The quality of relationships between teachers and students has been associated with academic achievement and performance outcomes for students at all levels of their education. Extensive literature examining characteristics of positive relationships between teachers and their elementary age students exists, but is less abundant in regard to…

The reauthorization of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 strongly encourages the use of a response-to-intervention (RtI) model to reduce the number of students identified as learning disabled, to increase student achievement, and to close learning gaps between subgroups of students. RtI is based on the systematic assessment of…

In the fall of 2007, the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) conducted a national survey of high school reform and project based learning (PBL). The study included teachers from several major high school reform networks that emphasize PBL as an instructional approach: New Tech High, High Tech High, Edvision Schools, and Envision Schools. It also…

Eight articles, published in various issues of "Education Week" starting in March 1994 and ending July 1995, track the work of eight educational reform design teams: (1) "Back to the Future" (Lynn Olson)--the virtues and values of the past in a modern context; (2) "A Welcome Change" (Ann Bradley)--instruction school…

This paper examines the concept of "outcomes-based education" (OBE), how it was developed, how it relates to other current reforms that encompass the notion of outcomes, and how it relates to students with disabilities in theory and in practice. Outcomes-based education holds that all children can learn and succeed and that schools are…

Comprehensive school reform focuses on making coherent schoolwide improvements that affect virtually all aspects of a school's operation, rather than using a piecemeal, fragmented approach to reform. The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program aims to raise student achievement by helping public schools across the country implement…

This theme issue on talent development in students who are gifted or have special talents contains several feature articles, editorials, and a calendar of events. Articles have the following titles and authors: "Talent Development in Education" (John F. Feldhusen) proposes four domains for fostering talent in all youth:…

This study sought to determine whether students in a graduate level class that focused on a school restructuring model were able to understand and practice its philosophy. The course focused on innovative school changes and teaching practices used in the Accelerated Schools Project (ASP). The course syllabus required students to examine the…

This paper describes major characteristics of Australia and its education system, including changes in the structure of higher education as former Colleges of Advanced Education, where most teacher education in Australia had been conducted, amalgamated with existing universities or became new universities. Preservice teacher education models are…

This monograph addresses the role of gifted education in total school improvement by describing three service delivery components (the Total Talent Portfolio, Curriculum Modification Techniques, and Enrichment Learning and Teaching) and several organizational components of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM). The report describes how the SEM can…

This monograph addresses the role of gifted education in total school improvement by describing three service delivery components (the Total Talent Portfolio, Curriculum Modification Techniques, and Enrichment Learning and Teaching) and several organizational components of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM). The report describes how the SEM can…