Fred Newmann, Walter Secada, and Gary Wehlage

The authors' premise is that innovative teaching techniques (e.g., cooperative learning, group discussions, hands-on experiments and videos) do not guarantee a change in the "intellectual quality" of what students are asked to do. For example, "a portfolio that shows a variety of student work over a semester might replace the final exam taken in one sitting, but the portfolio itself could be filled with tasks" devoted to remembering and listing isolated bits of information. Thus, the merit of any teaching technique should be judged by its ability to improve the "intellectual quality of student performance."
 

The document listed below is devoted to defining "intellectual quality," developing criteria