by Richard F. Elmore and Susan H. Fuhrman (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1250 North Pitt St., Alexandria, Va. 22314-1453; 224 pp., $19.95 paper). A collection of varying perspectives on the role of the federal government in establishing education standards.
Reading and Literacy
Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner-City Families, by Denny Taylor and Catherine Dorsey-Gaines (Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, N.H. 03801-3912; 234 pp., $18.95 paper).The authors suggest ways to bring the strengths of home literacy into the classroom.
Developing Cultural Literacy Through the Writing Process, by Barbara C. Palmer, Mary L. Hafner, and Marilyn F. Sharp (Allyn and Bacon, 160 Gould St., Needham Heights, Mass. 02194-2310; 316 pp., $36.95 paper). This guide details how to combine cultural literacy with process-based writing.
Guide to Home Language Repair, by Dennis Baron (National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, Ill. 61801; 163 pp., $16.95 paper). A humorous, informative look at the incorrect and correct use of the English language.
Language and Literacy in Early Childhood Education, ed. by Bernard Spodek and Olivia N. Saracho (Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10027; 210 pp., $22.95 paper). A thorough review of the new theories about and methods of teaching reading to young children.
