Daniel Resnick

Carnegie Mellon University, History, Faculty Member

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Does Staying in School Make You Smarter?

Intelligence Genes and Success Scientists Respond to the Bell Curve, 1997

L'alphab�tisation en Am�rique du Nord

Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales, 1985

Educational Reform: Recent Developments in Secondary Schooling

Contemporary French Civilization, 1982

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Assessment, curriculum, and expansion: A historical perspective

New Directions for Higher Education, 1987

Expansion, quality, and testing in american education

New Directions for Community Colleges, 1987

Student assessment efforts are historically linked to the ebb and flow of fiublic confidence in t... more Student assessment efforts are historically linked to the ebb and flow of fiublic confidence in the nation's schools and colleges. Expansion, Qua1 ity, and Testing in A mer ican Education Daniel I? Resnick The United States has just completed a momentous expansion of its system of higher education. That expansion was sustained over a period of about thirty years, between 1954 and 1983. During that period, enrollments increased on average close to 6 percent each year and for the first twenty years at an average rate of 7.6 percent (National Center for Education Statistics, 1973, 1985; Bureau of the Census, 1976). Major changes occurred in the postsecondary structm as it grew and adapted to the needs of a growing student population. New kinds of institutions, such as the community colleges, took on an important role. Large state institutions became multiversities, and the liberal arts colleges became increasingly vocationally oriented. The pattern of majors for students shifted, as did the timing and sequence of the years of undergraduate education. Today, about 3,000 accredited colleges and universities in the United States enroll close to ten million undergraduate students. At the beginning of the expansion, there were about 2,000 aaredited colleges and universities and three million undergraduate students. During these three decades, the number of institutions of higher education increased by 50 percent, and the student enrollment tripled. By the end of the period of expansion just de-D. Bray, and M. J. Belcha (eds.). I s m 6 m Sludmt A-1.

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The Nature of Literacy: An Historical Exploration

Harvard Educational Review, 1977

In this article Daniel and Lauren Resnick bring an historical perspective to the present debate o... more In this article Daniel and Lauren Resnick bring an historical perspective to the present debate over reading achievement. From an historical examination of selected European and American models of literacy, they conclude that reading instruction has been aimed at attaining either a low level of literacy for a large number of people or a high level for an elite. Thus, the contemporary expectation—high levels of literacy for the entire population—represents a relatively recent development. From this stance the Resnicks argue that, contrary to the thrust of the "back to basics" movement, pedagogical practices from the past offer little remedy for reading problems as currently defined.

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Essays in European Economic History, 1500–1800

History: Reviews of New Books, 1974

(1974). Essays in European Economic History, 1500–1800. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 3, No... more

Improving Educational Standards in American Schools

Testing in America: A Supportive Environment

Assessing the Thinking Curriculum: New Tools for Educational Reform

Changing Assessments, 1992

... educational reform. Changing assessments: Alternative views of aptitude, achievement and inst... more

