This paper describes a collaborative project of several professional dental organizations to systematically respond to the Institute of Medicine's 1995 report concerning the present status and future needs of dental education. It describes the project's goals, objectives, guiding principles, and general findings. It identifies five action areas…

A Delaware middle-school principal reflects on a small town's provincial, picayune mindset when confronted with the RE:LEARNING project. Community culture made change very difficult; tradition and stakeholders' fears worked against new initiatives. Also, the district's commitment to the project was very superficial, and local politics stifled…

Major programatic reforms or significant changes in roles and relationships within the educational system are unlikely to emerge given the lack of attention to the actors, process of implementation, and underlying values of the reform movement. The article's focus is state-level reform initiatives. (IAH)

Continuing problems, troubling trends, and many opportunities face writing-across-the-curriculum planners in the future. Proponents must continue to believe in the benefits of writing-across-the-curriculum programs and widen and intensify networks of support. (MSE)

Describes a teacher empowerment project implemented in one middle school from the perspectives of individuals who were expected to lead teachers into leadership: an administrator, a middle school specialist, and an evaluator. Their different perspectives emphasized the personal nature of the project and the importance of enhancing communication.…

Describes the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MNTC), a statewide agenda for improving student transfer that inspired general education reform. Reviews the Minnesota Community College System, elements of the statewide reform movement, key principles of the MNTC and issues related to its implementation, and future challenges to education reform in…

Children First, which is Nottinghamshire, England's policy to increase mainstreaming of children with special educational needs, has been implemented by planning for cooperative rather than competitive change and providing resources for change. The policy has helped maintain the profile of these children at a time when they were at risk of being…

Describes the Independent Study Program of Seekonk High School (Massachusetts), a program that allows students to leave school on a regular basis to volunteer within the community. Seniors choose a project and submit it for approval. Suggestions are given for implementing and sustaining such a program. (SLD)

Examines the rationale for implementing a "responsible inclusion" model for students with emotional/behavioral disorders, and discusses critical components for such a program's development. A checklist of supports is presented, along with a process chart for depicting levels of commitment toward responsible inclusion. (CR)

Sustaining reform requires district leaders to develop a supportive infrastructure, nurture professional communities, reduce turnover, and use facilitators to build capacity. Bringing educators up to speed means providing abundant staff development, balancing pressure with support, providing adult learning time, and reducing fragmentation and…

Analyzes current and future directions of educational change in Quebec, highlighting major policy themes: governance and organization, teaching and learning, and human and financial resources. The necessary conditions for achieving intended reform goals may be lacking. Schools lack the capacity to engage in self-development without external…

Shares the author's experience as a third-grade teacher coping for two years with the changes in her classroom brought about by the schoolwide implementation of a comprehensive reading program called Success For All (SFA). Describes how she tries to incorporate what she believes to be effective without compromising the program's implementation.…

A recent study found no evidence of inadequate state-aid general funding for Oklahoma's mandated elementary class size requirements as they became more restrictive during implementation phases. Over the years, state aid increased on a per-simulated-class basis for grades K-6. State-aid distribution equity also increased. (MLH)

Explores why Thinking Skills/Cognitive Acceleration programs have struggled to make an impact, noting that classrooms are resistant to the kind of change these programs demand. Considers five constructs of teacher development (socialization, craft knowledge and expert-novice, "pedagogical" content knowledge, images of teaching, and…

This article reports on the first 4 years of an effort to develop comprehensive and sustainable mathematics education reforms in high poverty middle schools. In four related analyses, we examine the levels of implementation achieved and impact of the reforms on various measures of achievement in the first 3 schools to implement the Talent…