The SIP (Standards in Practice) instructional improvement program was successfully implemented in three El Paso school districts. Student scores have soared. Teacher development must be ongoing, site-based, and targeted to all students' specific needs. Teachers need strong verbal and math skills, deep content knowledge, and teaching skill. (MLH)

Presents a lesson where students interact with the art of the Gilded Age and learn about various artists from the time period as a means to review the major themes of the Gilded Age. Explains that this lesson addresses the National Standards for U.S. History. Provides teacher notes, extension activities, and additional sources. (CMK)

Focuses on quality assurance in open and distance education. Discusses making use of new technologies in ways besides the simple transfer of content; establishing systems of quality assurance and control tailored to universities' needs; four broad principles for developing distance education policies and procedures; and managing change. (AEF)

Discusses implications of states' requiring use of high school graduation exams. Finds testing requirements already blocking thousands of students from getting diplomas required for college admission, and complicating colleges' efforts to recruit black and Hispanic students. At the same time college officials praise tests for helping ensure that…

Explains that an organic curriculum embraces a social studies curriculum that is supported by multidisciplinary social science methods and is grounded in the students' real-world experiences. Maintains that this organic social studies methodology is a means for implementing the thematic strands of the National Council for the Social Studies…

British students at all levels are under increasing pressure to perform with respect to targets and objectives in which they have no say. The push to meet government-imposed educational standards has made school more undemocratic than ever. Outdoor education provides students the experience of making choices and facing the consequences, a way to…

Presents a summary of "An Examination of Picture Story Books that Teach Children about Appalachia (Part 1)." Offers an annotated bibliography of 10 picture story books about Appalachia. Each bibliographic entry includes a summary, a listing of Appalachian names and vocabulary words, the target reading audience, and National Council for…

Several associations have provided standards and competencies in the area of faith, religion, and spirituality. This article reviews three of those sets of standards and competencies.

Continuing medical education (CME) on the Internet has grown steadily over the past several years. However, the quality of Web-based CME has received limited attention in the medical literature, and there have been few attempts to articulate quality standards. This article describes five sets of standards published in the distance education…

American philanthropy, by local and national foundations, corporations, and wealthy individuals, has played many important roles in K-12 education: creating new schools, underwriting research, funding scholarships, testing hypotheses, generating new curricula, invoking ideals, setting agendas, bolstering training, and building a case for policy…

An emerging consensus exists in the school reform literature about what conditions contribute to student success. Conditions include high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning communities among staff, and personalized learning environments. Schools providing such…

The intersection of athletics and academics is legitimized through eligibility rules, which provide standards that bind commercial athletics to the educational purposes of higher education. To compete in intercollegiate athletics, freshman student athletes must meet the initial academic eligibility criteria set by the National Collegiate Athletic…

The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test scores for 2004 have been announced. The tests, administered to juniors, attempt to assess how well students perform in mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies. There is a good deal at stake here. For students, it means money: Any student who meets or exceeds the state's…

This article outlines the vision for the development of education policy in Wales, and I shall be referring in particular to the steps the Welsh Assembly Government has taken in partnership with schools, local authorities and other key organisations to develop a distinctive education agenda for Wales. The agenda has as its focus raising standards…

In England school teachers and head teachers are faced with a myriad of challenges in coping with the pressures of managing the dynamic and diverse institution which is their school within an imposed, centralized, standards-driven change agenda. It could be argued that many of the national policies and initiatives over the last 15 years have…