Intelligence, Genes, and Success

Minimum Competency Testing Historically Considered

Review of Research in Education, 1980

The landscape of the Great Lakes region has been fragmented since the lakes formed starting about... more The landscape of the Great Lakes region has been fragmented since the lakes formed starting about 20 000 years ago. Small mammals, such as deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner, 1845)), inhabiting the region therefore face barriers to migration and gene flow, which could complicate ongoing range shifts related to climate change. We analyzed DNA sequences for 481 base pairs of the mitochondrial D-loop to compare mouse genetic structure with the fragmented landscape and geological history of the region. Phylogenetic analyses reveal two distinct lineages of mice in the Great Lakes region. The spatial distribution of these two groups is not congruent with the fragmentation of the landscape; rather, a western group is found from Minnesota through the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, whereas an eastern group spans southern Ontario and the rest of northern Michigan. The genetic data suggest that the eastern clade colonized Michigan through Ontario from a source shared with southern Appalachian mice, but are less informative for the western clade. Together, these findings suggest that the Great Lakes are relatively porous barriers in the long term but may still have implications for the response of small-mammal communities to climate change. Résumé : Le paysage de la région des Grands Lacs s'est fragmenté depuis le début de la formation des lacs il y a 20 000 ans. Les petits mammifères, comme les souris du crépuscule (Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner, 1845)) qui habitent la région font face à des barrières qui entravent leur migration et leur flux génique, ce qui pourrait gêner les modifications d'aires de répartition qui se produisent actuellement à cause du changement climatique. Nous avons analysé les séquences d'ADN de 481 paires de bases de la boucle mitochondriale D afin de relier la structure génétique des souris au paysage fragmenté et à l'histoire géologique de la région. Les analyses phylogénétiques révèlent l'existence de deux lignées distinctes de souris dans la région des Grands Lacs. La répartition spatiale de ces deux groupes ne correspond pas à la fragmentation du paysage; au contraire, un groupe occidental se retrouve à partir du Minnesota et couvre la partie ouest de la Péninsule supérieure du Michigan, alors qu'un groupe oriental s'étend sur le sud de l'Ontario et le reste du nord du Michigan. Les données génétiques laissent croire que le clade oriental a colonisé le Michigan en passant par l'Ontario à partir d'une source qui est partagée avec les souris du sud des Appalaches; les données génétiques fournissent moins de renseignements sur le clade occidental. Dans leur ensemble, ces résultats indiquent que les Grands Lacs forment à long terme des barrières relativement poreuses, mais qu'ils risquent d'affecter la réaction des communautés de petits mammifères au changement climatique.

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Chapter 1: Minimum Competency Testing Historically Considered

Review of Research in Education, 1980

After a generation of rather quiet consolidation, educational testing has again appeared as an ag... more After a generation of rather quiet consolidation, educational testing has again appeared as an agent of school reform. The first wave of enthusiasm for testing, 1890-1930, introduced standardized educational measurement and was part of the Progressive effort to reform the organization of public schooling. The watchword of that movement was "efficiency." The business culture that fostered this goal was committed to centralizing school administration, controlling school costs, and setting standards by which to compare school performance within and across districts. The school survey movement, nurtured by the same concerns, and committed to measurement practices as a sound business procedure, promoted standardized testing as one of the ways to keep school systems efficient in their administration and accountable to local taxpayer boards. By 1925 it appeared to C. H. Judd, a pioneer in educational research, that World War I had been the watershed and that since that time "tests and measures have gone quietly on their way as conquerors should." Testing, however, has not "gone quietly on its way," but has, since the early 1960's, become the arms supplier for a new generation of school reformers. The new concerns are "equity" in the allocation of resources and "competency" as a goal of instruction. The new movement has battened on the intervening institutionalization of testing practice in the schools and the rapid growth in authority of the states over education. It has been fed by concern over declining standards in the schools and larger claims by test

The Societe des Amis des Noirs and the Abolition of Slavery

French Historical Studies, 1972

... in France during the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century (Baltimore, 1937), and placed in a... more

Standards, Curriculum, and Performance: A Historical and Comparative Perspective

Educational Researcher, 1985

This article considers how educational standards are established and maintained, and how they can... more This article considers how educational standards are established and maintained, and how they can be improved in American schools. The authors argue that curriculum (what is taught) and assessment (the way we judge what is learned) play the largest role in shaping what is demanded in schools and thus what our students can be expected to learn. Neither issue has received adequate attention in current debate over the state of our schools and the compelling need for school reform. This article addresses both issues in a historical and comparative perspective and argues that higher standards are within reach through the development of new and parallel initiatives in curriculum and evaluation. The authors outline potential improvements through (a) upgrading the curriculum, (b) utilizing new forms of assessment, and (c) rethinking the concept of tracking to .focus on high standards in the middle school. They consider these steps as being among those most likely to meet current needs.

