Grade retention as a major element in education and reading policy has been adopted by at least 14 states, with 32+ states linking reading intervention to high-stakes testing. These policies ignore four decades of research on the negative consequences of grade retention and the significant body of research on effective and supportive literacy…

This study investigated the effects of the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) instructional sequence on the subtraction performance of students identified as at-risk for mathematics failure. Although the CRA sequence has been demonstrated as effective for teaching a variety of mathematical skills and processes its effects when used to teach…

This study examined and compared the educational perspectives of Korean parents of elementary school students and their teachers. 430 parents and 143 teachers in the New York metropolitan area participated in the survey and 16 teachers, administrators, and parents were interviewed. The findings indicated that the teachers not only misunderstood…

This 3 year longitudinal study reports the feasibility of an "Improving Teacher Quality: No Child Left Behind" project for impacting teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge in mathematics in nine Title I elementary schools in the southeastern United States. Data were collected for 3 years to determine the impact of standards and…

This article describes kindergarten from the perspective of the whole child. Specifically, it reviews current research on best practices to improve children's math and language arts competencies, memory skills, and the role of kindergarten in beginning science. It also describes the social experiences children have in kindergarten with respect to…

Culturally responsive instruction appears to offer the potential to improve students' academic achievement and chances for success in school. However, it is not easy to see how culturally responsive instruction can be applied, especially in classrooms with students of many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In the first section of this…

Teachers can help minority children close the academic achievement gap in intermediate and middle school by combining literacy instruction and content-area material. This connection improves reading achievement and increases curriculum knowledge, even if students have previously experienced difficulty with primary school reading. Fortunately,…

Classroom management continues to be a serious concern for teachers and especially in urban and diverse learning environments. The authors present the culturally responsive classroom management practices of two teachers from an urban and diverse middle school to extend the construct, culturally responsive classroom management. The principles that…

This article focuses on the first phase of a recent National Research Center on Giftedness and Talented (NRC/GT) project, which used survey research to target a disproportionate nationally stratified random sample of primary grade teachers about their beliefs and practices related to talent development in young children and their responses to case…

The purpose of this article is fourfold. First, it identifies a growing international interest on the part of educators and school officials in finding effective ways to mentor especially poor and minority students toward academic success. Second, it reviews the literature on mentoring as it pertains to this population. Third, it details a case…

Describes field trips and related activities in which nearby institutions, local celebrities, and distinctive aspects of community life are employed to enrich the Schools Reaching Out project at the David A. Ellis School in Roxbury (MA). (DM)

The results of four recent studies that contain different estimates of the number of language minority and/or limited English proficient children in the United States are compared. Such estimates of the number of children in need of bilingual or special educational language services are important since they are used to determine services and their…

Discusses the national trend toward full-day kindergarten scheduling and a 2-year experiment involving alternate-day and half-day programs in Pasco, Washington. Early findings show no significant differences in children's achievement, classroom study habits, or social skills. Poor and minority children benefit from increased conversational…

Summarizes 15 years of National Assessment of Educational Progress data on reading and writing in elementary schools. While reading performance has improved over the 1971-1984 period for black and Hispanic 9- and 13-year-olds and for younger disadvantaged children, writing results are less encouraging. Effective writing instruction may require…

This article discusses prereferral intervention, mainstreaming, and appropriate education for culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional learners. One approach for addressing prereferral intervention at district or school building levels is described, emphasizing the need to expand training to meet the needs of minority non-Hispanic…