Family involvement in children's education is widely considered critical to student achievement. Yet teachers and other education professionals often feel unprepared to engage families in children's learning. The goal of Preparing Educators to Involve Families is to help prepare teachers and other professionals to partner effectively with the…

This report focuses on student achievement across the Anchorage (Alaska) school district and within its individual programs. It does not include information on the social and physical wellness of the district's students. The first section of the report provides an overview of district performance on critical achievement indicators, and the second…

At-risk students are defined as those who are in danger of not graduating from school. These potential dropouts can be characterized by a variety of factors that lead to educational underachievement. In this study, the outcome explored is "outcast," a combination of student behavioral factors that captures student alienation from school…

The success of alternative assessments such as the Vermont Assessment Program (VAP) is heavily dependent on the involvement and commitment of teachers. This paper focuses on the implementation of the writing portfolio component of the VAP in the classrooms of four teachers who have different knowledge and beliefs about teaching and assessment. The…

A longitudinal study of student reading attitudes was conducted in 30 schools (20 elementary, 10 middle) using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey instrument (ERAS). The instrument tested attitudes toward both recreational reading and academic/school reading as part of the Reading Excitement and Paperbacks Project (REAP). REAP participant…

This publication is an outcome of a conference sponsored by Emory University's Center for Urban Learning/Teaching and Urban Research in Education and Schools. The essays included in the volume address how to build schools and educate youth in ways which honor, build on, and involve all students and citizens, and the importance of preparing…

The University of California Irvine (UCI) and Beit Berl College (BBC) in Israel developed an action research project with cooperating teachers at their Professional Development Schools. This paper examines perceptions of UCI and BBC cooperating teachers within each culture and across cultures regarding: (1) contributions teachers provide to…

This final report describes achievements and activities of the Native American Science Outreach Network (NASON), a 40-month program of the University of Washington which provided 4-week summer institutes for high school and preservice science teachers of Native American students. The goal was to update the teachers' chemistry skills, and to…

Cultural sensitivity is a goal for effective educators in Canada. They must make a clear differentiation between multicultural adults for whom English is a second language, who are pursuing linguistic needs for functioning in the Canadian workplace, and culturally unique First Nation (Native American) students, who have always lived in Canada and…

This study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to examine factors influencing the educational and occupational attainment of American women. The longitudinal study followed 2,160 seniors from 1,200 schools for 14 years after high school graduation. A variation of the Wisconsin model, which examined…

This study examines the extent to which racial preferences are used in Colorado's 12 public colleges and universities and attempts to determine how the elimination of racial preferences would affect enrollment patterns in these schools. It uses actual admissions data from the State Commission on Higher Education. Detailed analysis shows that all…

This report presents data and findings from a 5-year follow-up study to an earlier 16-year (1974-1989) longitudinal study of trends in the hiring and promotion of female faculty within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The two studies have produced an information base on full-time faculty in the state system from 1974-75 through…

This report summarizes the discussion and conclusions of an educational roundtable examining the collected research on K-12 single-sex education produced over more than two decades. The one day roundtable generated many points of disagreement and several profound unanswered questions. Nonetheless, there was consensus on a series of statements.…

This study examined whether context and other variables differentiated between improving and stable Louisiana schools. Participating were principals of 124 improving and 124 stable schools, with a final response rate to a mail survey of 69 percent. The School Improvement Survey, developed for this study, assessed six areas: (1) demographic and…

This study surveyed 847 fourth- through eighth-graders and 134 teachers in 10 Toronto elementary schools to determine their attitudes toward school climate and conflict resolution. It found that most questionnaire items regarding self perception, teacher-student relationships, students' general behaviors, the schools' conflict resolution programs,…