Reviews 1999 school finance legislation, analyzes 1994-99 state education finance activity, and discusses established and emergent trends in funding for school infrastructure, educational technology, charter schools, student achievement (class-size reduction, school-year extensions, reading instruction, and alternative placements), teacher…

Special education is now an established part of public education in the United States--by law and by custom. However, it is still widely misunderstood and continues to be dogged by controversies related to such things as categorization, grouping, assessment, placement, funding, instruction, and a variety of legal issues. The purpose of this…

Americans rely on public schools to educate and prepare almost 50 million students to become productive members of society. Yet many public schools, particularly those in large cities, face significant challenges: over-crowded classrooms, shortages of highly-qualified teachers, low student achievement, achievement gaps, access to preschool, and…

This article summarizes the effects of NCLB on school districts based on four years of evaluations conducted by the Center on Education Policy as part of the most comprehensive and continuous overview being undertaken of that policy.

A program to train volunteer teachers of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) is described and evaluated. The program was designed to enrich skills for teaching listening, reading, and speaking, and increase volunteers' appreciation and understanding of the multicultural backgrounds of the students in one adult basic education center. The…

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational specialty areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

A relatively systemic approach to education reform emerged in the 1990s as one way of addressing policy fragmentation. This volume, the last in a set of three, describes the research design of a study that sought to: (1) expand knowledge of state approaches to systemic education reform; (2) examine district, school, and teacher responses to state…

A study/research partnership between university teacher educators and teachers was formed when teachers at the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade levels decided to implement an innovation called Literature Response Groups in their classrooms. The setting was an urban elementary school in northern California. Participants included six elementary…

The first-year evaluation of a two-way Spanish/English bilingual education program at two Austin (Texas) elementary schools is presented. The developmental program has as its objectives the development of students' oral proficiency in Spanish and English, development of grade-level appropriate literacy in both languages, increase in academic…

These four newsletters from the South Carolina Department of Education focus on teaching and serving students with disabilities. The first newsletter includes articles addressing ways that special education professionals can be good to themselves so they can meet the needs of exceptional children; strategies for instructing children with attention…

Ideas and guidelines for the organization of effective homework assignments, based on the principle that homework should offer opportunities for learning outside the classroom, are offered. The examples given are for English second language instruction as practiced in public secondary schools in Cyprus, but the principles outlined could be applied…

Based on principles of the Council for Basic Education, this book outlines a curriculum and pedagogy for an elementary school which would prepare children for national fourth grade examinations. The book is divided into six sections. The first section examines the background of elementary school students in the 1990s and presents ways for schools…

This report provides an end-of-year summative evaluation of the STEPS (Striving Toward Excellence in the Performance of Students) program, which was first implemented in elementary schools in 1983-84. The program, which is based on research on effective schools, focuses on school improvement efforts in six areas: (1) aligning instruction with…

This module is the seventh of 10 in the Essential Communication and Documentation Skills curriculum. It develops reading on the job, a workplace literacy skill identified as being directly related to the job of the direct care worker. The curriculum is designed to improve the competence of New York State Division for Youth direct care staff using…

This monograph is intended to provide a rationale for multicultural education and to serve as a manual for teachers. It includes activities and strategies for teaching preschool and primary-age children from a multicultural perspective. The document is organized into six chapters, four of which include sample lessons. Chapter 1 provides the basis…