This monograph presents a paradigm for identifying giftedness among all groups of young people. Section 1 presents a review and critique of traditional identification approaches and highlights the limitations that tests may have for identifying talent potential among groups currently underrepresented in gifted programs. Section 2 examines the…

There is abundant theoretical support for the value of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) at the elementary school level, but there has been relatively little research to document its effects. This paper explores the relationship between DAP and student achievement among low-income students in St. Paul, Minnesota, using research from an…

Design and implementation of a program to improve education for a culturally diverse middle school population in an economically disadvantaged area are described. The program involved cooperation of the University of Colorado-BUENO Center for Multicultural Education and a nearby school district. In the two participating middle schools, students…

This publication provides the basic statistics needed to illustrate the impact of North Carolina's Basic Education Program (BEP), an educational reform effort begun in 1985. Over 85% of the positions in the BEP are directly related to teaching and student-related activities. The new BEP programs result in smaller class sizes in kindergartens and…

Resilient Asian American students, who have shown outstanding performance and achievement in spite of adverse life conditions in urban schools, were compared with nonresilient, or marginal, students who have not done well academically. The focus was on the students' perceptions of their learning environments in mathematics. Other background…

In fall 1994, New York City Technical College established the Developmental Education Task Force to review the current state of developmental education (DE) at the college and recommend policy and program changes. The Task Force gathered quantitative data from analyses of DE enrollment trends, student characteristics, and graduation rates, as well…

This study evaluates an alternate model for middle school education, which was introduced into depressed urban settings in the 1970s by the Jesuit religious order, in two parochial middle schools, one coed and one all-male established in 1993 in an Eastern city. Comparisons of school structural characteristics, attendance figures, report card…

This report responds to an Executive Order that charges the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans with improving the education of Hispanic Americans through the study of current educational conditions. The study includes an analysis of the current state of Hispanic American educational attainment and…

This theme issue includes four articles on schoolwide approaches to educational equity and improvement. "Schoolwide Projects: A Challenge for Administrators on Campuses with LEP Students" (Abelardo Villarreal) synthesizes the literature on schoolwide reform strategies used in schools that have been successful with limited-English-proficient (LEP)…

The Florida Association of Voluntary Agencies for Caribbean Action (FAVA/CA) was formed to provide on-site, overseas technical assistance and training in health, agriculture, social services, and education. This paper reports on the beginnings of an evaluation of the New Life Organization (NEWLO), a vocational training institute in Grenada, West…

By comparing resource expenditures of academically high achieving school districts in the Chicago (Illinois) suburbs with those of the Chicago Public Schools, this study contends that Chicago's schools are asked to perform at a high level with far fewer resources than the highest performing schools in the region. This analysis linked high school…

Many young students are not finishing high school and even fewer are entering college. This book demonstrates how some teachers have created classrooms that work for children at risk. They use an integrated, inquiry-driven curriculum to create holistic, language- and literature-based classrooms. Chapter 1 describes the nature of being at risk for…

The extent to which school mix--the social class composition of schools--influences school processes and student achievement has long been a matter of dispute. Drawing on a comparative ethnography of four New Zealand urban secondary schools, this article suggests that school mix probably does impact on school organizational and management…

The concept of "opportunity to learn" (OTL) strategies was first introduced several decades ago and was defined by a narrow set of instructional components. Since then, many additional criteria have been incorporated into the OTL concept, some specifically to ensure an equal education for disadvantaged and minority students. The original…

This booklet presents a short history of the Head Start program and discusses some of the challenges that the program will face in the 1990s. Project Head Start, begun in 1965, has helped 12.5 million children become better prepared to start school, and has grown to be the largest early childhood and family education program in the country. From…