In cities across the country, educators and civic leaders are taking on the challenge of transforming large, failing high schools where graduation rates have remained below 50 percent for many years. They are replacing these high schools with small schools that will prepare students in underserved urban communities to meet the high standards…

Examined special education effectiveness for students with mild disabilities in six California grade schools. Found that no single feature, structure, or organization of school environment consistently indicated a school's relative standing or its relative effectiveness based on student performance. Findings posed implications for educational…

Identifies six conditions influencing urban high school teachers to participate in and support schoolwide programs to improve learning and teaching through administrative, organizational, instructional change. Focus is on teachers in three Massachusetts schools. Reforms must address social and academic needs of students as well as teacher…

Describes a study combining student records with a state-level follow-up system to track demographic, academic, and environmental influences on student attrition. Findings have helped the college investigate myths about students and their progress. (YKH)

This article deals with the current situation of revenues, expenditures and school finance. The authors discuss elaborating conceptions of resources, clarifying why funding is often wasted, and why the translation of funding into effective resources is not straightforward. They discuss their approach of converting revenues to results in a simple…

ACT conducts the only nationwide curriculum survey that empirically identifies current instructional practices and postsecondary expectations in order to develop tests that measure critical skills and knowledge. Every three years, it surveys thousands of middle school/junior high school, secondary, and postsecondary teachers in English/writing,…

As everyone enters the 21st Century there is a great deal of discussion in business and education circles alike about the type of skills the youth will need to survive and thrive in this century. At the same time, there is little known today about the level of 21st Century skills students currently have. In part this is because, as a nation,…

In this paper, a companion piece to "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools" (ED544382), the authors analyze small high school spending in three urban districts--Baltimore City, Boston, and Chicago--to understand whether it is higher than in larger schools; if it is, why it is different; and the policy…

Scratch the surface of a successful school and you will find a web of interactions that is the root of its success. Who is it that envisions, inspires, cajoles, and rallies all the various players in and around a school toward any improvement goal? Often it's a superintendent, a principal, a professor, a special teacher, or a parent. In a word,…

As traditionally structured, American schools, in general, have found it more difficult to educate some students than others. In Washington State, as in most other states, the single best predictor of student achievement at the school level is the percentage of students on free or reduced (f/r) lunch status (Abbott & Joireman, 2001). This fact…

How institutional research can improve the quality of institutional performance of colleges and universities in the face of funding constraints is discussed. An example of the use of instructional research to assist in documenting institutional quality in Australia is noted. Institutional research uses data collection, analysis, and interpretation…

In 1994 the Carnegie Corporation of New York convened the Carnegie Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades to examine all the forces that contribute to children's learning and development during the age span from 3 to 10. The 33-member group of business and political leaders, scientists, educators, researchers, and practitioners conducted…

This pamphlet presents the Executive Summary of the Report of the Carnegie Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades. Results depict a pervasive pattern of underachievement for millions of U.S. children. The document outlines nine principles of effective practice for all institutions key to children's learning, and calls on these institutions…

While a number of different approaches have been suggested for the improvement of K-12 education in the United States, one common element of many plans is the more extensive and more effective utilization of computer, networking, and other technologies in support of a broad program of systemic and curricular reform. The Panel on Educational…

Effective school library media centers are a cost-efficient way for schools to provide children with the sophisticated knowledge, research, and computer skills they will need for the growing demands of work and citizenship in the 21st century. The libraries' cultivation of literacy, research, and thinking skills is particularly crucial in…