Recent research literature suggests that students benefit from positive relationships with their teachers. Small high schools attempt to formalize expectations for such relationships through a variety of organizational structures, including the advisor role. As advisors, teachers work with a group of students in order to guide and support them.…

The Horizon Report series is the product of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, the "Horizon Report: 2009 K-12…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

The present study investigated the effects of a continuing professional development (CPD) initiative that provided collaborative group work skills training for primary school teachers. The study collected data from 24 primary school classrooms in different schools in a variety of urban and rural settings. The sample was composed of 332 pupils,…

Problems and challenges faced by beginning teachers have been well documented in the literature and have created the need for teacher induction programs in all disciplines, including agricultural education. This paper used literature from inside and outside the agricultural education discipline to identify and describe best practices in teacher…

The purposes of this study are to discuss the visionary instructional planning through the social process as school wide faculty collaboration and prepare teachers through their identity connections of graduate reading application. The discussion exemplifies four collaborative instructional teams from Honduras Elementary School, Houma, Louisiana,…

In this article, the author talks about the changing role of the elementary library media specialist. Unfortunately, library media specialists (LMSs) are too often left out of the literacy loop. Traditionally, their roles in literacy were to be the support team, the purveyors of books, the sometimes nearly invisible element in literacy, but this…

This study examined effects of school context, student composition and school leadership on school practice and outcomes in secondary education in Flanders. The study reveals that relations between school characteristics do exist and that it is possible to explain an important part of the differences in mean effort and mathematics achievement of…

Schmoker asserts that the kinds of skills students need to succeed in college--skills like clear thinking, effective writing, and the ability to analyze international and policy issues--are equally needed for non-college-bound youth. He maintains it is possible--and necessary--to provide an intellectually challenging and culturally enriching…

A focus on school reform within the field of elementary education has brought an arts-integrated approach to teaching and learning to the forefront. This is not a new approach, as integrating what many call "hands-on activities" in the classroom is quite common. The difference lies in the quality and depth of the approach to teaching and learning,…

This article features Ellen Minette, principal of Heidelberg Middle School in Heidelberg, Germany. Minette attended 13 schools before she graduated from high school. Her father, an Air Force pilot who served in the Korean War and who was a part of the Berlin Airlift, was deployed much of the time as they moved from one posting to another. Growing…

This study examined the impact of the 2+2 Alternative Teacher Performance Appraisal System that has been implemented in Shanxi province in China. A mixed research design was used to evaluate the program. Six high schools and a total of 78 teachers (13 teachers in each school) in Shanxi province were selected. Three of the schools participated in…

Urban schools, noted for their diverse student populations and variety of instructional resources and personnel, often are challenged in providing a coherent and differentiated instructional program for the wide array of learners served. In this article, we describe coteaching instructional models to support ELL students in elementary general…

The new paradigm of language education envisages that teachers become intercultural mediators. However, there is no agreement about implementing the new paradigm in school practice and language teacher education. The author believes that the intercultural dimension of language education is strongly linked to integrating intercultural learning in…

This study investigated the impact of logistical resources on the acceptability of student assistance team consultation to school staff. Elementary and middle school staff (N=113) completed a measure of the acceptability of prereferral intervention team procedures while also rating the importance of five logistical supports for effective team…