The adoption of the Common Core State Standards by 46 states and the District of Columbia represents a dramatic departure in U.S. education. In the past, national efforts to improve education have been directed by the federal government and have emphasized resources or organizational structure. In contrast, the Common Core State Standards in math…

This commentary responds to "Lessons Learned From Leading an Anger Management Group Using the "Seeing Red" Curriculum in an Elementary School," E. L. Sportsman, J. S. Carlson, and K. M. Guthrie's (2010/this issue) account of an anger control intervention's implementation and effectiveness in an elementary school setting. The accompanying article…

This critical essay discusses the challenges and prospects for the reform of school-based literacy programs. It begins with an overview of the effects of a decade of test-driven accountability policy on research and teachers' work, noting the continuing challenges of new demographics, cultures and technologies for literacy education. The case is…

Explains cooperative learning and provides a sample implementation of the group investigation model. Suggests that implementation of the group investigation model in a graduate-level reading education course supports the findings of cooperative learning in the literature. Argues that cooperative learning should be a part of teacher education…

After 10 years of operating early childhood programs, an education professor became an elementary school principal while designing a school to serve socially disadvantaged children. Herself disadvantaged by lack of certification and training, Caldwell discovered the fallacy of top-down reform efforts, the chasm between theory development and…

Provides testimony from five elementary school principals concerning the Skills for Growing Program piloted in U.S. and Canadian schools during 1987-1988. Principals stress the program's beneficial effects on student self-esteem, community involvement, curriculum enrichment, and staff morale. (MLH)

Notes that literature-based reading approaches are becoming increasingly popular in Canada as well as in other parts of North America. Reviews the rationale behind shared book experiences and literary clubs. Provides a variety of language-rich tasks to guide children as they respond to the stories they are reading. (RS)

Named as Title I director for the Espanola (New Mexico) School District in the mid-1960s, Gilbert Martinez redirected the early grants from equipment purchases to development of kindergartens, centralized elementary school libraries, and free lunch programs. New Mexico's program improvement mandates stress curriculum integration and evaluation…

Proposes an approach for helping school-age children to think critically about environmental health risks. Discusses elements of a school curriculum--defining a decision perspective, making choices under uncertainty, and thinking about consequences--and recommends classroom implementation procedures. (Author/JOW)

A parent objected to a district's replacement of the gifted pull-out program with gifted-talented clusters in regular classrooms. Teachers would be trained to work with special-needs students, but not to differentiate curricula for advanced students. He agreed to advance his daughter a grade, but deplores reforms' transitional effects. (MLH)

Discussing the "Whole Language and More '93" meeting, this paper presents a series of helpful how-to's (and some valuable caveats) for those involved in conference planning. The first part of the paper presents a discussion of 10 steps the conference organizer would take again, including: promoting the conference; organizing various…

San Francisco sculptor Ruth Asawa discusses her own artistic development and describes the Alvarado Arts Workshop, a community-based arts education program begun by herself, other parents, and community leaders in the San Francisco schools. (Author/SJL)

Suggests that the dangers and risks in whole language are real and irremedial, and educators' only recourse is to take responsibility for its shadow side and attempt to learn the lessons that even "monstrous examples" portend. (RS)

There is a need for leadership in the development of effective middle level schools in the United States. Despite the increasing numbers of schools that call themselves middle schools, there has not been much change in the educational program for pupils in grades 6, 7, and 8. Leaders in middle grades education need to examine current data about…

The deficit model of assessment dominating education in postwar Britain largely disappeared in the 1970s. Inherent weaknesses of the 11-plus exam, which still survives, may explain current obsession with formative assessment. Record keeping, grading, and other difficulties with changes wrought by the 1988 Education Reform Act and the National…