While research shows that exclusionary discipline practices in the early years are ineffective and developmentally inappropriate, young children continue to be suspended and expelled at high rates. An increasing number of states have taken steps to ensure that young children are not removed from programs due to their behavior. This report explores…

Merit pay programs for educators--sometimes referred to a "pay for performance"--attempt to tie a teacher's compensation to his/her performance in the classroom. While the idea of merit pay for classroom teachers has been around for several decades, only now is it starting to be implemented in a growing number of districts around the…

Describes the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative in Morton High School District 201, Cicero, IL, which used a social ecological systems perspective to implement its goals. Social-emotional learning and violence-prevention strategies were provided at the levels of the community, school, and individual. Creation of a safe school environment…

The status of competence-based education (CBE) in Illinois secondary schools is examined in this article. The authors cite some strengths and weaknesses of those programs in existence. They surmise from their findings that CBE is not widely planned or implemented in Illinois secondary schools. (Editor/SJL)

Despite the widespread introduction of microcomputers into the nation's schools, tremendous variations exist in the frequency and success of their implementation. This study focuses on the principal's role as one possible cause of these variations. Recent research has identified two major role activities of principals: instructional leadership and…

This monograph presents a discussion of the problems involved in implementing sex-fair coeducational classes in physical education. Suggestions, which grew out of a symposium on coeducational physical education, are offered on procedures that may be used for ability grouping, such as what type of test(s) are appropriate and when to use single or…

Emerging Literacy Technology Curriculum (ELiTeC 2, [referred to as E2 in this report]), housed at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood at Western Illinois University, was funded in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as a 3-year Phase 3 Steppingstones of Technology Research on…

Dual credit programs were first established in the 1970s, gradually gaining popularity in the 1980s, and expanding enormously through the 1990s. These programs are designed to allow high school students to begin college-level coursework and simultaneously earn high school and college credit. While the original intent was to provide more…

This monograph examines benefits, challenges, and methods of expanding access to adult literacy with online distance education (ODE). The following are among the topics discussed: (1) reasons for considering ODE (new technologies and delivery systems in education; ODE in higher education, business training, and adult basic education; state-level…