Arizona At-Risk Pilot Project results suggest most effective means to involve parents are those that establish personal rapport between someone from the school and a parent and do not initially require high levels of commitment or participation. The "ideal" parent may be hard to find, but getting to know parents individually and…

There is probably no widespread educational practice as thoroughly discredited as retention in grade. If the research undercutting this practice is sound, the task is to uproot outdated misconceptions appealing to educators'"common sense" wisdom. An Arizona study's influence on the attitudes of community leaders, local teachers, and…

Charter schools must answer to public entities (bureaucratic accountability) and to participating parents, students, and teachers (market accountability). This study examines bureaucratic accountability, highlighting regulatory approaches of statewide charter-school authorizers in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan. CSA's favor a…

Evidence from Arizona and other states demonstrates that children with disabilities lack equal access to charter schools. Charter school operators are avoiding potentially high-cost students and are unprepared to meet their needs. Charter schools need to strike cooperative resource-sharing arrangements with neighboring districts. States must…

This guide to education for gifted students in Arizona begins with a rationale for providing special services for high potential students. It then discusses the gifted student, screening and identification, the teacher, programs and services, financial assistance, resources, and parent involvement. In each of these topic areas, the guide outlines…

Accomplished teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands (7% yearly). A 1997 National Center for Education Statistics survey found that dissatisfied teachers leave because of student discipline and motivation problems, inadequate administrative support, poor salary, and insufficient influence over school policies and practices. The…

This book defines key issues in the debate over the role of schools in the health of children, outlining the history of school health programs and discussing the contemporary issue of school health care delivery. Health needs are increasingly being met by the major social institution in U.S. society that deals with the needs of children--the…