Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) is an educational framework that illustrates how to foster educational excellence through a focus on cultural competence, critical consciousness, and academic success, which aims to empower students by making education more applicable and responsive to their lived experiences (Ladson-Billings, 1995). This study…

Induction programmes including assessments of suitability were introduced in Sweden 2011 and were in use for three years. The purpose of this study is to examine the conditions for and the consequences of giving the induction programme a gatekeeper function to the teaching profession. The empirical basis consists of a web-based survey, which…

Foundations across the country engage in grantmaking to eliminate the opportunity and achievement gaps in K-12 public schools. Many of the strategies and investments that funders have supported in recent years focus not only on "more time" but also on "better use of time" in schools. This better use of time centers on outcomes…

On September 17, 2013 (Constitution Day), the C3 Framework was released under the title "The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History." The C3 Project Director and lead writer was NCSS member Kathy Swan, who is…

This paper describes a major initiative in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to develop a statewide, standards-based, student report card for reporting the learning progress of individual students at all grade levels (K-12). Led by a team of researchers with expertise in grading and reporting, 36 educators from three diverse school districts created…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus package, appropriated $100 billion for education and included $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to help reform low-performing schools. This amount was in addition to the $546 million provided by the regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill for…

Background: A US federal mandate that school districts devise and implement local wellness policies (LWPs) has potential widespread impact on the nutritional content of foods and beverages available in schools and on the amount of physical activity that students engage in; however, evidence concerning the mandate's effectiveness is limited. This…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the latest development in a long history of standards-based-reform in the United States. As of November 4, 2011, 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new curricular standards, called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These states and the District of Columbia are now implementing…

The purpose of this study was to describe a collaborative partnership model known as the Global Educational Ecosystem, which involves three K-12 schools in Northern California, community organizations (representing science, technology, health, and arts), and Xilinx, Inc. from the perspectives of the leaders of the involved partner organizations in…

Describes the variety of attitudes toward mainstreaming characterized by the 25 mainstreaming programs currently being studied in an ongoing research project. Suggests that the failure of mainstreaming efforts is traceable to organizational problems, internecine politics, and lack of skill and/or willingness on the part of school personnel. (PGD)

Discusses four reasons why mainstreaming has made slow progress. (FL)

The Tennessee Career Ladder Program consists of a five-step classification system in which Level II teachers (who must have taught for 8 years) and Level III teachers (who must have taught for 12 years) are at the summit with the longest contracts and highest pay. This study surveyed 474 Level II and Level III teachers to determine the perceptions…

This paper describes a successful, low-budget 2-day training session designed to prepare trainers for the presentation of a quality inservice program. A presentation on "training of trainers" was videotaped for use on the first of the two training days. The second training day was devoted to working with principals and administrative…

Northern Arizona University's Arizona Career Ladder Research & Evaluation Project for teachers implements a procedure for rewarding teachers based on performance levels rather than on years of teaching experience and college credits. Research data is collected each spring, analyzed and fed back to the districts for improvement of key program…

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the intents, activities, and results of the New York State Mentor Teacher-Internship (MT-I) Program. Part 1 provides an introduction and overview of the evaluation study; it includes information regarding the purpose of the study, the study design and analysis, and the issue of confidentiality. Part…