Standards can help integrate a curriculum, as a fourth-grade teacher discovered when implementing a unit on the Middle Ages. Students created a medieval fair that demonstrated their learning in medieval history (social studies), pulleys and gears (science and technology), story telling (language arts), and costume and dance (fine arts). (MLH)

University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, in partnership with the North York and Metropolitan Toronto Separate School Districts, began a two-year pilot program in 1995 that incorporates a school-improvement project into beginning teacher preparation. A key aim is preparing preservice teachers to be improvement-minded…