In 1994, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed the reading, U.S. history, and geography knowledge and skills of a nationally representative sample of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. The NAEP also assessed representative samples of students from 44 states and jurisdictions in reading at grade four. This Almanac Viewer is…

The report summarizes five Colorado teacher research projects in teaching students with disabilities. The five projects described demonstrate that teacher initiated classroom based research allows educators to develop innovative approaches to instruction and to analyze their results in an objective way. The following projects are presented: (1)…

This report summarizes a study carried out during the 1993-1994 academic year that evaluated peace education curricula in selected Milwaukee (Wisconsin) public schools. Experimental and control sample populations were established with eight different classrooms, including two classes at a Montessori school and two classes at a neighborhood…

Written for parents and for professionals working with children and their parents, this book demonstrates that children's social development must be given paramount importance in order for them to achieve long-term school success. The book shows parents how to be effective caregivers by knowing what to realistically expect from a child based on a…

This paper describes the history, characteristics, program model, activities, and evaluation results of the Pottstown Homework Center Partnership project, in Pottstown County, Pennsylvania. The goal of the program is to initiate homework centers and train volunteer tutors from the community to support the at-risk middle students by providing…

This paper on multiage classrooms provides first steps toward a systemic understanding of the defining qualities of multiage classrooms and, from teachers' perspectives, the benefits of such classrooms for students, teachers, and parents. The multiage classroom movement in elementary schools is viewed as not just restructuring, but also as the…

This book documents a portion of The Learning Tree program, which develops cultural awareness. It provides activities, written from practical experience, that are designed to give children their first contact with the customs of other cultures. These activities are for teachers to share with preschool-, kindergarten-, and primary-school-age…

This booklet for teachers describes and explains classroom management based on a student centered format for structured freedom using contracts, learning stations, and learning packages. The booklet is structured as a narrative describing a fictional teacher's visits to a classroom where this approach is successfully implemented. Structured…

A program to reinforce English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning through participation in a choral performance group (Los Cumbancheros) is described and evaluated. The program served 218 students in 5 intermediate and junior high schools and 2 elementary schools in the Bronx (New York). Most students were classified as limited English…

Growing Up Strong (GUS) is a curriculum designed to develop strong mental and physical health in kindergarten through sixth grade students, with the objective of preventing subsequent substance abuse. This document contains a teacher's guide for using GUS in fifth and sixth grade classrooms (GUS 5-6) and duplication masters of materials that can…

This volume explores legal issues that serve as foundations for quality active leisure participation by persons with disabilities. In addition to documenting details of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), playground and equipment standards and guidelines, and American Camping Assoication standards, it presents specific information on risk…

This paper identifies obstacles to physical and intellectual access and effective use of books and media by South African children and suggests some possible solutions. It also includes a description of a study of the attitudes of first-year student teachers at colleges of education and universities in the Transvaal towards school libraries. The…

This collection of papers presents strategies for teaching students with mental retardation. An introduction by Robert A. Gable and Steven F. Warren titled "The Enduring Value of Instructional Research" reviews problems besetting special education instructional research and outlines the papers' approach to the field from both an empirical research…

This monograph is designed to serve as a vision for guiding the future of vocational education at the middle level. Chapter 1, "Understanding Early Adolescents" (Frances Smith), provides an overview of early adolescent development as a basis for developing middle-level vocational education programs. Chapter 2, "Essential Elements of…

Differences in actual classroom behaviors in teaching with technology between novice and expert teachers were studied for six middle-school mathematics teachers from a large urban/suburban school district in a major metropolitan area. Teachers received inservice training in the use of calculators, and their students were issued calculators for the…