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…

Low achievement of state mathematics standards caused a rural Illinois school district to realize that repeated coverage of lower-level material blocked student progress. Subsequently, elementary teachers learned new ways to teach math, and secondary teachers replaced practical math with algebra courses. Students achieved new levels of math…

Describes a few carefully focused interventions and concerted efforts between schools, colleges, and the community that have been experimented with and have been found to be very successful in improving the standards in both primary and secondary schools in the urban areas of England. (CMK)

Offers three strategies from "Strategies for Teaching: Guide for Music Methods Classes," that was developed under the leadership of MENC's Society for Music Teacher Education. Gives guidelines for methods teachers to prepare their students for incorporating the National Standards for Music Education into music instruction at all grade…

These steps are described for implementation: inform stakeholders of the importance of alternate assessments, educate all students to high standards, identify partners to support participants, use a practical process to decide eligibility, develop standards-based Individualized Education Programs, use a variety of assessment strategies, use scores…

This article describes a 4-day pilot science program attended by 19 inner city, at-risk high school students during their winter holiday break. The program was a collaborative effort involving a local education agency, a higher education institution, and a museum of natural history. Its main purpose was developing and implement science activities…

This paper provides an analysis of the controversy surrounding the standard setting process conducted by ACT Inc. for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). This process is the most thoroughly planned, carefully executed, exhaustively evaluated, completely documented, and most visible of any standard setting process of which the author is…

As curriculum objectives become more "standardized," pedagogical strategies that reach diverse populations become more important, not less as some practitioners might be prone to believe. Through the use of narratives, we have found that students achieve greater understandings of curriculum as well as find culturally relevant ways of applying…

This paper presents a model of a teacher needs-based (TNB) professional development program. The TNB model formed the foundation of three externally funded professional development programs. The objectives of this model are to maximize the effects of a professional development program, and to help participants sustain their learning over the long…

This study examines students' and parents' choices in one district that recently began offering a new problem-centered high school mathematics program aligned with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, in addition to its traditional mathematics sequence. Despite the district's previous implementation of Standards-based…

Each of the articles included in this issue launched the author backward into nostalgia and reconsideration of her own work as they motivated her to ask new questions in current and future studies. The author's goal, therefore, is not to provide a linear road map through the articles but to point to themes and ideas that run through the project…

As the nation celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the 1954 Brown Decision, it is important to examine the achievement gap between children attending resegregated public schools and their counterparts attending integrated schools. The achievement gap is directly impacted by four specific interdependent types of deficits: moral, human capital,…

The focus of this article is on leadership in primary schools and the author argues and provides some evidence that the leadership of the headteacher can make a dramatic difference and raise standards in a school. This is in sharp contrast to the rather tentative conclusions of previous academic research. The author also argues that school…

The unprecedented growth, development and implementation of information technology (IT) driven by e-commerce and other technological advances have resulted in an increased demand of technology skilled workers (Reichgelt, Zhang, & Price, 2002; United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). In response to degree-dependent…

Schools and programs of social work continually strive to develop effective gatekeeping procedures to promote optimal functioning of students while maintaining quality control in professional education. Program administrators and classroom, field, and adjunct faculty are key to the process of developing and implementing student standards. This…