This issue focuses on practices that can help improve reading instruction and includes two announcements from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). It begins with a look at study groups, the practice of teachers getting together to focus on instructional practices and student learning. Stacey Joyner, a staff member of SEDL's Texas…

This feature issue focuses on inclusive recreation for persons with developmental disabilities and their families. The articles provide information about the benefits of inclusive recreation for individuals and families, the challenges in attempting to create or access community recreation services that offer inclusive programs, and strategies…

With the message that parents need to become informed about the educational practices that affect their children, this book offers a guide to different approaches to kindergarten, expectations for incoming students, and ways to obtain needed information for parents new to the process of schooling. Following an introduction that calls for increased…

The Middle East has been undergoing vast social and economic change, but in all reports available today, little attention has been paid to the situation of children. The purpose of this book is to help readers better understand the children of the Middle East to give a sense of their lives today and a sense of attitudes toward children and their…

Suggestions for the organization of school-based management (SBM) implementation are presented in this guidebook for administrators. Five chapters cover the following topics: pros and cons of SBM; barriers to implementation; board of education relations; leadership roles; implementation mechanisms, such as goal-setting, budgeting, and personnel…

Chapter 1 of this study discusses sources of educational inequality in terms of criteria for resource allocation, definitions of educational equity, and equity and efficiency in the classroom. Following the second chapter's review of literature on how resources affect learning, chapter 3 offers a theory of resource allocation education. The fourth…

A diversity of themes are addressed in the papers presented in this document; they include new topic areas as well as concerns that have been cited in previous issues. The papers focus on such topics as: (1) problem solving; (2) cognition; (3) the learning environment; (4) energy education; (5) the use of diagrams; (6) scientific methodology; (7)…

Research indicates that many illiterate youth and adults who become parents are unable to transfer high levels of oral language skills or to model literacy use for their children. Consequently, their children begin school without the readiness skills necessary to learn to read and thus continue a cycle of family illiteracy and employment problems.…

On September 5, 1986, the Elementary School Center convened a national, interdisciplinary group of respondents and observer-participants to debate the main issues raised in Secretary of Education Bennett's "First Lessons" and to note the areas which need additional attention. Respondents and observer-participants included public and…

Intended for classroom teachers of all grade levels, this annotated bibliography includes a wide range of theoretical and practical sources in the field of writing education. The bibliography is divided by topic into 27 sections, each of which is introduced by brief questions that suggest more specifically the kinds of research represented in that…

This report is an overview of a conference on the reform of urban schools, focusing on the Chicago (Illinois) public schools. Panel discussions included the following: (1) "Parents' Role/Parental Involvement"; (2) "School-Based Management"; (3) "The Principal's Roles and Responsibilities"; (4) "Teacher…

This new addition to the Knowledge Essentials series, "Kindergarten Success," shows parents how to enrich their children's classroom learning and take an active role in their kindergartners' educations by exploring: (1) What your children are learning at school and the educational standards to expect in math, language arts, science, and social…

The Healthy Start Initiative is a national 5-year demonstration program that uses a broad range of community-driven, system development approaches to reduce infant mortality and improve the health and well-being of women, infants, children, and families. This volume, fourth in the series, deals with the topic of community outreach and is based on…

This paper addresses ways ways in which African-American families can influence their children's development, usually with guidance from school or other community agents. We discuss the importance of "discipline styles" for effective parenting and emphasize an approach to family involvement in child development utilizing a child's strengths. We…

This updated book provides a collection of longitudinal perspectives on experiences of individuals with Down Syndrome, from birth to adulthood. The book is an outgrowth of a federally funded early intervention study called Project EDGE (Expanding Developmental Growth through Education). Contents cover the following topics: historical review of…