While adolescent foundational skills interventions can be critical levers for reading improvement, district leaders, teachers, and researchers must make complex decisions about how to evaluate their effectiveness in context. In this discussion article, we explore three issues and tensions we experienced during a 2-year research-practice…

The overall aim of the study was to gather evidence on effective policy reforms for broad competence development in school education, including better achievement of basic skills. The six key objectives are: Objective 1: To understand the key features of policy design and implementation of reforms for broad competence development and achievement…

Millions of adult Americans lack the basic literacy skills necessary to perform everyday tasks requiring basic reading and math. This stifles our economy, given that employers are increasingly likely to require education or training beyond high school. Organizations that provide job training to lower-skilled adults through Jobs for the Future's…

The article discusses procedures for development and implementation of a curriculum to shape functional skills for severely multiply or severely profoundly disabled preschoolers. Five response levels of increasing complexity are suggested. Teachers urged to be sensitive to child-determined instructional occasions in early assessment and…

This scheme for a core curriculum rejects central control over the precise body of knowledge taught or the teaching methods used but advocates some control over experiments in education and the early assessment of their results. (Author/SJL)

The superintendent of schools in Boston examines major factors in improving Boston public schools: strong principals, emphasis on basic skills, clear curriculum objectives, high expectations of all students, use of test results to improve classroom instruction, and state-of-the-art teaching methods. He discusses successful outcomes of these…

The article presents a strategy for developing instructional programs for multiply handicapped deaf students, which has been successfully field-tested in New Mexico public schools. (DLS)

The author discusses the evolution of curriculum thinking from a narrow and behaviorist stance through to the present, where it is argued that considerations need to be based on shared understandings among all participants in a learning exchange. (Author/CH)

Abandoning conventional assumptions about skills hierarchies leads to a new set of curricular principles focusing on complex, meaningful problems, embedding basic skills instruction within more global tasks, and connecting instruction to students' experience and culture. Teachers can then model powerful thinking strategies, encourage multiple…

This guide is designed for use by superintendents, district directors of instruction, curriculum writers, principals, and teachers in identifying and selecting instructional television (ITV) that will aid their schools in meeting specific instructional requirements of the Defined Minimum Program and continuing objectives of the Basic Skills…

Recommendations for curriculum made in "The Unfinished Agenda" and recent national marketing education curriculum activities are discussed. A checklist for teachers to use to review their curricula as well as ideas for incorporating the development of basic skills into the marketing education curriculum are also presented. (CT)

A review of mathematics curriculum reform stresses the integration of new ideas with old practices in order to produce a better program. The author identifies four "basics" and examines how they relate to the curriculum. (MP)

The author's discussion centers on the need to reassess the values of industrial arts, noting that the primary task should be teaching students to use tools and machines safely and effectively; to repair, select, and care for industrial goods; and to test their self-concepts. (Editor/TA)

Based on the philosophy that language is central to learning, this booklet defines common curriculum goals for elementary and secondary schools that combine both general, essential learning skills and the common knowledge and skills that form a strong English language arts curriculum. The guide has two main sections: the receptive section focuses…