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Caution Heeded—A Response to “High Standards and Cultural Diversity: Cautionary Tales of Comparative Research”

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 1996

We welcome Louis and Versloot's addition (1996) to the continuing collection of benchmarking ... more We welcome Louis and Versloot's addition (1996) to the continuing collection of benchmarking research on how different countries educate their young people. As we have argued (Resnick, Nolan, & Resnick, 1995), describing a nation's educational practices is a complex affair. The complexity is increased by the gap between the intended, the implemented, and the attained curriculum (Robitaille et al., 1993); by tensions between national guidelines and local control; and by the decisions of teachers in the classroom. As Louis and Versloot demonstrate, research teams that include people both internal and external to the education system under study are in the best position to guide readers through this complexity and provide a full description of how the system operates. Some readers may be puzzled by the oblique nature of Louis and Versloot's critique of our paper. Our work and theirs center on different but complementary aspects of the role of standards in different education systems. Their research is concerned primarily with how standards are established and maintained within the particular constitutional and cultural context of the Netherlands. Ours focused primarily on determining what the operative standards are in several countries. To do this, we found it necessary to take into account the broader structure of the education system. It is on this "background" (for us) question that Louis and Versloot, with their deep knowledge of the Dutch education system and broader Dutch culture, offer some challenges to our characterizations.

Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth: Essays on American and British Experience in the Nineteenth Century. By Paul A. David. London, Cambridge University Press, 1975. Pp. x + 334. $21.00 cloth, $5.95 paper

Business History Review, 1975

and Charles Kindleberger, make it clear that the approaches that Barzun rather vaguely calls quan... more and Charles Kindleberger, make it clear that the approaches that Barzun rather vaguely calls quantitative can indeed provide suggestive evidence, help scrutinize theses, inform judgment. Though not all work in psychohistory or quanto-history is terribly impressive, one might observe that the guild should be large enough these days to abide a few dissidents and sophisticated enough to profit from the wrangling over method that does follow the appearance of flawed works. Clio, the virgin muse whom Barzun so vigilantly protects from the clutches of broad-shouldered disciplines, may not be as much in danger of rape as of frigidity. Still, another look is in order here. No one standard of historical literature is necessary or desirable, it may be true; perhaps no one can really act as arbiter in any case. All the same, we should pay serious heed to Barzun's definition of history if only because it does allow plenty of room for innovative work and may very well encourage the interdisciplinary writing that will prove of widest lasting importance. Rather than abandon a view of history demanding logical soundness and literary grace, historians interested in new problems and approaches might reconsider their own self-view and scholarly canons. What Barzun is saying is that, if we see ourselves as historians first and accept the premise that history is meant to be eclectic, we can have valuable history and be imaginative in our searching for evidence, posing of questions, and structuring of answers as well. As we mull over the implications of Barzun's ideas, certain fundamental questions seem to become less troublesome: is the proper business of history the study of persons, groups, systems, or forces; should history aim at explanation or understanding? What in theoiy are the obligations of the historian who borrows from other modes of inquiry? No doubt we will continue to disagree fruitfully on these matters. Nonetheless, we ought to agree that any history we write can tell a story, deal with it in time, talk about large intellectual problems in terms of a particular subject, and do it with vividness and discrimination. Though Barzun is a bit stuffy in places, he asks us to be conservative in the best sense. He is at war with "history" that is ahistorical, with scientific pretension, arcane theorizing, sloppy thinking, bad grammar, and clumsy style. We all should roll bandages for him.

Testing in America The current challenge

Applied Psychology, 1982

L'alphabétisation en Amérique du Nord

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 1985

L'histoire de l'alphabétisation se trouve à la croisée de tant de domaines différents qu&... more L'histoire de l'alphabétisation se trouve à la croisée de tant de domaines différents qu'il lui reste à établir sa propre identité. Dans son acception large, son objet est le réseau de relations sociales qui associent des lecteurs et des textes, et la transformation de ces relations dans le temps. Elle a donc bien des préoccupations en commun avec l'histoire religieuse, avec l'histoire du livre, de l'éducation ou de l'économie, et elle a reconnu aussi tout ce qu'elle devait à la démographie historique. C'est à cette dernière, et particulièrement aux travaux de Roger Schofield et du groupe de Cambridge, qu'elle a emprunté l'idée de faire de la signature des actes d'état civil un indicateur de l'alphabétisation pour de gros échantillons de population et dans la longue durée.Pendant les quinze années qui ont suivi la publication de l'article fondateur de Schofield, l'indicateur signature a fait l'objet d'une exploitati...

High Standards in Writing: The Sagamore Workshop

Daniel Resnick

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