News from WCER

Implementing a Workflow Visualization System

December 18, 2012

Educators need data systems that will better document the implementation history of complex cyberlearning interventions, including their contexts, rationale, iterations and outcomes.


Value-Added Measurement: What It Is and Is Not

December 15, 2012

Whether we’re measuring teacher skills or school performance, value-added evaluation continues to shape our definition of successful education.


Assessment Design and Presidential Palaces in Kazakhstan

December 13, 2012

David Williamson Shaffer visited Kazakhstan in September to deliver the keynote address at the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA) 2012 conference.


Engineering Success

December 12, 2012

It’s not common to see a graduate student participating in a National Science Foundation review panel. Consider Golnaz Arastoopour an outlier.


Models of Success at Minority Serving Institutions

December 3, 2012

There are many models of success at minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and Tribal colleges and universities


Three Goals for K-12 STEM Education

November 26, 2012

A report from the National Research Council establishes indicators for measuring improvements to the K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education system


How Reading Recovery Implementation Fails African American Students

November 20, 2012

Reading and literacy programs help many students catch up to their grade level.


The Role and Use of Examples in Learning to Prove

November 19, 2012

Mathematicians often spend lots of time considering and analyzing examples before they attempt to develop a formal proof of a conjecture.


Improving Students’ Postsecondary Outcomes

November 12, 2012

Sara Goldrick-Rab and colleagues are reviewing research evidence and developing products to support the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), primarily in the area of postsecondary education.


Code Talker: David Woods

November 10, 2012

David Woods can be found on the third floor of the Educational Sciences building, his face illuminated by six computer monitors arranged in a crescent around his desk. Behind him are five more monitors. Woods, hacking away on a field of keyboards, appears capable of docking the U.S.S. Enterprise into Starfleet Headquarters.


Speaking the Same Language at WIDA Academic Literacy Conference

November 5, 2012

Experts on the teaching and learning of language by minority students convened in Madison from Oct. 9 to 12 for a conference funded by the American Education Research Association and WCER.


From Baseball to International Student Assessments

November 2, 2012

UW Madison education professor David Kaplan is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, which includes major and minor league baseball officials, broadcasters and writers, historians, analysts, and former players.


Studying and Designing Makerspaces

October 29, 2012

Makerspaces are emerging, informal sites for creative production in art, science, and engineering where people of all ages blend digital and physical technologies to explore ideas, learn technical skills, and create new products.


Excitement Builds Around WIDA Conferences

October 23, 2012

When WIDA released its 2012 Amplification of the English Language Development Standards in August, the organization’s leadership knew educators would be excited to see the latest on methods for teaching English language learners.


Measuring Complex Thinking in STEM Subjects

October 15, 2012

David Williamson Shaffer and Naomi Chesler continue to develop a toolkit for measuring how students think about problems in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.