A state education agency (SEA) served by the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) has requested information regarding state-developed (also referred to as state-determined) alternative models for schools receiving School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds. The state-determined school improvement model (one of three new models) offers an alternative to…

This article describes a nearly decade-long partnership between three institutions representing school, public, and academic settings in Westchester County, New York. The program, designed to improve the academic performance of local high school students, is unique due to the extensive contact students have with academic librarians during the…

Bethpage Union Free School District in New York is a high-performing district by almost any current accountability measure. Yet administrators and teachers worried that they were not doing enough to prepare their students as critical thinkers for the 21st century. Inspired by the curriculum framework of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the…

GUIDELINES OF DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE METHODS FOR ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING LANGUAGE LABORATORIES WERE REPORTED. THIS LIST WAS ASSEMBLED FROM SUGGESTIONS MADE BY 30 PARTICIPANTS AT TWO PLANNING CONFERENCES HELD IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1960. THE GUIDELINES REFER TO ANY INSTALLATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING EQUIPMENT. THIS DOCUMENT IS PART…

This report analyzes problems in New York State efforts to reduce unwanted adolescent pregnancy and its associated problems. Following an executive summary and introduction, the report consists of five sections. Section 1 details the framework and background for the Task Force recommendations. Section 2 provides an overview of current efforts to…

To increase students' problem-solving abilities, the New York State New Compact for Learning requires schools to do more interdisciplinary, community-based work. Fairport High School's venture exploring the European Union evolved from Connections, a school-within-a-school program serving highly able students. Cooperation among three departments…

This document is part of a series of reports of a Statewide Evaluation Study of the Tech-Prep Program in New York State. The Pairs Study involved analysis of Tech-Prep vs. non-Tech-Prep student performance using 14 pairs of institutions - one college and its feeder high school. Research utilized high school and college transcripts for 391 students…

The Princeton Peer Leadership Program, which evolved from Sharon Rose Powells' doctoral research in the 1970s, trains seniors to serve as mentors to high school freshmen. The program involves the freshmen in school life and with students outside their social cliques, breaks down social and cultural barriers, and exposes the universality of many…

APPROXIMATELY 100 EDUCATORS FROM FIVE STATES AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS PARTICIPATED IN AN INSTITUTE TO HELP INSTRUCTIONAL AND GUIDANCE PERSONNEL IMPROVE THE VOCATIONAL ORIENTATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO ARE PREPARING TO ENTER THE WORLD OF WORK. THE AGENDA CONSISTED OF SPEECHES ON VOCATIONS, GROUP SESSIONS TO DISCUSS VOCATIONAL PROGRAM…

The Regional High School of Excellence in northern Chautauqua County, New York, was intended to be a school for gifted students from throughout the region. Six committees made up of teachers, administrators, school board members, local business leaders, parents, and students from participating school districts studied and planned different aspects…

Competency testing in New York State began in the nineteenth century, first with a local testing mandate and later with the "preliminary Regents examinations," which were administered at the end of the eighth grade. Optional competency tests were introduced in 1962, and in 1976 the Board of Regents mandated the passing of a series of…

As the issue of older youth and out-of-school time is gaining new attention across the country in the context of the after-school movement, it is important to remember that there are many programs for teens that operate in the out-of-school hours. This issue of Forum Focus documents a range of promising developments for capitalizing on the…

A description is presented of the Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project in Broome County, New York, which enrolls 25 high school juniors from 5 school systems in newly created apprenticeships in manufacturing and engineering technology, administration and office technology, and health care. Apprentices spend 10-20 hours per week (plus summers…

This paper describes the positive changes in the organizational climate and the role of the principal in one high school during four years of implementing the Spencerport (New York) Effective Schools/Teaching Project. A gradual increase in the building level commitment of the project has led to a redefinition of leadership to include the Building…

This article documents implementation and critically reflects upon the results of a partnership between a predominately white rural college and a multicultural urban school district. The partnership was intended both to recruit high school students of color from an urban school to teacher education and to encourage teacher candidates from a rural…