In 12 brief chapters, a view is provided of elementary school improvement efforts made by participants in the Contact School Plan of the Council of Europe's Council for Cultural Co-operation. The Contact School Plan created a network of 12 schools implementing innovative educational practices in as many nations. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the…

This paper describes the preliminary findings of a training program to develop skills of Dutch primary school principals in coaching teachers for improved teaching. The major research questions addressed whether the 28 school principals who participated in the training program implemented the target coaching skills whether teachers coached by the…

In 1989, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development approved a 3-year international project to identify programs that have been effective in helping children at risk of educational failure. A conference held to launch the project identified program strategies for serving at-risk youth, determined ways for member countries to improve…

This collection of 20 papers addresses child development and early intervention issues related to literacy acquisition from a cross-cultural perspective. Titles of the papers are: (1) "Preparing Young Children for Literacy: Issues in Theory and Practice" (Lotty Eldering and Paul Leseman); (2) "Jomtien Revisited: A Plea for a…

The document comprises three articles which analyze roles and tasks of teachers in innovative elementary schools in the United States, Netherlands, and England. Innovative schools are interpreted as schools which favor educational practices such as open classrooms, team teaching, parent involvement, nongraded classes, global orientation,…