The purpose of this paper is to inform the community about teacher appraisal methods in the School District of Philadelphia, outline the difficulties of the current system, and suggest approaches that would strengthen the teacher appraisal process. The authors gathered their information over three months in mid-2009 from multiple sources:…

In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such…

This tool was created in order to help young people and adults develop a common language for talking about how to improve schools. The tool provides educators, young people, administrators, policy makers, parents, community members and other stake holders with a common lens for reflecting on their schools and for planning change. It can also be…

The Spanish translation of this guide offers information to Spanish-speaking family day care providers who desire to expand their knowledge of early childhood development in order to work with infants and young children with special needs in their day care settings. The first of four chapters answers common questions and concerns of day care…

Designed to help local government officials, agency personnel, and members of citizen groups involved in the planning process for a rapidly growing community, this introduction to community needs assessment provides background information on the reasons for conducting community needs assessment, guidelines for determining which techniques are most…