The gap between the academic achievement of minority group and white majority group students is at the forefront of educators' and policymakers' agenda in North Carolina and nationwide. The North Carolina Education Cabinet has set the target of eliminating the gap by the year 2010. This report reviews the evidence for each of several steps…

This book discusses the forces that create and perpetuate discrimination in special education and provides suggestions for eliminating discriminatory practices. An introduction describes the harmful effects of discrimination in special education. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss prejudice in special education and suggest how special education educators…

These four issues of a quarterly publication for gifted educators and parents of gifted children span winter 2002 through fall 2002. Featured articles include: (1) "Cultivating Courage, Creativity, and Caring" (James T. Webb), which discusses the need to encourage the development of courage and caring, as well as creativity in gifted students; (2)…

Factors contributing to program success or failure were evaluated at 16 English colleges. Questionnaires were distributed to 231 teachers with 59 of those questioned further during an interview. Respondents emphasized the importance of good teaching, committed and knowledgeable teachers, and effective and appropriate processes for recruitment,…

This paper uses the theory of human capital to model post-secondary education enrolment decisions. The model is based on the assumption that high school graduates assess the costs and benefits associated with various levels of post-secondary education (college or university) and select the option that maximizes the expected net present value.…

By conducting a large scale survey of elementary schools across California serving similarly challenged low-income student populations, a collaborative research team (EdSource, Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, and American Institutes for Research) sought to find which current K-5 practices and policies are most strongly correlated with high…

This book discusses the forces that create and perpetuate discrimination in special education and provides suggestions for eliminating discriminatory practices. Chapter 1, "The Problem," describes the enormous disparities between the school experiences and educational outcomes of poor, non-European American, immigrant, refugee, rural, and limited…

In early 2000, an assessment of mathematics achievement and related school practices was carried out in 24 clusters of rural high schools and their feeder middle schools in seven states. More than 2,400 eighth-graders and more than 1,900 12th-graders took a mathematics achievement test referenced to the National Assessment of Educational Progress…

Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, which is located in the rural New England town of Franklin, Massachusetts, is a school of "choice" that students elect to attend. All of the school's 850 students must have a career/technical focus for their studies. Most of Tri-County's ninth-graders are unprepared for high school,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factor structure of a Factors Influencing Pursuit of Higher Education (FIPHE) Questionnaire which addresses factors influencing a person's decision to pursue higher education. Researchers used a literature-based, rational factors approach to develop the questionnaire; the three-part study included a…

This book focuses on how to address the individual learning needs of a classroom full of active, multiethnic elementary students all at the same time. It contains a compilation of yearlong journal exchanges between an experienced teacher and her 12 student teachers, presenting the specifics of classroom life on a day-to-day basis. The student…

This monograph reports on Phase 2 of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Preprimary Project, focusing on the quality of life experienced by four-year-olds in major early childhood settings. This monograph highlights results from a questionnaire completed by over 1,600 teachers and over 4,800 parents in 15…

This paper explains that women teachers working in public schools across Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia face many challenges related to poverty and rural locations. However, they also have several elements in common across their classrooms which they incorporate into their instructional practice. These elements are: maintaining high…

This booklet is the second in a series on educational practices that generally improve learning. Based on the view that schools can work with families to improve the curriculum of the home regardless of the family's economic situation, the booklet focuses on parents as children's first and most powerful teachers and presents principles related to…

The governor of Colorado believes we cannot find solutions to today's problems because we are not asking the right questions. Questions dealing with the problems of resource management, energy, the elderly, economic development, immigration policy, medical policy, and political change are raised. (IS)