"The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland's Full-Service Community School District" offers an in-depth profile of the nation's most ambitious community school initiative. The book focuses on a nearly ten-year effort to transform all eighty-six district schools in Oakland, California into community schools in order to better meet the…

In this powerful new book, James Rickabaugh, former superintendent and current director of the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL), presents the groundbreaking results of the Institute's half-decade of research, development, and practice: a simple but powerful model for personalizing students' learning experiences by building their levels of…

Teachers and school leaders frequently make decisions about which strategies will best support students who struggle academically or behaviorally, but evidence-based information about the quality of these strategies is not always available. Resources as the What Works Clearinghouse and the Regional Education Laboratories can help educators…

The purposes of "Guidelines for Serving Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Educational Settings" are to: (1) Update previous guidance on serving students with specific learning disabilities (SLD); (2) Provide guidance on the implementation with fidelity of the Response to Intervention (RTI) models as well as the discrepancy…

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…

The first step to meeting the fundamental aim of any educational institution is to understand clearly what the students need. Needs assessment is a tool educators can use to help meet this goal. Needs assessment data suggest the basis for plans, strategies, and practices that may ultimately lead to school improvement. This chapter reviews issues…

Middle level students have unique needs that can be met by a school advising program. Outlines the goals and a timeline for implementing an advisory program along with nine components essential to a successful guidance and advisory program. (MLF)

This article discusses how to develop a conceptual framework for health education on which a needs assessment instrument can be based; how to construct the actual instrument; and how to interpret the cognitive, affective, and behavioral data gathered for curriculum decision making. (Author/SJL)

A case study is presented of an elementary school preparing to implement a full-time mainstreaming program for students with learning disabilities. Based on observations, interviews, and surveys of students, parents, and teachers, it is concluded that fundamental changes in instruction are necessary for the regular education initiative to work.…

This guide provides information about various types of alternative education programs that address the educational and behavioral needs of disruptive students. The programs suggested are aimed at students whose behavior is so disruptive that they must be removed from classes or from the school for varying lengths of time. These programs provide…

This practicum report presents a plan to reduce referrals for psychological evaluations in the schools in Dade County, Florida. Three goals of the plan are identified: (1) to reduce the backlog of referrals in three elementary schools; (2) to improve the placement rate of those students who are referred; and (3) to help teachers identify children…

This how-to guide, which is designed to assist state and local welfare reform efforts, explains how to design, implement, and manage mandatory stay-in-school (learnfare) programs for teenage parents on welfare. The following topics are discussed in the guide's five chapters: the importance of focusing on teen parents on welfare, Ohio's Learning,…

Designed for school board members, superintendents, administrators, counselors, and teachers, the paper outlines steps toward the systematic development of a guidance program. Following a rationale and introduction, the paper recommends a specific process for program development: (1) the identification of student needs through formal needs…

This guide provides standards for school principals and other administrators exploring school-age child care programs, reviews child care research and effective practices that have emerged over the past two decades, and describes characteristics of effective programs. An introduction describes the growing need for day care services; defines…

This guide was designed to assist school administrators, teachers, counselors, parents and others who are interested in developing guidance programs which meet the needs of young adolescents in Oregon. Practices, procedures, and forms that school districts have found to be most useful in implementing a coordinated guidance and counseling program…