The topics of the 17 papers included in this proceedings are: (1) enriching and empowering young children's learning with microcomputers; (2) a program designed to make all students computer literate who complete the eighth grade in Tennessee schools; (3) how school systems should purchase microcomputers; (4) a team approach to microcomputer…

From the approximately three dozen reports that describe the crisis in American education, the president of the Canadian Educational Researchers Association briefly describes four: "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education); "High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America" (Ernest L. Boyer);…

Six school-based improvement programs distributed throughout the United States were studied in order to determine how effective these plans have been and what factors help or hinder them. The programs studied shared three central features: 1) focus on the school as a whole; 2) involvement of teachers in designing improvements; and 3) incorporation…

Although subtle compared to the politicization of education in a totalitarian state, American education has been politicized, with liberal ideologies affecting both curricula and teachers. This gradual politicization of the classroom will, if left unchecked, lead to infringements on individual freedom and the right to the pursuit of happiness.…

This study investigates the nature and scope of current staff development activities and their relation to better teaching or school improvement in a representative sample of school districts and private schools in Arizona and southern parts of California and Nevada. Findings are based on telephone discussions with 72 administrators in the region.…

The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system has magnet programs integrated into the instructional programs of 14 of its high schools. Each program has an instructional coordinator who reports to the principal of the school. Because the APS student body is overwhelmingly black, the programs do not have as a major goal increased racial or ethnic…

Intended for parents and all citizens concerned about improving Chicago's 592 public schools, this handbook, a Spanish language version of "All Our Kids Can Learn To Read" (1985), explains how important reading is to a decent education and future employment. Chapter one describes the school improvement campaign called…

This document reprints a series of articles appearing in the Parsippany, New Jersey, "Daily Record" on October 25-30, 1987 and November 9, 1987. The series stresses that the New Jersey special education system has vastly improved from what existed prior to the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act, but that the system still…

This guide has two main objectives: (1) to help school board members become better governors of the local educational enterprise; and (2) to help school board members respond to questions from the public about the National Commission on Excellence in Education report entitled "A Nation at Risk." To meet these objectives, the guide offers…

This paper summarizes current knowledge from research on teacher effectiveness and discusses the relationship between those findings and educational policy. Few teaching strategies have been studied in different types of environments, so validated knowledge on teacher effectiveness exists for only a few issues. Research findings discussed include:…

Within the context of current discussions on improving urban public education, this report provides an analysis of the magnet school as a model for educational quality and excellence and gives an objective assessment of its potential as a method of improving urban education. A comparative case study methodology combined the collection of…

This report discusses findings from a comprehensive national survey of the effectiveness of magnet schools in improving the quality of public education and in assisting school desegregation. Chapter I provides background information on the concept and evolution of magnet schools; discusses the purposes of the national survey and several issues…

This report provides Minnesota legislators with background information on establishing state educational standards and periodic testing to measure student progress. Scientific management, the accountability movement, and the basic education movement were educational trends of the 1970's providing pressure on states to set standards to improve…

This conference was designed to identify salient elements of the national science/mathematics teacher shortage, add corollary data to the existing body of knowledge, and to influence and guide future NIE research in the area. The proceedings include: welcoming and keynote addresses by, respectively, Manuel J. Justiz and T. H. Bell; five…

Although increased communication between school personnel and parents is now widely held to be beneficial, present knowledge is based principally on nonsystematic studies at the preschool and primary levels that are of questionable validity at the secondary level. To make up for the lack of emphasis in previous research on establishing specific…