Following the Department of Education's announcement of the $3.5 billion in Title I funding, 831 of the nation's "persistently lowest-achieving schools" received federal funding during the 2010-11 school year to embark on significant change in the form of a School Improvement Grant (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The Department of…

In 2009, the federal government committed over $3 billion nationwide to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools. The U.S. Department of Education intended for the School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to spur dramatic change.This report looks at the results of a field study of the first-year implementation of those grants…

Analyzes site-based management structures, using specific case of teacher unions and collective bargaining. From coalitional perspective, interview data suggest that teacher union leaders may be in a quandary, shifting between traditional "bread and butter" issues and professional/collegial concerns. A struggle exists involving the…

Soon after the California Peer Assistance and Review program was signed into law, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and the local teacher union came to an agreement about implementing the program. Key factors were mutual respect and need for mentoring programs for beginning teachers and for experienced teachers needing assistance. (MLH)

Although conventional collective bargaining has helped teachers achieve greater professional status, its win/lose approach causes participants to overlook shared educational objectives. Since the first experiments in win/win bargaining, the acrimony generated by the adversarial process has led an increasing number of school districts to…

In the American Federation of Teachers' Thinking Mathematics collaboration, teachers have become equal partners with researchers to create staff development aimed at mathematics instruction. Researchers and 5 visiting practitioners have cooperated to create mathematics foundations materials conceptualized in 10 guiding principles for mathematics…

During a meeting of the Ohio Education Association, teachers raised concerns about a pending state mandate requiring school districts to provide mentoring programs for beginning teachers. Concerns relevant to teacher unions/organizations included funding for adequate teacher release time, the mentor role, mentor selection, training, scheduling of…

This report contains the findings of the first year of a 2-year Hudson Institute study of U.S. charter schools, which focused on their startup problems, solutions to the problems, and the policy environments in which such schools are most likely to thrive or falter. Data during 1995-96 were derived from site visits to 35 charter schools, which…

In the three years that the Pinellas County, Florida, district has offered its more than 7,800 teachers a performance bonus as mandated by the state, exactly two have qualified and taken home the money. To get a paycheck topped up by 5 percent, Pinellas teachers are required to have had a hand in helping students raise their test scores by 120…

This study sought to compile a set of national data on educational technology in the classroom from the perspectives of teachers and education support professionals. It aims to provide the National Education Association's (NEA's) state and local affiliates with national data against which they can gauge their own progress in using computer-based…

This handbook provides specific examples of activities and procedures of labor-education collaboration within the context of the career education program. It is intended to help interested communities develop or expand labor's active involvement in the educational process. After an introduction, a section lists a number of concerns shared by…