Oregon is in the process of raising expectations for its students. The state will now require students to prove their proficiency through a series of classroom assignments and state tests. Students who achieve the grade-10 standards on the required assignments and tests will receive a Certificate of Initial Mastery, and those who achieve the…

Multi-Age Teaming (MAT) programs were implemented at Crabapple and McNair Middle Schools in Fulton County, Georgia, in the fall of 1993, and at Camp Creek Middle School in the fall of 1994. An important goal of these programs was the creation of school families within schools with multi-age teams of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. At…

This Kids Count report card gives an overall account of statewide trends in the well-being of Oregon's children. The statistical report is based on 18 indicators of child well being: (1) childhood poverty; (2) health uninsured; (3) percentage of court-ordered child support paid; (4) affordable housing; (5) infant mortality rate; (6) low…

Addressing the needs of English language learners, remedial readers, avid readers, gifted readers, dormant readers, reluctant readers, and readers in content areas, this book's goal is to help middle school teachers connect their students to reading. The book offers multiple lists of trade books that different types of middle school readers enjoy;…

Those who advocate for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) do so based on the conviction that these classroom practices enhance children's development and facilitate learning. This ERIC Digest examines recent research on DAP and social-emotional and cognitive development, and describes what we have learned about DAP in early childhood…

The 1997 fiscal year annual report on schools in the Illinois community college system focuses on student enrollment and completion. The demographic enrollment data reveals that slightly more than half the students are female, one third is of minority ethnicity, and 2 out of every 5 students are 31 years of age or older. Most of the instructional…

A study investigated bachelor's degree completion times and related factors for students in Oklahoma higher education institutions. Data were drawn from survey information on 1,399 college freshmen in 1995 and cohort data on the entire freshman population of 37,059 in 1988. Analyses focus on comparison of students' expected and actual…

The Running Start program was created by the 1990 Washington State Legislature to expand educational options for public school students. Running Start allows eleventh and twelfth grade high school students to take college-level courses, tuition-free, at the 32 community and technical colleges in Washington. This annual progress report for 1996-97…

Public examinations in developing countries play a critical role in the selection of students for participation in the educational system. The examinations tend to be highly academic, bearing little reference to the everyday lives of students, limited to paper-and-pencil tests, and geared toward discriminating among high achieving students.…

A study explored why differential learner performance exists across work-based learning providers. Attention focused on retention, achievement, and completion as key indicators of work-based learning performance. Findings showed providers should encourage take-up by learners; provide a process to get learners started; provide teaching and learning…

This digest reviews educational policies and practices that have been proven effective in closing the achievement gap, offering a list of resources with detailed information about them. The digest focuses on state and district roles (e.g., developing and implementing educational goals, rigorous standards, and accountability standards and providing…

As part of a series of stories about real-world schools that have achieved substantial success in school improvement over multiple-year periods, this report provides an in-depth look at one school's efforts to improve student learning. The school profiled is Highland Elementary School, located in Salem, Oregon, serving a student population of…

This report describes an evaluation study of the Houston Annenberg Challenge, which was a school reform initiative designed to improve the quality of Houston's diverse urban schools by promoting an academically rich and purposeful education for all students. The study examined academic achievement, comparing Annenberg schools with other schools in…

This publication is a guide for districts and schools moving toward a standards-based educational system. The information is based on a model developed in California. Chapter 1 explores the concepts and research underlying standards-based education. Chapter 2 guides the reader through standards, tests, and accountability measures. Developing a…

The effects of selected variables on the academic persistence of adult students were examined in a study of a random sample of 469 adult students aged 24 years or older enrolled in a four-year college. The survey questionnaire, the Adult Student Experiences Survey, collected data regarding 12 endogenous variables and 13 exogenous variables…