Describes how preschools and elementary schools can establish a Family Lending Library to make available to parents books on the reading process, literacy, and child development, as well as books they can read to their children. The library can also contain videotapes, toys, and a variety of materials that address the uniqueness of each family.…

A Milwaukee (Wisconsin) program to improve its public school education with the help of faculty from three universities (University of Wisconsin, Marquette University, and Milwaukee School of Engineering) is described. The program, EQUITY 2000, aims to bring systemic change to entire school districts by eliminating tracking and raising standards…

The director of the three-year-old Stevens project, which addresses the implementation and use of computers for middle and secondary mathematics instruction, offers a progress report. Time for preparation, teacher training, and defining the changing role of the teacher are cited as key variables. Future activities are also previewed. (Author/JJK)

Mount Ida College (Massachusetts) has found the use of college administrators as mentors to students, complementing academic advising and faculty mentoring, to be an effective approach to strengthening the tie between first-year college students and their institutions. The impact has been noticeable in the campus culture as well as in student…

Evolution of the intensive summer oral language proficiency institutes held at the University of Texas at El Paso, beginning in 1984, is discussed. Benefits for participants, including knowledge gained about language testing and improved personal language skills, are noted, and areas for further consideration or improvement in the program are…

After a funding-equity victory, there is no guarantee that districts will adopt effective programs to improve student achievement. Programs with the greatest payoff for disadvantaged students include early-childhood programs, one-on-one tutoring, Success for All, James Comer's School Development Program, and extensive staff development. (38…

Describes and discusses "The Fifth Dimension," a distributed literacy consortium of after-school enrichment programs that involve cooperation between local community organizations affiliated with colleges and universities, in which children engage in activities using a variety of multimedia equipment and software. Notes the program is a useful…

Funded by the Generalist Physician Initiative, Dartmouth Medical School (New Hampshire), Virginia Commonwealth University, and New York Medical College adopted early community-based training models for longitudinal clinical experiences. The three programs, the methods used to evaluate an aspect of the program, lessons learned about early clinical…

The Alcohol-related Harm Prevention (AHP) program is a normative education and skill-acquisition program designed to reduce serious, long-term alcohol-related harm in college students. Without admonishing students not to drink, which is likely to fail in many student populations, the AHP program attempts to give students the necessary perceptions,…

This article describes a project that will make a positive impact in today's special education classroom. Teachers will learn how to use Problem Based Learning (PBL) units as a tool to empower students with special needs to become more confident, independent, successful students. It will also shatter the stereotype that students with special needs…

In this article, the author discusses a partnership between Baylor University and the Waco public schools that embeds every teacher-candidate--from the freshman year on--into the K-12 system. To test whether professional-development schools, modeled after teaching hospitals, can be scaled up so that all of a college's teaching candidates--not just…

Meeting the demands of teaching in the digital age requires the identification of effective types of educational technology and ways of encouraging its use, and that was the aim of a "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology (PT3)" grant to the University of Michigan-Dearborn, from the United States Department of Education. This…

Since 2000, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan (UM) has presented an educational theatre program for the professional development of faculty and graduate student instructors. Through the medium of interactive theatre, faculty can experience the sort of "second chance" described in the presented…

This paper describes the process evaluation of an organ donation education program for high school students aged 15-18 years of which the effectiveness was established. The program consisted of three components: a video with group discussion, an interactive computer-tailored program and a registration training session. A cross-sectional survey was…

Professional development practices in schools have been changing recently, particularly with the mandates regarding professional development through No Child Left Behind. In 2001, the National Staff Development Council revised its standards of professional development to shift thinking in this area and reflect the changing needs of schools,…