This Spotlight will help readers investigate one state's plan to improve literacy with daily summer reading instruction; review how teachers can better support struggling older readers; gain expert insights into strategies for boosting reading proficiency; evaluate the merits of audiobooks for improving reading engagement; explore how short bursts…

California, the most populous and diverse state in the United States, must maintain its commitment to civic education. The curricular goal of democratic understanding and civic values is centered on an essential understanding of the nation's identity and constitutional heritage. This scope and sequence for civic education describes ways in which…

This issue of "Changing Schools" focuses on character education. The lead article, "Character Education: Finding Ways To Foster Ethical Behavior in Youth" by Diane McIntyre Wilber discusses the character education programs that have spread to nearly every type of school, whether public, private, charter, or faith-based. Since…

As a means of implementing program activities, the Maryland State Department of Education has made assumptions regarding the development of students' thinking abilities. These assumptions and Maryland's plan of implementation are presented and discussed. (CT)

This collection of informational materials includes brief essays on library services due California children and youth, ways to help children develop thinking skills, and thrusts of parent involvement. Also included are a bibliography of books for use in helping children develop thinking skills, and a listing of resources available from the State…

This volume of the "Teacher Handbook," a product of the extensive audit and revision of curriculum carried out by the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction in 1984 in order to develop a basic education program for the state's public schools presents a competency-based curriculum in library/media and computer skills.…

A program designed to provide educational administrators with the skills and resources to become more effective in their jobs is described. The program, offered as an annual series of two statewide workshops, focuses on developing anticipatory and prescriptive management techniques. Participants are encouraged to conduct follow-up inservice…

This document provides a framework for better understanding of the knowledge and skills essential to a state level position within special education. It was developed with an eye on essential skills and knowledge for carrying out the general supervision/leadership requirements of the state education agency (SEA) specifically as it related to…

This guide for school library media specialists presents seven learning outcomes in library media skills that were identified in "The Library Media Program: A Maryland Curricular Framework" and matches them with appropriate library media skills/attitudes. It is noted that these matches produce indicators that are fully integrated to describe…

An interview with Steve Barnett, the recently appointed assistant deputy minister, finance and administration, in the Ministry of Education for British Columbia, focuses on the involvement the Canadian federal government has in public education in Canada. Comments on specific aspects of the Goals 2000 Act and how they relate to Canadian…

The manual presents results and findings of a statewide motor development inservice training project for teachers of exceptional children and provides training modules from the project. Section 1 gives an overview of the structure, philosophy, and procedures of the project. The evaluation plan of the program is described, and the development of…

Instructional leadership is studied as practiced by 44 school site principals, all graduates of the California School Leadership Academy (CSLA), a 3-year program emphasizing leadership in the context of a state-initiated school reform strategy. The CSLA offers hope that effective training for instructional leadership can be broadly implemented.…

This publication describes many of the basic skills improvement programs and activities ongoing in the state of Wisconsin. The efforts included were identified through a statewide survey in which administrators and staff members of the programs provided the information included in this volume. Programs described are grouped in the following…

This report recommends measures to improve elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education in Iowa while providing universal access to education. The proposal stresses unified goals throughout the state's educational system, while retaining local discretion over curriculum. Although the report emphasizes high school-to-college articulation, it…

Twenty-three Texas school districts conducted state-funded pilot projects in 1982 and 1983 to determine whether summer school programs could successfully remediate the needs of students who were retained in grade or had failed a required course, who were functioning greatly below their peers in skill attainment, or who were identified as having…