When teachers become involved in induction programs like California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program, the principal's role becomes crucial. To support new teachers, principals can adjust working conditions, provide more release time for lesson planning, connect formative and evaluative assessment goals, and support collaborative…

Offers information on welfare-to-work programs at community colleges. Suggests that all community colleges, including those without such programs, can use existing research to maximize the commitment to further educational opportunities for disadvantaged individuals. (Contains 16 references.) (AUTH/NB)

This article discusses the impact of legislative and special education policy on the educational enrollment of students with a disability across Australia. Enrollment trends in New South Wales and Victoria are examined and discussed within the context of their respective special education policies, disability discrimination legislation, and…

This article describes events that have shaped gifted education, including: deployment of Sputnik, the Marland Report, advocacy organizations, curriculum differentiation, brain research, gifted residential schools, the Richardson Study, the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act, "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's…

In 1998, passage of Proposition 227 virtually eliminated bilingual education programs and called for instruction overwhelmingly in English. However, diverse student populations require diverse instructional approaches. Standards-based reform aids only students who can fully understand and assimilate high academic content. Constructivists value…

Per-pupil property valuation extremes among Colorado school districts are as varied as the landscape. A foundation plan levels funding disparities for school operations, but financing of major capital outlay projects still depends on local property taxation. Funds are needed to finance classroom technologies and Internet connections. (MLH)

An exemplary teacher who perfected portfolio writing techniques with his seventh-graders fears that abandoning KIRIS (Kentucky Instructional Results Information System) for a more conventional testing system will discourage students' riskier ventures. Talented teachers must balance teaching writing as an artistic process with meeting concrete…

Implementation of the 1995 South African Qualifications Act necessitates a shift in the student-assessment model. Faculty must cope with increasingly underprepared students. Computer-assisted assessment is one alternative, but engaging the learner in the assessment process, through authentic and collaborative assessment processes, may be the best…

With the current intensity surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act, science has moved to the back burner at many schools. Educators everywhere are allotting less time for science. Many teachers have adapted by bringing reading and writing into the science program, but more often than not this has meant using science textbooks to teach the…

Most researchers agree that several broad-based steps are required for the effective use of data in education. First, states or districts must agree upon which data elements and indicators to collect. Then, those responsible for collecting the data must ensure its integrity. Once the data is considered valid and reliable, educators must have the…

Consider Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) a misnomer, or least an understatement; satisfying its mandates demands a far greater than adequate effort. Established in the No Child Left Behind Act, AYP requires that districts and schools show a minimum, prescribed level of growth in student achievement, until the year 2013-2014, when every eligible…

Because of No Child Left Behind and the pressure of high stakes testing, many school districts are looking for ways to raise test scores and gain or maintain adequate yearly progress. A successful after-school math tutoring program, a partnership between a rural school district and the local university, is summarized in this article. Keys to this…

The general conversation today about the USA PATRIOT Act and its historical and legal significance must be contextualized with reference to a series of 1970s U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the U.S. Border Patrol that directly undergird the PATRIOT Act. The Supreme Court long ago turned the U.S. borderlands adjoining Mexico into a permanent…

Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) represent a diverse group of different ethnicities and cultures. This study examines how national data on race and ethnicity are reported and describes the characteristics of AAPIs in light of the "model minority" myth. In addition, this study examines a definition of Asian American and…

Thirty years ago, at the close of the tumultuous 1960s, futurist Alvin Toffler wrote a bestseller, "Future Shock," which warned of the effects of accelerating change, or what Toffler described as "the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future." In the section of the book which was on education,…