This paper is part of the special issue on Teacher Learning and Practice within Organizational Contexts. Shifting instructional practices in elementary schools to include more equitable, reform-based pedagogies is imperative for supporting students' development as science learners. Teachers need high quality professional development (PD) to learn…

This article is a retrospective description of the decisions, strategies, and context of program changes made at the USC Rossier School of Education, related specifically to the education doctorate. The primary purpose is to highlight the change process from the perspective of the academic dean. Drawing on work in systems change and strategic…

Discusses California's Middle Grade Task Force and its report, "Caught in the Middle: Educational Reform for Young Adolescents in California Public Schools." Describes the 1987 revision of the California history-social science framework which emphasizes character development through studying the moral and ethical struggles of literary…

This document contains a proposal developed by a task force of counseling and guidance leaders to provide a common base from which to affect a reform in counseling and guidance in California. The proposal emphasizes the importance of comprehensive counseling and guidance planning. Sections on introduction, history, statement of purpose, and…

A differentiated curriculum can provide the basis for discovering, serving, and nurturing academic talent across California's diverse student population. Differentiation provides tools to vary the curriculum or instruction so that students who have already mastered given material continue to progress and students who have a particular interest in…

A recent California task force report on middle grade education, "Caught in the Middle," recommends that the master schedule provide for extended time blocks for core curriculum courses. Several goals of middle school education will be fulfilled by the program which is often called "core block" or "block time." The…

An overview of the Far West Laboratory (FWL) version of Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) is presented to acquaint potential adopters with the distinctive features, key roles, learning procedures of the Far West model, and its adaptability to local needs. (Core areas of the FWL-EBCE in which all students are expected to progress are career…