This paper examines Japan's current educational reform and discusses its impact on student learning. Section 1 describes the main features of the reform efforts, which focus on choice, diversity, flexibility, competition, and excellence in education. Section 2 looks at Japan's changing system of teacher education, noting the dropping rates of…

This booklet outlines the information gained from five case studies in New Zealand primary schools on how the use of computers was integrated into the school environment and the curriculum. Principals, teachers, and information technology (IT) coordinators were interviewed about students' use of computers. Information on the equipment available…

This study evaluated how teachers perceived their efforts to improve their teaching practices by participating in the Jacksonville Urban Educational Partnership (JUEP), a Professional Development School (PDS). The JUEP was designed to create sustained, high quality, professional development systems for inservice educators in three PDSs. The study…

This publication presents several articles on teacher development and improvement: "Teacher Development: A Strategy for School Improvement" (barriers to and features of effective teacher development); "Help Wanted: Recruiting and Keeping Quality Teachers" (teacher incentives, beginning teacher induction, teaching conditions,…

This collection of papers links policy, school leadership, and teachers' lives, three factors that are influential in creating quality learning opportunities for students. Each chapter provides contemporary insights and represents a range of original empirical and conceptual research focusing on the ideological, social, and educational policy…

Two recent trends in education--increased technology and accountability--are driving efforts to define technology competencies and standards for teachers. The first lists of competencies from these efforts are just now being completed. While some of these competencies are linked to teacher certification and re-certification, others are developed…

This paper documents the methodology, research process, process interventions, and the resulting quality indicators of a technology staff development project. The project was designed to assist the administration at an elementary school in San Diego (California) in developing a capacity building model of staff development that would support the…

This unit was created and first taught by the author in the children's demonstration class that was part of the 1995 Teacher Educator Partnership Institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The mission of the NFLRC is to improve student learning of foreign languages in…

This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). In the summer of 1996, the Center offered the Culture and Children's…

Massachusetts 2020 is a nonprofit operating foundation with a mission to expand educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2020, with support from the L.G. Balfour Foundation, a Bank of America Company, set out to understand how a select group of extended-time schools in Massachusetts and…

This report summarizes some AISD activities to support reading and mathematics instruction in grades K-5 for the 2004-2005 school year.

Policy statements and position papers adopted by the American Association of Dental Schools are presented. They cover peer review, freedoms and responsibilities of individuals and institutions, national health programs, interdisciplinary education, and use of ionizing radiation. (MLW)

This article presents statistics on school health education, looking at selected federal support and related research and focusing on the School Health Policies and Programs Study, which used questionnaires to provide data on the status of health education at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. (SM)

Advocates development of a campus culture in which faculty can be colleagues to each other in teaching by sharing what they know, critiquing each other's work, assisting each other to improve, and creating conditions for recognition and reward of teaching. Covers the role of peer review and briefly describes some institutions' efforts. (JB)

The history of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1986 is reviewed, and planning/management issues for medical colleges facing the end of mandatory age-based faculty retirement are examined. Early planning to improve faculty evaluation and development, clarify financial guarantees of tenure, review space utilization, and make retirement…