Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Curriculum Quality and includes: (1) IDRA's Community of Learners Approach to Instructional Quality: Three Critical Questions that…

This booklet notes that adolescents and young adults are a primary risk group for contracting Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and asserts that public schools must assume a key role in giving students the information they need to avoid contracting AIDS. It recommends that teaching about AIDS take place within the context of a…

Evaluation criteria and a rating scale are provided for administrators, professional staff, and community representatives who want to assess school arts programs. These criteria may also be used to generate information to establish program goals, plan inservice programs, or plan and evaluate state and federal programs. Criteria are established…

The aim of this seminar was to draw attention to the necessity of a fundamental reform in school curricula to make them more adapted to the diversified challenges of the 21st century and to determine what concrete actions should be taken to achieve this goal. Another objective was the intellectual preparation of countries concerned for…

Seventeen high schools, representing a broad cross-section of American communities, were selected to be part of a network of schools receiving help in reconceptualizing their existing general education programs. The two-year project involved meetings of the network participants with each other and with experts to help the participants develop a…

This paper addresses a decline in educational standards and discusses the role of curriculum. After defining the problem, it presents the evidence, pointing to the following factors: (1) decreasing student achievement after the fourth or fifth grade; (2) a curriculum that reflects and perpetuates this decline, e.g., by setting course requirements…

Teachers of mathematics are leading a nationwide effort to bring about a complete redesign of both school and college mathematics programs by setting new and more demanding standards for what students must learn about mathematics, as well as for what teachers themselves must accomplish as professionals in the classroom. This brief document is…

The Commission to Study the Future of Community Colleges in Kentucky was established in 1988 to review the accomplishments of the Kentucky Community College System (KCCS), to assess its current status, and to provide direction for the KCCS towards the year 2000. Developed as part of a collection of articles and reports on the KCCS for use by the…

This guide is designed primarily for administrators/teachers to provide: an introduction to the nature and purpose of school evaluation; an approach involving evaluation of issues determined by school staff; a set of procedures to carry out the evaluation; and guidance information and instruments for conducting an evaluation. Although the guide is…

The document addresses challenges that a developmental and wholistic approach to learning presents in the area of educational screening and evaluation in native communities. The introduction considers the connection between wholistic educational evaluation and alcohol and drug abuse, where to begin, the role of evaluation in learning, and…

Salient questions on the curriculum for student teachers were developed and responses sought from student teachers, who provided critical discussions with reference to their subject specialty. Chapter 1 discusses the "hidden" curriculum in relation to its influence on the pursuit and aims of education. In chapter 2, ways in which…

Under a Title VI-B grant, California's Coastline Community College (CCC) conducted a needs assessment survey establishing a database of international training needs, developed five courses and 10 workshops in international business, and formed the World Trade Center Institute (WTCI). This report provides information on the activities and…

This document comprises the archival print edition of the first volume of a quarterly electronic journal providing a forum for information on leading-edge teaching innovations and research findings in the field of family science. The foci of the journal are the family science curriculum, instruction issues, evaluation and assessment, and…

Intercultural education in the Greater Salt Lake City (Utah) metropolitan area seems to have minimal effect on high school students' behavior or attitudes. This study was planned in order to better understand the nature and dynamics of intercultural instruction in Salt Lake City. Information was analyzed from the following sources: (1) interviews…

Based on principles of the Council for Basic Education, this book outlines a curriculum and pedagogy for an elementary school which would prepare children for national fourth grade examinations. The book is divided into six sections. The first section examines the background of elementary school students in the 1990s and presents ways for schools…