The New York Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) studies of public schools continue with this report on course work for gifted students and public middle school students in general. Fourteen ACORN volunteers made 52 visits to 28 schools studied in 1996. Findings from these visits and the review of school system documents…

New studies dispel the fear that high academic standards set up some students to fail or drop out. This research finds that raising academic standards has a positive impact for all students in the following ways: (1) students take more demanding courses, learn more, and score higher on tests; (2) nationwide, dropout rates are falling and high…

This paper discusses a model of integrated instruction and assessment called SMART (Special Multimedia Arenas for Refining Thinking). SMART involves interactive use of the Internet and multimedia software. The Internet serves three important functions: it acts as a formative assessment tool by providing individualized feedback to students, creates…

This curriculum unit was developed to assist middle-school students in understanding diversity in race, religion and culture present in India. Sections of the guide include: (1) "Assessment," which discusses Indian culture; (2) "The Culture of the Monsoon"; (3) "Musical Culture"; (4) "Systemic Culture"; (5)…

This curriculum guide is intended for Missouri teachers teaching a course in database applications for high school students enrolled in marketing and cooperative education. The curriculum presented includes learning activities in which students are taught to analyze database tables containing the types of data typically encountered by employees…

One of the University of Baroda's (India) Rural/Tribal Block Placement Program's major aims during the year 1988-89 was to develop energy consciousness in women, primary school children and teachers. An experimental project was designed for a rural Indian village. The objectives were to obtain information on rural energy resources; assess the role…

This book presents seven case studies of middle school youth service programs that challenge their participants to change from takers to givers and from observers to active members of the community. Chapter 1 discusses new ways for responding to the needs of middle school youth and promoting community service. Chapter 2 describes a tutoring…

The cases in this book, based on classroom observations and interviews with principals and key teachers at 17 California middle schools, focus in depth on middle-grade reform in the classroom. Organized in four chapters, the cases look at four critical areas of curriculum and instruction: (1) heterogeneous grouping; (2) cooperative learning; (3)…

This document presents 72 abstracts of transition, secondary, and correctional personnel preparation projects supported by the Division of Personnel Preparation of the Federal Office of Special Education Programs during the fiscal years 1989, 1990, and 1991. The transition projects are grouped into three major categories: (1) special education…

An evaluation was done of New York City Board of Education's Project Harmony in Career Learning and Scholastic System (Project HI-CLASS) for 1989-90. In its second year of a funding cycle, the project offered 635 Chinese- and Spanish-speaking high school students of limited English proficiency instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL),…

This curriculum guide has been prepared for use by music specialists in the junior high and intermediate schools in New York City. It also can be used in high schools as a supplement to the required music curriculum. Each unit begins with a teacher's guide which outlines the material to be covered, a summary of unit content, the characteristics of…

This guide is designed as an outline of strategies and activities that could be implemented to encourage students to enter nontraditional occupations. The information and ideas are intended for use by teachers, counselors, and administrators at all educational levels to promote equal and full participation of students in Connecticut's…

Three political scientists, three historians, three social studies professors (higher education), and seven secondary school teachers of social studies or history were interviewed. Focus was on assessing key concepts in the subjects' disciplines and what concepts should be taught and tested for at the high school level, with a view toward…

This paper describes a proposed alternative public high school, the Metropolitan Corporate Academy, a joint project of private and public institutions including the New York City Public Schools and designed to serve at-risk students. An overview notes the high New York City dropout rate and the fragmented nature of most of the programs offered in…

The study described in this report examined the characteristics of eighth-grade students who were at risk of school failure. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, which is a large-scale, national longitudinal study begun in the spring of 1988 when 25,000 eighth graders attending public and private schools…