For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

Over the years, a number of interventions aimed at increasing student engagement and performance have been implemented in higher education. Some of these, labeled high-impact practices (HIPs), when done well, have led to documented evidence of student success. Two approaches that have been identified as HIPs--first-year seminars and learning…

Three community colleges--El Paso Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, and Patrick Henry Community College--incorporated technology into the curriculum to support student progress in mathematics through developmental education. Each college took its own path: El Paso developed a self-accelerated emporium-style computer lab, Patrick…

This brief summarizes efforts to reform developmental education at Zane State College and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Focused on accelerating student success and progress, the two schools pursued distinctive approaches to reform that aligned with their institutional missions and student populations. Recognizing that the…

"Something in Common" is the first book to provide a detailed look at the groundbreaking Common Core State Standards and their potential to transform American education. This book tells the story of the unfolding political drama around the making of the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts, which were adopted by…

The federal government and private foundations for education have established postsecondary credential completion as a national imperative. Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model was developed to increase the rate at which basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs,…

"Understanding the HighScope Approach" is a much needed source of information for those wishing to extend and consolidate their understanding of the HighScope Approach. It will enable the reader to analyse the essential elements of the HighScope Approach to early childhood and its relationship to quality early years practice. Exploring…

The editors of "The American School Board Journal" and "The Executive Educator" magazines recently invited school leaders from across North America to send in curriculum ideas that work. From among the 1,026 entries that were submitted, a panel of judges selected 100, which are published in this special report. Criteria for selection included (1)…

A new biology syllabus in Denmark to better prepare students for university entrance is described. The proposed biology syllabus is designed for drop-outs of the normal system with very little educational background and of below average academic ability. The new course concerns the biology of man at population level, with social aspects being…

Discusses reforms of the traditional elementary school curriculum in the "History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve" (1987). Emphasizes a history-centered curriculum drawing widely on the social sciences and humanities and involving students in developmentally appropriate…

Includes "The Promises of Honors," by Jerri Lindblad; "The Pitfalls of Honors Programs," by Ron Link; "Pedagogy in the Honors Classroom," by Janet Elder; "The Pragmatics of Honors," by Kathy Schwarz; and "Pointers," by Mike McHargue. (DMM)

A brief description is presented of a curriculum offered in one school system that applies much of the available research on how children learn. Materials used, goals for instruction, concepts emphasized, and intellectual processes engaged in each of grades kindergarten through third are noted. (MP)

The development of a curriculum and scheme for mathematics instruction at one elementary school is described. (MP)

The individual element of multicultural education needs to be recognized. The Association of American Colleges' national project, "Engaging Cultural Legacies: Shaping Core Curricula in the Humanities," helps colleges develop curriculum that challenge students to explore the humanities as reflected in their own social values, ideas, and…