This article discusses the History in Perspective Project (HIP), a collaborative project between the University of New Hampshire (UNH), its Supervisory Administration Unit #56 (SAU #56), and 13 other school districts. The authors' three-pronged plan was simple, straightforward, and, in some ways, experimental. From observation and experience, they…

This study examines interventions designed to improve communication between individuals who take care of children with ADHD. A teacher rating of 6,171 elementary school children identifies 1,573 children with ADHD or with high risk for ADHD. Parent interviews and information from teachers are collected on 243 children who are randomized into…

Although past research indicates that giving brief quizzes, administered either regularly or randomly, may lead to improvement in students' performance on major exams, negligible research has targeted daily writing activities that require the processing of course information at a deeper level than might result from simply reading course materials…

This paper presents guidelines for establishing a QuestionPoint collaborative virtual reference partnership between academic libraries in Australia/New Zealand and the US. These guidelines reflect the practices of the state-of-the-art collaborative QuestionPoint partnership, "AskASERL" as well as the unofficial standards and guidelines…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of learning in a project-driven organization and demonstrate analytically how the learning, which takes place during the execution of successive projects, and the forgetting that takes place during the dormant time between the project executions, can impact performance and productivity in…

This volume contains an edited transcript of the Rockefeller Institute's October 29, 2007 symposium (Chicago, IL) entitled "Intergovernmental Approaches to Strengthen K-12 Accountability Systems" as well as a framework paper circulated in preparation for the symposium. The transcript begins with a list of the forty state and federal education…

This study of 4,057 students from 52 high schools in Chicago examines the impact of civic learning opportunities on students' commitments to civic participation. The study controls for demographic factors, pre-existing civic commitments, and academic test scores. Unlike prior large scale studies that found limited impact from school based civic…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…

Numerous researchers have devoted their careers to school reform. At the same time, many politicians have gotten elected by promising to fix failing schools. Although a lot of time, energy, and money have been invested in tackling this problem, the problem persists: Too many schools in the United States are failing to prepare too many students for…

As revealed by its title, this booklet shows how schools can be made safe and welcoming places for children. Such schools are likely to foster children's learning and their motivation to continue learning throughout their lives. The booklet has been prepared for inclusion in the Educational Practices Series developed by the International Academy…

This paper describes the process of principal licensure reform in Iowa. Upon adoption of the ISLLC standards, the state department of education required revision of all principal preparation programs to conform to state code and guidelines developed by an external review panel. This paper analyzes the review process and compares five programs that…

This book contains 17 papers, chosen from those presented within the last 2 years at the annual National Conference on Creating the Quality School, hosted by the Center for the Study of Small/Rural Schools at the University of Oklahoma. The papers are grouped into three sections: leadership for school improvement; classroom practices for school…

The problem of poor school climate in an eighth- and ninth-grade center was addressed by the implementation of a school climate improvement project. The following are the primary goals of this practicum: (1) improve school attendance; (2) reduce out-of-school suspensions; and (3) improve student and teacher morale. To address these goals, a…

The California Community Colleges' (CCC) Flexible Calendar Program (FCP) allows districts to allocate up to 15 instructional days from the 175-day academic calendar to engage in staff, student, and instructional improvement activities. The CCC Board of Governors' Task Force on Flexible Calendar, drawing from three sources (i.e., program growth…

Materials related to Hudson's Bay High School's (Vancouver, Washington) program to improve school effectiveness are presented. On the first page are enumerated six steps that were taken to implement the program, including the administration of an Effective Schools Evaluation Instrument asking faculty to identify needed improvements. Eight teams…