Middle grades schools have their hands full in working with elementary schools and high schools to improve the likelihood of success for middle grades students--accelerating learning, helping elementary students move seamlessly into the middle grades, preparing middle grades students for rigorous high school courses, changing organization and…

More schools are designing intellectually demanding career/technical (CT) courses--aligned with 21st-century requirements--to prepare students for further study, advanced training and work. They are using effective leadership, embedding essential college-readiness standards into CT courses, making CT courses more intellectually challenging, using…

"NSDC Policy Points" is a newsletter published by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC). This issue of "NSDC Policy Points" features schools that practice effective professional development. Included in this newsletter are: (1) Surprise, Arizona: Coaches support classroom improvements; (2) Loveland, Colorado:…

Response to Intervention (RtI) came into the national forefront in the late 1990s as an alternate approach for identifying students with specific learning disabilities. In brief, RtI assumes that a broad system of early intervention and support is in place, one possible component of which is evaluating a student for suspected learning…

Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) often go above and beyond the call of duty to encourage engagement and provide support to traditionally underrepresented students. This issue of Lumina Foundation Focus magazine, titled "Pillars of progress," examines MSIs and their efforts to maximize student success. Following the President's Message, In…