Metro Center for Urban Education

Technical Assistance Center of Disproportionality

Resources - Research, Policy and Practices

DVD Media Resource:  Effective Assessment for Effective Learning: Seven Instructional Principles for Guiding Student Achievement DVD

This DVD featuring Linda Darling-Hammond, Carol Tomlinson, Jay McTighe, Larry Bell, Michael Fullan and many others, and based on the ASCD Leadership article titled "Seven Practices for Effective Learning," (McTighe @ O'Connor, 2005). This media resource will provide a clear roadmap for how teachers can measure and report learning. The DVD series also demonstrates how schools in two high-performing, diverse school districts use well designed classroom assessments and grading practices to provide specific, personalized and timely information to guide both teaching and learning.  

Specifically, it's divided into three parts--diagnostic, formative and summative assessments, and demonstrates how to:

  • Use summative assessments to frame meaningful performance goals (and three common errors in doing this!)
  • Best develop and use diagnostics before the teaching even begins
  • Offer appropriate choices for students to demonstrate their learning
  • Provide constructive feedback that is motivational and enhances learning
  • Encourage student assessment and goal-setting
  • Make grading meaningful and fair so as to keep students learning and engaged.

Response to Intervention: Research for Practice 
This document from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) responds to concerns about a lack of a research base for RTI. It is a compilation of 25 of the most important articles of research for each topic regarding traditional LD diagnostic practices and RTI.

NEA ReportTruth in Labeling: Disproportionality in Special Education
The complex issue of disproportionality in special and gifted education is the focus of the Truth in Labeling: Disproportionality in Special and Gifted Education. The purpose of The Truth in Labeling guide is to:

  • provide educators with basic information about the nature and causes of disproportionality
  • discuss related policy, procedural, and practice issues
  • offer recommendations to educators about how to address disproportionality
  • outline implications of disproportionality and questions for local and state affiliates to consider.

USDOE Report
Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (September 2007) examines the educational progress and challenges that racial and ethnic minorities face in the United States. The report illustrates that over time larger numbers of minorities have completed high school and continued their education in college.

Analyzing Disproportionality

Calculating Disproportionality

Programs & Practices

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Research