The 71st Texas Legislature established several pilot programs for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 school years with the aim of improving the academic performance of and reducing the dropout rate of public school students. This report combines information about pilot programs from these 2 school years with cost surveys and descriptions of the programs.…

Panda bears are the theme of this guide which includes many reading-related activities, crafts, and programs on a broad range of topics, and which can be expanded to other theme approaches such as endangered species, bears in general, and the concept of black and white. The program begins with a general definition and discussion of goals,…

Offering suggestions on setting up and maintaining a cross-age reading program, this book describes teachers' experiences in establishing a cross-age reading program in a multiethnic, multilingual inner-city school in Oakland, California. The book notes that what began as an effort to engage one under-achieving fifth-grade boy evolved into an…

A project was conducted to provide access to computer-based instructional programs, student database files, and CD-ROM technology to satellite classes of the Tri-County Opportunities Industrialization Center in central Pennsylvania. During the project, computer needs at satellite locations were identified, instructional and reference materials…

During the 1984-85 academic year, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) initiated efforts to reform school districts' teacher supervision/evaluation (TS/E) procedures. The goal was to improve the quality of classroom instruction and develop more consistent, meaningful teacher evaluations. This paper describes a study conducted by Research…

A study evaluated the Reading Alignment Program (which targets priority reading skills and encourages the use of high-performance instructional methods) in the Kansas City, Missouri, School District. Data were collected from the first and third grades of 16 selected schools. The schools were visited to determine the level of implementation of the…

The Tulsa Technology Center's Curriculum Department led the institution's staff in developing a competency-based occupational curriculum for the district. The process of curriculum development involved planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating the instruction within the district. The process was designed to provide a total district…

This digest summarizes the more than 300 items in the ERIC database concerning writing across the curriculum (WAC) published between 1990 and 1992. The digest presents categories of material about WAC--advocacy, activities, recent research, implementing new programs, and faculty training--and discusses one or two pertinent sources for each…

The Inclusive Education Project was a collaborative demonstration project between the Division of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Syracuse University and the Syracuse City School District, in New York. It was designed to meet special problems of children with severe handicaps in regular education settings. Project goals included: (1)…

The military theme at Northeast Law, Public Service, and Military High School in Kansas City, Missouri, was evaluated during its second year of implementation (the 1990-91 school year). After a shaky start, the second year brought increased stability to the program. Program objectives were in place, and all military theme staff had been hired by…

The River Bend Tech Prep project was undertaken to develop a tech prep curriculum in high schools in the Lewis and Clark Community College (LCCC) district in Illinois to improve students' academic skills and eventual employment opportunities and contribute to the region's economic growth and stability. The following activities were completed…

An evaluation was made of the programs of the Des Moines Independent Community School District's Department of Community/Adult and Continuing Education. The 1992-93 budget for the department was $1,385,000. Ten full-time staff and 300 part-time staff administer, teach, and support program offerings. The department provides educational,…

This paper presents findings of a case study that documented the implementation of a portfolio assessment system in response to mandated program improvement and assessed its impact on teacher and student behaviors. The sample included elementary and middle school teachers and students from three Chapter 1 schools in a rural California school…

The Citrus County (Florida) Professional Orientation Program is designed to increase student learning by providing a set of supervised support services for teachers in the first year(s) of teaching that will assist them in their continuing professional development. The program provides for the development, demonstration, and documentation of…

Lessons learned from Onderwijs un Sociaal Milieu (OSM), or Education and Social Origin, the largest compensation and enrichment program ever developed in The Netherlands, are described in this paper. Although the program did not raise lower class students' standardized test scores to the national level, the program had overly ambitious goals and…