Describes 11 effective steps taken by the Duval County (Florida) school board to improve the academic achievement of minority students, as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test. Programs include eliminating social promotion, developing tests of essential skills and minimum skills, involving the family, and helping with personal problems. (IW)

Advocates national policy of multiculturalism and multilingualism, acquired through cohesive use of a common language (English) spoken by all Australians, yet retaining and incorporating the more than 20 major languages presently in use. Suggests provisions for efficient teaching of English and encouragement of all other community languages,…

Compelling evidence from neuroscience about how early relationships and experience influence the architecture of the brain, and in turn early school success, has led to increasing policy and practice attention to implementing child development and family support programs like Early Head Start for infants and toddlers. But, there is also a group of…

The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, along with the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), American College Personnel Association (ACPA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association for Institutional Research (AIR), and Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), have committed…

The research is clear that parents' involvement in their child's education improves outcomes in areas such as learning, attendance, behavior, and graduation rates. Although almost any parent involvement brings improvements in student outcomes, parent involvement with their child's learning at home is most helpful in increasing student learning.…

Background: The Hawaii Department of Education (HDOE) launched its Hawaii State Assessment (HSA) in spring, 2002, within the context of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) Act of 2001 and its mandates to close the "achievement gaps" between subgroups of students. Thus, it is important to investigate the extent to which student…

This annual report highlights the work of some grantees who are finding innovative ways to respond to today's new challenges based on a rigorous commitment by their leadership to gathering pertinent facts. These include cities that are planning wide-scale, lasting improvements in arts learning or out-of-school opportunities, basing their choices…

Every year, more than 15,000 teachers vie for the chance to become certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Although the process is voluntary, National Board Certification is a widely recognized mark of distinction and is increasingly tied to leadership opportunities for teachers, salary increases, and improved student…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) Proposed Budget Invests More Into NCLB, Neediest Students; (2) Making History: L.A. County School With Disadvantaged…

Intuitively, class size reduction is a good idea. Parents support it because it means that their children will receive more individual attention from teachers. Teachers like it for the same reason and also because it creates a more manageable workload. It is generally assumed that the fewer students in a class, the better they will learn and the…

The purpose of this exercise was to determine whether any of the available demographic or academic variables show distinct trends in three specific discipline areas that differ from those of other areas: (1) Engineering, (2) Computer Sciences, and (3) Biological Sciences. Using data from 39,087 SUS graduates in 2002-03 and of 324,164 science…

The Aboriginal Learning Subcommittee looked specifically at developing recommendations that address First Nations, Metis and Inuit learning needs and supports. The Subcommittee proposes policy actions and recommends that all stakeholders work together to implement these actions. The first recommendation for action is to build on partnerships to…

Dr. Carl E. James is well known for his work in the area of the Sociology of Sport. Race in Play is on the continuum of his earlier research in the sociology of sport, and youth, race, and education. James takes the reader on an edifying walk through the structural, institutional community which supports and sustains sports, at the same time…

Background: Public schools in the United States are still segregated along cultural and racial lines 50 years after the 1954 Supreme Court's ruling. For example, Orfield and Lee, 2004; and Orfield, 2001) indicated that White student in the United States attended schools that were 80 percent White. Ethnic minority children (children of color),…

Often referred to as "The Nation's Report Card," the mathematics assessments of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have come to be regarded by many policymakers as the primary yardstick by which to judge our schools' success in meeting national expectations. This monograph reports and interprets trends in NAEP…