The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) is a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and programs at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. This brief reports study results in the area of violence prevention, covering the following topics: (1) Health Education; (2) Health Services and…

The Pittsburgh Public School district is one of many urban school systems across the country that is struggling to boost student performance and regain the respect of its community. Achievement gaps are wide; student achievement is low; and public confidence is fragile. To begin addressing these issues, the Council of the Great City Schools…

By the time they enter kindergarten, many low-income children are already behind their peers from more advantaged backgrounds. During early childhood, low-income children face a number of risk factors that threaten healthy development and learning, including low birth weight, stunted growth, obesity, and lead poisoning--all of which are associated…

Contemporary school administrators play a daunting array of roles. They must be educational visionaries and change agents, instructional leaders, curriculum and assessment experts, budget analysts, facility managers, special program administrators, and community builders. New expectations for schools--that they successfully teach a broad range of…

Mobility, rather than stability, has become the norm for students in schools across the United States. The student mobility rate is now higher in the United States than in any other industrialized country. This Information Capsule discusses the reasons for student mobility and the characteristics of highly mobile students and families. Research…

This study is aimed at assessing the state of Philippine secondary school physics education using data from a nationwide survey of 464 schools and 767 physics teachers and at identifying challenges for substantive improvements. Teacher-related indicators revealed academic qualification deficiency, low continuing professional involvements,…

This study focuses on similarities and differences in expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the mentor relationship in the context of an Israeli practicum program for pre-service student teachers. These expectations, particularly when they conflict, can serve as major obstacles to the formation of…

This paper reports findings from an investigation of the implementation of "assessment for learning" in classroom music instruction in Hong Kong primary schools, focusing on the changes in assessment practice and music teachers' classroom instruction. Qualitative methodology was employed to document the cases of three music teachers. It…

This is a summary of work done as part of a multiyear series of professional development engagements between staff in an urban school district and staff of the Urban Education Project at Research for Better Schools. The content section of this report describes the Urban Learner Framework (ULF), a model of the urban learner synthesized from…

In all forms of workplaces administrators have been exhorted to introduce what are perceived to be the "best practices" operating in the more successful economies. The education "industry" in Australia appears to be no different in this regard from other industries. Invariably, the "best practices" proposed for the…

This book contains a collection of papers written by students involved in the Educational Management Project for South Africa. The project was established to introduce selected South Africans to theories and practices in educational management in an international comparative context. The papers focus on priorities for educational change and…

When the University of Georgia's Department of Educational Leadership was formed from the merger of two earlier departments, the new entity developed an innovative doctoral program in educational leadership that incorporated principles of problem-based and student-based learning. The program was designed to promote the values, knowledge, and…

This report presents information collected at a pre-conference roundtable on various aspects of mentoring programs which are seen as a potential solution to the staffing crisis in early childhood education. Part 1 defines the terms "mentoring" and "mentoring programs." It describes the nature of the relationship between mentors…

This research describes how the Pemnatapan Kerja Guru (PKG) Project in Indonesia developed into one of the largest continuing inservice programs in the world. Working with UNESCO and UNICEF, the Ministry of Education began a radical innovation of inservice training of secondary teachers already in the classrooms. Beginning with science teachers in…

Development planning has recently become a commonly adopted strategy for school improvement in the United Kingdom. Development planning is a description and more formal explication of the process and actions required to plan and manage change with the intention of improving the school. The chapters in this book report on the "state of the…