This report provides an overview of Joining Forces' first year and summarizes the substantive knowledge gained from cross-sector collaboration, in four sections. Section I discusses the background of the Joining Forces initiative. With an initial grant from the Ford Foundation, in late 1987, the National Association of State Boards of Education…

Computerized analysis of 1980 Census data documented educational deficiencies in 85 Central Appalachian counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Dropout rates among youth ages 16-19 were found to be higher in Central Appalachian counties than in non-Central Appalachian counties, the poorest counties had the highest dropout…

In an attempt to give college seniors sufficient experience to prepare them for the difficulties of their initial teaching assignments in disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Triplet Project was created by Hunter College of the City University of N.Y. A college supervisor and 12 student teachers are assigned to each of two "triplets" (groups…

This issue of the "IRCD Bulletin" contains the transcript of the Declaration of Black Teachers before the Black Ministers-Teachers Conference on April 27, 1968 at Detroit, Michigan, a status statement on "Relevance and Pluralism in Curriculum Development" by Dr. Edmund W. Gordon, an article on moving "Toward Curriculum…

The inner city child is described, and the differences between his school and that of his middle-class counterpart are contrasted. The author lists what he has frequently found to be affective constraints of recalcitrant inner city students: (1) poor school attitudes; (2) anti-societal (middle class) values; and (3) negative school perceptions.…

The Portland Project, an inservice training program in the teaching of reading for teachers, parents, principals, and teacher aides, was a federally-funded joint effort of Portland State University and the Portland, Oregon, Public Schools. It provided for one day of released time per week for teachers of grades one through four in four…

For the past several years, Marguerite Roza has led a series of Center on Reinventing Public Education studies on how school districts spend their money. Her reports have shown that school districts often do not know how their funds are allocated, and that common district practices often lead to lower spending in low-income neighborhood schools.…

Learner support, defined as the strategies which empower learners to establish and fulfill their learning, career and personal potential, continues to be a key issue in current thinking in the post-16 education sector. An earlier project report from the West Country Learning and Skills Research Network (WCLSRN) showed that part-time learners were…

North Carolina has become a leader in the national movement toward creating new, smaller high schools that can prepare students for the 21st century demands of higher education and the workforce. Governor Easley has established 13 (with 21 additional schools scheduled to open this Fall) Learn and Earn schools to provide students with at least…

In 2006, President Bush proposed the America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids initiative in his budget request for the Department of Education. The plan would make $100 million available in competitive grant awards to provide scholarships to low income students in persistently failing public schools. Only low-income students attending public…

The work of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) in rural education focuses on the intersection between school renewal and rural community development. NWREL's Rural School-Community Renewal Research and Development project aims to develop the capacity of small rural schools enrolling many economically disadvantaged students to…

This report describes the professional development experiences of teachers in high-performing, high-needs (HPHN) schools. Researchers surveyed K-5 teachers from 10 schools in a district with large numbers of impoverished students, examining: teachers' perceptions of the characteristics and outcomes of their professional development experiences;…

No clear links were revealed when figures on enrollment declines in 10 urban school ditricts were compared with data about service reductions. Districts reduced their services primarily in response to citywide fiscal crises. Costs of compensatory education for disadvantaged and handicapped pupils offset staff reductions in other areas. (PP)

This paper discusses how, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, unequal educational funding is impacting student learning. Six major categories typically affected most by funding disparities are children at risk of failure, student/teacher ratio, student enrichment opportunities, technology, teacher salaries, and learning ambiance. (SM)

Describes the U.S. Department of Education's new Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration program which gives schools, especially Title 1 schools, the opportunity to compete for funds to sustain comprehensive and coherent reform. Explains the differences between comprehensive reform and programmatic approaches to school improvement, and examines…