This 20-page issue explores the opportunity for creating 21st century learning environments that not only focus on different kinds of educational architecture but also emphasize how time is used, teacher-student relationships, collaboration, the benefits of real-world projects, and community involvement. In Minnesota, high school juniors and…

Driven in part by research findings in early childhood development, the academic, business, and policy communities now recognize that high-quality preschool programs are an important way to help children reach their full potential. Although some current research suggests that teacher preparation at the four-year college degree level is the best…

Six programs are profiled that garner both deep engagement and high achievement from young people. All build upon fundamental needs of adolescent life: to register positive impact upon the world, to feel respected and connected, and to construct one's own narrative. A community action initiative at a high school in Texas' Rio Grande Valley is…

School facilities needs in rural America and the means to meet them are affected by rural population trends, building inadequacies and obsolescence, and financial problems. Overall, America's schools have seen increased public school enrollments since the mid-1980s, but rural enrollments have declined, particularly in communities with fewer than…

Building an effective classroom for all boys and girls is the first step in increasing student achievement. This curriculum guide is a collection of practical tools for teachers and fun activities for kindergarten through twelfth-grade students, developed to help all students to succeed in the classroom. The curriculum is designed to be used…

This study investigated the effects of schools' academic and disciplinary climates on student disengagement and dropping out, noting whether these effects varied by race/ethnic group. Data came from the High School Effectiveness Study (HSES), which allows contextual analysis of urban youth in their high schools, and the Common Core of Data, from…

This study investigated the attitudes and opinions of 970 students with and without learning disabilities regarding the use of computers for school-related work. Using a quasi-experimental design with three non-equivalent groups, within and between subjects effects were studied using a survey instrument. The students in grades 5 through 12 at…

In April 1997, the American Association of Community Colleges surveyed 1,450 community college presidents in order to find out the state of race and ethnic relations and diversity programming in community colleges. Respondents were asked to identify their campus climate, along a five-point scale, as "contentious" or…

This paper presents a Knowledge Sharing project at the Aarhus School of Business (Denmark). As a result of a close cooperation between the Faculty of Modern Languages and the Library of the Aarhus School of Business, a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) is being established. The LRC serves as an exploratorium for the development and testing of new…

This study examined the impact of diversity on students' self-perceived improvement in the abilities necessary to contribute positively to a pluralistic democracy. It noted how such diversity-related campus activities as exposure to multicultural curricula and opportunities to study and interact with diverse peers affected student development. The…

This document consists of four issues of a quarterly newsletter for educators at the middle school level. Each issue focuses on one major topic, and includes a column by an ACEI Executive Board vice president on varying topics. The Fall 2000 issue focuses on a community-wide collaborative model for service and program delivery for at-risk middle…

This introductory packet provides an overview of what the term "Mental Health in Schools" means. The packet discusses how school-based and school-linked programs have been developed for purposes of early intervention, crisis intervention and prevention, treatment, and promotion of positive social and emotional development. It asserts that…

An essential aspect of Old Order Mennonite identity is located in the historical-cultural understanding of who they are as one group of God's people. Schooling is an intentional means of reinforcing this understanding, and it is finely tuned to prepare children for the Old Order way of life. As such, it emphasizes basic academics, acquisition of…

Ethnographic field research done with a group of working class girls in upstate New York examined the structures of schools that maintain gender and class distinctions and the culture of the girls themselves. Most of the field work was participant-observation at after-school and summer programs at a Girls Incorporated site in a mid-sized…

This paper makes basic assumptions regarding the development of an intranet architecture that will actively promote the cognitive apprenticeship of a new community of learners. The authors consider the intranet as a dynamic and virtual environment in which individuals may communicate, share resources, and reciprocally generate and organize…