This book presents papers, written in both English and French, from a symposium entitled "Promoting Learner Autonomy: New Insights." After "Introduction" (Leni Dam), the eight papers include the following: "Examining the Discourse of Learner Advisory Sessions" (David Crabbe, Alison Hoffman, and Sara Cotteral);…

Although the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has provided strong incentives to improve student achievement, many schools do not have the resources needed to help their students succeed. This paper, the second in the "Community Schools in Illinois" series, addresses the role of school-family partnerships to improve the educational…

A study examined student perceptions of the school environment in a small, rural high school in southeastern North Carolina. Surveys returned by 417 students in grades 9-12 suggested that the presence of gangs and unsafe or hidden areas were not major problems. The fact that 46 percent indicated that vandalism was a problem suggests that vandalism…

This study examined how constructivist teaching and the organization of the learning environment relate to student achievement. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships among school and teaching attributes and student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics as measured by the Washington…

Student teaching is a powerful and formative experience for people entering the teaching profession. Student teachers must reorient their value systems wherever the conflict in values is encountered. This places many new teachers in training in a situation similar to that of acculturating populations all over the world. The high school in Ferndale…

This tool was created in order to help young people and adults develop a common language for talking about how to improve schools. The tool provides educators, young people, administrators, policy makers, parents, community members and other stake holders with a common lens for reflecting on their schools and for planning change. It can also be…

Students who are well prepared academically and highly motivated tend to do well in college and persist to graduation. But for various reasons--some of which are beyond their control-- many students lack the requisite academic background for college-level work. As a result, most colleges and universities enroll students with a wide range of…

This paper describes the theories and social factors that contributed to the development of competency-based training (CBT). These include behaviorism (Edward L. Thorndike), scientific management (Frederick Taylor), progressive education (John Dewey), and derivative theories including operant conditioning (B.F. Skinner), objectives-based…

This book acts as a guidebook for teachers and administrators as they look for support with their online education programs. It offers teaching suggestions for everything from course development to time management and community building. The book is designed to provide information to help teachers work more effectively with online tools, develop…

In 1988, only one-half of Philadelphia 9th-graders in comprehensive high schools moved into 10th grade. In the same year, The Pew Charitable Trusts funded the Philadelphia Schools Collaborative (PSC) to seed the restructuring of the city's 22 comprehensive high schools. With a set of programmatic guidelines culled from successful efforts across…

Many patterns of racial and ethnic group relations in our schools are based on how members of a given group have been included or excluded in U.S. society. Understanding such patterns requires consideration of slavery, the discrimination faced by Southern European immigrants, the conquests of American Indians and Mexicans, the relocations of…

With teacher assistance and computer availability, composition students may use the World Wide Web as a valuable learning tool in the networked composition classroom and during personal studying time. The paper offers a list of six online providers and the number of subscribers for each. The paper then presents 118 selected web sites, including:…

Chaos theory provides a useful mental model for guiding change as leaders garner the energy from unpredictable events for realizing transformation goals. The paper considers chaos theory as a framework for managing school change toward Total Quality Management work cultures. Change is possible to manage when plans are made and then followed by a…

This book offers hands-on suggestions for administrators who want to assess their schools' health. The goal is to improve middle schools by making sure the culture is right for all groups--students, teachers, and staff. Chapter 1, "Climate, Culture, and Quality," distinguishes between the concepts of organizational culture and climate, formulates…

Based on the belief that language should be the central focus for study in the reading and language arts classroom, this collection presents 10 diverse viewpoints on language study in the middle school and secondary school. The collection is divided into the following areas: studying language through literature and the arts, using writing and…