This guidebook was developed by California's Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) to assist school districts in applying for and obtaining "grant" funds for the new construction and modernization of schools under the provisions of the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (Senate Bill 50). It is intended to be an overview…

The "Olympic Heritage" year in California provides an excellent opportunity to motivate students to examine their heritage from ancient Greece and to advance cross-curricular coordination. The very successful 1981-82 "Shakespeare Year" program can be used as a model. A proposed Olympic project is described. (RM)

Recognizing that children who experience continuity as they enter formal education are more likely to sustain their earlier gains than children who do not experience continuity, this document provides guidelines for preschool, Head Start, and elementary teachers and administrators on transition procedures. An executive summary begins the document.…

Intended for persons interested in operating preschool programs in California, these guidelines provide basic information on student eligibility, program requirements, and fiscal reporting. The first section provides background information on California preschool programs. Characteristics affecting children's eligibility for preschool services are…

California state-adopted commercial art and music instructional materials are described to aid state school districts in matching instructional materials with curriculum goals and objectives. Information is provided in three sections. An annotated index gives pertinent information about each program, including title, year of copyright, and grade…

Designed to outline and illustrate, through the use of a card catalog or computer produced catalog, the various formats used to describe the collection of the Inglewood Public Library, this report details a nonautomated approach representative of those commonly used in libraries prior to the use of data processing applications. The goal of…

This handbook for child care centers that are expanding their support to parents of children in their programs begins by describing the Parent Services Project (PSP). The next section explains the many services available to parents and the variety of ways these services are provided at the PSP centers. Services include fun family events; parenting…

Examines the implementation and curriculum of the Santa Clara County Head Start Transition Project, a program designed to help preschoolers adjust to the public school environment. Discusses key lessons learned from the project and specific ideas and activities that can be used by Head Start programs to smooth the transition from preschool to…

Families First, an early intervention program implemented in Marin City, California, was designed to integrate and coordinate the provision of a wide range of services to families of children in a low-income, mostly African-American community, from the third trimester of pregnancy to 8 years of age. The program is intended to enhance the…

An ongoing, interdisciplinary reading program for students in grades 7-10 in Perris Union High School District (California) is described. Initiated in 1979 as a result of low reading scores, the program divides all incoming seventh grade students into homogeneous groups. In the first 6 weeks of school these new groups meet once a day for 50…

California Early Literacy Learning (CELL) and Extended Literacy Learning (ExLL) are professional development programs designed to help elementary teachers strengthen their teaching of reading and writing. Research-based teaching methodologies are organized into a framework for classroom instruction. CELL training (pre-K-Grade 3) emphasizes that…

To help California school board members make informed decisions about computers, this handbook offers a computer primer with examples of outstanding computer curriculum programs. Chapter 1 introduces basic computer terminology. Chapter 2 outlines issues to consider in computer acquisition and the initial implementation of computer curricula. The…

Responding to a call to action by California's state leaders to make reading instruction in the early grades a top priority in the public schools, this booklet discusses California's new K-3 reading program. It begins with a discussion of what prompted this new focus on reading, and then discusses the four major elements of a balanced reading…

Intended to help teachers, curriculum directors, school administrators, and school board members follow through on their commitment to teach students how to become better writers, the techniques and resources described in this booklet are arranged into seven chapters. The first chapter examines whether the "writing crisis" is fact or…

This sampler discusses California's English-language arts assessment program and presents examples of high school reading assessments, writing assessments, and writing prompts. The first section of the sampler takes an integrated look at Year One of the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). The second section presents the scoring guide for…