This Information Brief is designed to assist educators in working with parents and family members to facilitate students' career development through the use of individualized college and career planning tools. This brief discusses families' perceptions of whether and how they were engaged in schools' implementation of Individualized Learning Plans…

An assessment with the Environment Rating Scales (ERS) is designed to give early childhood administrators and teaching staff much more than a set of quality scores. Appropriately used, an ERS assessment can provide a blueprint for planning and carrying out both immediate and long-range program improvements. Unfortunately, programs often complete…

Developing and maintaining effective physical education programs requires that teachers continually update their knowledge and skills. Books and journals, conferences, professional organizations, and consultants provide information to help teachers develop effective programs. (DF)

Practical methods for gaining support for educational programs from national, state, and local leaders are examined in this article. A partnership of this type can promote excellent educational programs by presenting the positive aspects of education. (DF)

Program Improvement (PI) and School Assistance and Intervention Teams (SAIT) programs place rigorous, narrowly defined requirements upon monitored schools and districts, with corrective actions typically written as both school-level and district-level interventions. The requirements, known as the Essential Program Components, aim to enable schools…

An evaluation of the fifth cycle of operation of the Massachusetts Workplace Education Initiative had several purposes: (1) to identify the indicators of quality in workplace education; (2) to begin to design an evaluation system for each program; and (3) to assess the indicators of quality for workplace education programs against the national…

Covers a variety of strategies for creating a unique and identifiable choral sound. Provides specific instructions for developing singing in unison and recommends a standing arrangement of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass quartets. Provides other tips for instrumentation, sight reading, and quality rehearsal time. (MJP)

This volume contains over 60 ideas for use in implementing supervised occupational experience (SOE) programs. The ideas, which were submitted during a National SOE idea contest conducted in 1983, deal with the following aspects of SOE programs: program evaluation, program promotion, use of teacher and student aids, stimulation of individual…

This guide details eduational standards as a way to improve the overall quality of early care and education programs within Kentucky and to ultimately result in positive outcomes for all young children. These standards address the essential knowledge and competencies that children are expected to achieve at various ages and may be used as a…

This document presents a "Quality Program Indicators Checklist" developed with the goal of program improvement in classrooms for students in Kentucky with moderate and severe handicaps. The checklist evaluates program effectiveness in six component areas: (1) integration (interaction opportunities and teacher behaviors supportive of…

As public schools collaborate with the Head Start and child care communities to improve the quality of early childhood education and care, practitioners working with young children need guidance and support in implementing best practices in early learning. This manual provides guidance to teachers engaged in improving their programs in concert…

Noting that many middle schools do not pay sufficient attention to the emotional, physical, and social development of their students, this booklet presents characteristics of successful middle school programs, as recognized by scholars in the middle school movement. Each characteristic is accompanied by an explanation of the "what and…

This handbook is intended to help Missouri school districts develop and implement quality family and consumer sciences programs that will prepare students of all ages to be critical, ethical thinkers and successful family, career, and community leaders. The handbook begins with a bibliography listing 27 resources. The following are among the…

Establishing and sustaining quality teaching is equally dependent on the capacity of organizations and networks at regional, district and school levels to productively engage in improvement efforts that are realized in the classroom. The "teacher workforce" evokes military and industrial images, huge numbers of workers who must be trained,…

Beginning in September, 2001 when the Portland Public Schools received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Urban Systemic Program (USP) initiative, the district focused, accelerated and strengthened its efforts to improve mathematics and science education K-12. Since its inception the authors at Inverness Research…