This report describes the process of changing one British special school for children with physical disabilities to an inclusion service providing support services to children attending local mainstream schools. The process involved such steps as developing a mission statement, major changes in the personnel structure, involvement of parents, and…

Instead of inviting public engagement, the current educational system reinforces a hierarchical, bureaucratic pattern that gives neither students nor parents an official voice. Today's parents are demanding, more market-oriented, and organizing on the Internet. Strategies for fully involving parents in improvements for the common good are…

Explores assumptions teachers make when planning parent involvement strategies and barriers to family involvement that result from these assumptions. Presents two tools designed to help teachers plan and carry out successful activities by identifying family-related factors that could limit or prevent family participation and making modifications…

A case study examined interactions between elementary school staff and 18 Mexican American parents during the school's conversion to a dual language program. Although parents were included in program planning, parental satisfaction and involvement declined with time. Analysis suggests that parents were alienated as educators' ideals were…

Discussion of Web-based instruction in Korean higher education focuses on methods of student assessment, including formal (tests and assignments), informal (attendance, participation, and discussion) and alternative (portfolios, and practicums). Discusses evaluative studies on distance education and suggests improvements in current assessment…

Depicts a service learning program that focuses on homelessness and housing in which the students work in an urban neighborhood (Yonkers, New York) for a week as a means for developing the students' understanding of urban politics. Believes that this program may encourage students to integrate community development work into their professional…

Explores two contrasting educational perspectives of high school students with significant disabilities and mental retardation, providing examples from qualitative data on educators' competence- and deficit-oriented perspectives and on students' academic engagement. Competence-oriented teachers believed in and expected more from the students.…

Two studies involving adolescents with disabilities examined secondary and transition practices. Findings indicate that career-related work experience and completion of student-identified transition goals were highly associated with improved graduation and employment outcomes. Individualization of services around student goals and personalized…

Claims that service learning can help middle-school counselors enhance students' self-esteem. Discusses service learning's increasing popularity and its purposes. Describes one such program's initiation in South Carolina which provides tutoring, working with the elderly, and helping the poor. Examines student perceptions of the program and the…

Presents a case study showing how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects a 7-year-old child, his family, and the school. Through Bob's experiences, specific components of a home-school remediation plan and the need for collaboration and support between home and school are discussed. General instructional implications for TBI are explored. (Author/CR)

Examines data from service-learning projects planned and performed by U.S. student teachers in several English-speaking countries. Students received teaching and service-learning assignments in the various countries. They wrote reports documenting their activities from conception to conclusion. The paper describes the various assignments and…

Describes a dedicated principal who restored order and doubled enrollment at one troubled Washington, DC, elementary school. His efforts involved instilling a sense of stern discipline and an ethic of striving for excellence. He creates partnerships with local businesses and organizations, involves parents, requires uniforms, knows every child,…

Outlines ten principles important for the successful practice of outcomes assessment, based on the experience of a variety of institutions. Notes several salient barriers to success (lack of faculty support, changes in institutional leadership and circumstances, limitations in assessment tools and methods, insufficient student involvement,…

Suggests that parent/student computer clubs are an effective use of technology to bring parents into the middle school and promote family time. Describes how sixth through eighth graders and their parents/guardian attend monthly evening meetings in which they are introduced to computers, word processing, databases, spreadsheets, graphics,…

In Austin, Texas, an urban district where more than half the students come from low-income families, the annual dropout rate has gone down, and the scores on statewide standardized tests have gone up. A key element in the turnaround is state-mandated, site-based management, a system that decentralizes decision making and involves strong leadership…