While Massachusetts has received accolades for its high scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, absolute results from standardized tests tend to correlate strongly with family income and parental education. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education…

A change in political leadership typically signals a growth in organizing campaigns to find and endorse the candidate with ideas most similar to their own. However, what if instead of focusing on finding the best candidate, organizing groups decided to focus on the conversation? How would you then use an election to engage the members of the…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

The mismatch between education and work results in social and economic costs. Career education, intended to ease the problem, is criticized for opting for economic efficiency at the expense of individual development. (Author/MLF)

This report contains the second year evaluation of the Student Assistance Program (SAP) in Pennsylvania. These school-based and school-linked programs address barriers to learning for youth at risk for social and emotional problems, drug and alcohol use and abuse, and depression. Second year evaluation focused on identifying essential components…

Project ACT aims (1) to improve the class attendance of American Indian students, (2) to make students' school experience more relevant to life and work, (3) to assist Indian students to experience success in school by providing them with assistance relating to their academic programs, and (4) to provide supportive financial assistance to Indian…

Describes SAIL (Students Active in Leadership) as a school-based, youth-directed group. States that the program helps teenagers learn leadership skills by developing and implementing community service activities. SAIL finds partners with whom to collaborate among local businesses, government, and health associations, and these partners provide the…

This document provides a description of the Metropolitan Planning Project (MPP), its objectives, strategies, and an evaluation of its implementation in the Boston area. In order to encourage the voluntary elimination, reduction, and prevention of minority group isolation in elementary and secondary schools in Boston, the project focuses on two…

While the federal government has always been a junior partner to state and local agencies in financing and operating public schools, the impact of federal policies on schools continues to be a topic of debate by researchers, policymakers, and the public. This paper reviews the rapidly expanding but dispersed literature on federal involvement in…

This guide for teachers, supervisors and administrators offers a conceptual framework and resources for developing a complete nutrition education program. Included are: (1) a statement of need for nutrition education, (2) definition of what nutrition education should encompass; (3) goals identified by teachers, curriculum specialists and nutrition…

This paper focuses on a community's educational improvement project in Tennessee that resulted from executive appointment of a citizen task force in each community. The paper reports project development and results; discussion emphasizes implications for school administrators. A joint task force, appointed in 1985, was directed to develop…

This report illustrates how community service learning can be used as a vehicle for achieving the goals of education and youth development and, concurrently, how it is highly consistent with the goals of systemic educational reform, particularly in rural schools and communities. Part 1 covers the definition of service learning as a method of…

This report recommends a statewide plan of action to ensure that Pennsylvania schools provide quality school health education programs. It is the culmination of a process undertaken by the Quality School Health Education Project, initiated in response to the Year 2000 national health objective on school health education. The project identified…

Developed by a think tank that included parents, board members, teachers, and administrators, this agenda is intended to generate discussion and promote consensus building on how best to meet the needs of Indiana students with and without disabilities. It provides an overview of the context for change in special education service delivery,…

Over recent years there has been an increasing amount of public and political discussion of educational directions and educational accountability in relation to Australian primary and secondary schools. The study reported in this monograph attempted to address these concerns through a four-stage process: a review of literature exploring community…