In its fall 2002 session, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges passed a resolution seeking support for policies that will improve instruction and student support services for underprepared students. This document aims to provide a basis for improving basic skills instruction and services by providing a survey of the current…

This study explored the roles that two parents played in their daughter's English education during the initial period after moving to the United States. For English language learners (ELLS) with limited first language schooling in the home country, it usually takes several years to demonstrate cognitive academic language proficiency. For ELL…

This paper describes an e-mail-based correspondence project between 56 pairs of university-school partners: pre-service teachers enrolled in a multicultural education course, and middle school students enrolled in language arts classes in a culturally diverse, economically depressed community. The purpose of the critical action research project…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for seventh-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for eighth-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for ninth-year French native language instruction, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum's design, links between the core curriculum and French native language instruction, underlying principles of language instruction, the…

This study explored the current demographic profile of faculty governance leaders, focusing on communication style. A total of 223 faculty senate leaders (or equivalent faculty governance leaders) completed a mailed questionnaire requesting information on demographic variables and communication behaviors. The questionnaire included the Personal…

This report describes a program for developing literacy skills in order to reduce the number of at-risk students in the identified primary classrooms. The targeted population consisted of students in kindergarten, second, and fourth grades. The kindergarten and second grade classrooms were located in a middle to high socioeconomic area within an…

Efforts to improve public education should include better teacher salaries, teacher recertification, merging of schools and departments of education, viewing teachers as professionals, increased private sector support, greater commitment of resources by colleges and universities, use of retired professionals, and changes in English and Social…

The Culturally Appropriate Teaching (C.A.T.) method combines the "Back to Basics" paradigm with a culturally oriented approach and has proved to be successful in Black colleges and adult education programs. The C.A.T. method improves the reading levels of students by two years per semester and gives them standard English as a skill in one or two…

Contains reflections on the importance of teachers' summer vacations and the activities that revitalize the teaching spirit. (RL)

A four-phase composition unit helps adolescents solidify their sense of identity and build self-confidence while they improve their written, oral, research, and inquiry skills. The unit requires students to explore their relationships with family, friends, school, and community. (SB)

Describes the Weehawken, New Jersey, individualized language arts program to develop better ways of teaching writing and composition through diagnosing student writing needs, using prescriptive teaching techniques, and evaluating student progress. Validated by the Office of Education, the program has spread across the country. (MF)

The author responds to alarm over declining national test scores by outlining possible improvements for educational practice and policy. (LH)

The following error made by Sudanese students in their written English is discussed: giving the direct translation of relative pronoun plus personal pronoun from the Arabic pattern instead of the relative pronoun. The structure of the relative clause in English and Arabic is also compared. (SW)