Discusses outdoor education to improve student participation and learning in skill and subject areas. Relates outdoor education to constructivism, flexible scheduling, hands-on experiences, performance-based standards, multiple intelligences, cooperative learning, and interdisciplinary curriculum. Lists Web sites related to outdoor education. (DLH)

Notes that many from across the ideological spectrum suggest that welfare reform address policies that promote marriage and two-parent families. Discusses marriage, family structure and economic well-being, the benefits of marriage for adults and children, and low-income unwed mothers and marriage. Suggests that marriage and two-parent families…

Describes theoretical and practical problems facing the field of early reading, examining: readers and texts (reader processes, text difficulty, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and unique learners); home and school (home-school match, communities and reading, preschools as contexts for reading acquisition, and best practices); and policy and…

Presents findings from the "School Library Journal" survey of school library expenditures for FY 1997-98. Data include: budget allocation; salaries; library collection; technology; staff and certification; access to basic electronic resources; library policy; planning and communication between library media specialists and teachers; and…

Goals 2000 is the offspring of "A Nation at Risk," a 1983 teacher- and school-bashing report. IBM CEO Louis Gerstner named the problem and defined the solution, claiming the need for choice, competition, and technology, recasting students as human capital, and marketizing the teacher/community relationship. Tables summarize critics'…

This case study was an investigation of the role of the institutional culture of a university in the process of changing to reform-based practices for two college mathematics professors. A framework is presented for identifying and analyzing institutional norms and policies that are present and those lacking in supporting faculty efforts toward…

This paper examines Australian students' knowledge of Asia, and reports on a national survey of Year 5 and 8 students. Knowledge was measured by using a combined set of subtests tailored to each state and territory curriculum and reported in terms of a standards referenced framework. The survey collected data from more than 7000 students in over…

As the largest and most highly publicized initiative to improve teaching in American schools, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has raised great expectations. It has created rigorous standards for teaching and a system to assess and certify teachers meeting these standards; it has promoted financial incentives to…

For almost as long as teacher education programs have existed, there has been controversy about the appropriate balance between liberal arts and pedagogy, theory and practice, and university experiences and school-based experiences. The author of this article, a member of the American Educational Research Association's Panel on Teacher Education,…

This article profiles the educational system of Manitoba and discusses initiatives for students who are at-risk. It describes programs and services for students who are at-risk, relevant educational legislation, areas of strength, challenges that need to be overcome, and areas of action. (Contains references.) (CR)

This article profiles the educational system of Newfoundland and Labrador and discusses initiatives for students who are at-risk. It describes programs and services for students who are at-risk, relevant educational legislation, areas of strength, challenges that need to be overcome, and areas of action. Agency coordination of services is…

The Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) is a form of school-based assessment that has recently replaced the external practical examination in AL Biology of Hong Kong. This study aimed at understanding the problems encountered by teachers in implementing this innovation. Over 300 teachers expressed their concern about different aspects of the TAS in a…

This paper is drawn from an empirical, ethnographic study of information and communications technologies (ICT) use among thirteen, low-income twelfth-graders attending a large urban high school and focuses on participants' ICT access in the school library. It examines how library staff members' cultural and gendered perceptions shaped ICT…

We are in the midst of what amounts to a national experiment in how best to attract, prepare, and retain teachers, particularly for high-poverty urban schools. Using data on students and teachers in grades 3-8, this study assesses the effects of pathways into teaching in New York City on the teacher workforce and on student achievement. We ask…

Australia has long been of interest for its attention to educational equity by the relative quality of its state based provision of schooling in a country with a similar landmass to the 48 mainland states of the USA but a population of only 18 million. The six states and two territories had organised centralised systems of schooling which managed…