High stakes accountability (HSA) reforms were enacted in state after state and federally through the No Child Left Behind law, based on the belief that incentives that have consequences attached are effective ways to motivate educators to improve student performance. Our focus for this article is on school district level responses to HSA reforms…

Young adults with disabilities often depend on linkages and supports from adult agencies to achieve high-quality adult outcomes. However, interagency collaboration has emerged as a major area of difficulty and a critical area in need of improvement for school districts throughout the United States. Based on the input of research participants from…

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study of 35 Swedish comprehensive schools involving interviews with teachers, school leaders, students, and parents carried out in 1980, 1982, 1985, and 2001. During the 35-year period covered by the study, the schools experienced significant reforms. The most important of these reforms involved a…

No study has comprehensively examined what types of students are attending new small schools in New York City and whether these students have different characteristics, on average, than students at the schools they replaced. This study fills this gap by comparing the characteristics of entering new small high school students with those of all…

This is a collection of four papers concerned with improvement of Chapter 1 programs in the northwestern United States. The first paper (Steve Murray) describes a program improvement support model presently in use. It summarizes the process of program adoption in five northwestern states and describes differences in state context that have…

Discusses the strategic management of knowledge assets for competitive advantage in enterprises. Presents an integrative, systematic approach that can be followed in order to improve the business value of the knowledge assets of an enterprise. (Author/AEF)

The effort to leave no child behind is a major threat to high-ability students, whose cognitive and affective needs are increasingly falling by the wayside from default, according to gifted education advocates. They argue that the No Child Left Behind Act, with its unprecedented, high-stakes focus on students performing below grade level, leaves…

Addressing increasing levels of disruptive behavior and improving discipline is a national matter. The challenge is intensified by teachers' concerns about the growing inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral problems in general education classrooms and the general levels of diversity common in America's schools. Removing children with…

This article sets out to examine how school science activities can encourage students' participation while supporting a specific science content. One ordinary class with 12-year-old students was chosen and their regular classroom work was studied without intervention and with a minimum of interference. Lessons were video filmed, transcribed and…

Over the next few weeks, dozens of schools will open across New Orleans for the second full academic year since Hurricane Katrina. As many as 33,000 children are expected to report to one of the campuses in the city's patchwork of charter and traditional public schools. Unlike last fall--when many schools opened without textbooks, functioning…

The paper's aim is to demonstrate the utility of the well-known Nim game when it is used as a tool in teaching the binary system. A way to increase student comprehension, it also forms a basis for student projects and extracurricular activities on the topic. The paper offers descriptions of two versions of the game and the underlying mathematical…

The sharing of new ideas for improving library services, a concern of every creative librarian, is the goal of this compilation of 156 novel and nontraditional approaches. The ideas are arranged alphabetically by key thought with a contents listing at the front of the handbook. Some are suitable for public libraries, some for school libraries,…

MANY LARGE CITIES ACROSS THE NATION HAVE CONCENTRATED AREAS OF FAMILIES WHOSE CHILDREN ARE SEVERELY HAMPERED IN THEIR SCHOOLING BY A COMBINATION OF COMMUNITY, HOME, AND SCHOOL CONDITIONS. IN ORDER TO ALLEVIATE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS, THE DETROIT PROJECT HAS DEVELOPED AND TESTED A FIVE-PART PROGRAM. PART ONE IS CONCERNED WITH TEACHER ORIENTATION AND…

Examples of study skills are described, strategies for teaching are suggested, and a method for implementing a study skills program is discussed. Locating and selecting important points, remembering information through note taking and outlining, and adjusting reading rate are included as study skills. Strategies for teaching include using texts…

This issue reviews publications that provide a starting point for principals looking for a way through the accountability maze. Each publication views accountability differently, but collectively these readings argue that even in an era of state-mandated assessment, principals can pursue proactive strategies that serve students' needs. James A.…