Toni M. Smith is a managing researcher at AIR where she directs research and development projects focused on mathematics instruction and teacher professional learning.
Dr. Smith currently directs the development and experimental testing of a virtual coaching program designed to improve the alignment of teachers’ instruction to state standards funded by ...
Through Pakistan Data and Research for Education (DARE), AIR has two contracts from the World Bank – funded by the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – to provide technical assistance on large-scale student assessments at the national and provincial levels in Pakistan.
In an era of increasingly rigorous state standards, teachers at all grade levels face heightened expectations to deepen their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. This report examines the impact of content-intensive professional development on teachers’ math content knowledge, their instructional practice, and their students’ achievement. ...
New national standards documents have been developed over the past few years in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and are leading to major changes in state curricula and assessments. This study provides information primarily on the extent of alignment between the Next Generation Science Standards and National ...
John Spence is a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR. He has over 17 years of experience directing large-scale initiatives in public education with a solid track record of expanding operations, initiating and maintaining strategic partnerships, managing technical assistance and professional development for educators, developing and sustaining meaningful relationships with ...
For more than four decades, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has provided the best available information about the academic achievement and educational progress of the nation’s students. The influence of the Common Core State Standards on instruction suggest the need to examine the alignment between the content covered by ...
Years of research show that students from low-income families are more likely to forget previously learned material over the summer than students from wealthier families. Over time, these losses add up, widening the socioeconomic disparity in academic performances. Carol McElvain explains how high quality summer opportunities for low-income students can ...
The World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA), ratified in 2017, proposed regulations and harmonization of standards to decrease the non-tariff-based blocks to export and trade in the North Central America Region (NCAR). Through a comprehensive approach to trade in the horticultural sector, the U.S. non-profit organization, Improving Economies ...
The Plan, Do, Study, Act Process is central to the improvement of instructional routines. Watch one of the Better Math Teaching Network members in real time and in a real classroom setting introduce the Plan, Do, Study, Act, or PDSA, process.
Singaporean students ranked first in the world in mathematics on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)-2003; U.S. students ranked 16th out of 46 participating nations at grade 8. This exploratory study compares key features of the Singapore and U.S. mathematics systems in the primary grades, when students ...