This article describes a grant-funded effort to improve the lives of academically able middle and high school students living in rural poverty. The program, Project Aspire, attempts to increase the number of these children in the most rigorous math and science coursework available in their schools. To that end, Project Aspire assists 14 school…

The current study compared the school and psychological functioning of 122 gifted and high-achieving students to that of 176 general education students educated in the same school. Relative to their peers in general education, gifted and high-achieving students served in the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) program reported more positive…

This research highlights issues relating to Physical Education (PE) and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) over the last ten years. The discussion is based upon data collected from three separate surveys of trainee teachers and their teaching experiences of PE during statutory periods of school-based training. The samples used in this, the most…

Contemporary educational thought holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate student achievement is the inability of schools to staff classrooms with qualified teachers. The primary sources of the problem of underqualified teachers are, most assume, deficits in the quantity of prospective teachers recruited and in the quality of preparation…

This article summarizes my experiences in developing an educational initiative known as the Career Fair Project within the curriculum of the Legal Administration/Law Clerk program at Durham College over the past ten years. A performance-based, student-centered project, the Career Fair empowers students to work collaboratively with one another in…

This article discusses commonalities that exist between two popular educational approaches that provide options for a wide range of student achievement levels, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and the International Baccalaureate, especially the Primary Years Programme, in classroom practice. Introductions to the International Baccalaureate and…

The report submitted by the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education includes faulty claims and reasoning that devalue special education and hinder efforts to better meet the needs of students with disabilities. We question the commission's findings and recommendations regarding closing the achievement gap, practicing prevention,…

Objective: This study investigated foster or group care placement as a predictor of help-seeking behavior among adolescents who were at high risk for physical and mental health problems. Method: Data from the 1985 to 1986 wave of the Adolescent Health Care Evaluation Study were used to compare three groups of adolescents: (a) 136 that had…

A rigorous placement exam introduced into a university Developmental Mathematics program increased course success rates, retention, and enrollment rates in math courses, but reduced completion rates in Developmental Math and standard math courses required for a degree. Results suggest an inverse relationship between course success rates and total…

Most often, homeless students are members of minority groups who have attended several schools during their school career, are from single-parent households, and have histories of irregular school attendance. These students also frequently suffer from physical and mental challenges that are rooted in poverty, lack access to medical care, and have…

The Annual Condition of Education Report provides a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results, and school financial information. A few examples of the categories presented in this 22nd edition report include: (1) Enrollment; (2) Early…

Children spend more time in school than in any social institution outside the home. And schools probably exert more influence on children's development and life chances than any environment beyond the home and neighbourhood. The purpose of this book is to document some important ways schools influence children's development and to describe various…

A National conference was held to examine State policies and practices for helping disabled youth make the school-to-work transition more successfully. The focus of the first day of the conference was on transitional programs currently in existence in Maryland, Michigan, and New York. The first part of the second day's activities involved the…

As individuals celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Advanced Placement Program[R] (AP[R]) in U.S. schools, they should honor the educators who are enabling a wider and more diverse group of U.S. students than ever before to succeed in college-level studies in high school. Yet they must also gaze clear-eyed at the inequities that remain and…

Parents of students with disabilities face a number of difficult choices in determining how to get the best education for their children. Too often, the special education system in public schools fails its students. Parents must become both experts and advocates for their children in order to navigate a burdensome maze of regulations to fight for…