Whenever educators talk about raising achievement, grade-level standards are most frequently the end goal for student learning. But what about students who have already met some, if not all, of those standards and who master material quickly and in-depth? Advanced and gifted learners often languish in our schools because teachers don't have the…

The assumption behind movements to get alternatively certified teachers quickly into classrooms as full-time teachers is that high-performing college graduates with content knowledge can become good teachers through a summer of training and full-time, evening, teacher training courses. But when the authors asked new, precertified teachers who were…

In 1980, The Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Public School District polled its teachers, administrators, politicians, and parents for their views on the schools' most pressing needs. In the resulting renewal plan, phase I focused on renewing teachers' professional skills. Phase II challenged schools to institutionalize shared decision making and…

Proposes a model high school curriculum featuring five clusters of knowledge, including cultural studies, citizenship and societal studies, science and technology, health and recreation, and skills in learning, communicating, and thinking. Presents a "stratified needs assessment instrument" to assess the instructional time to be devoted to each…

Research conducted with a sample of 86 classroom teachers concerning the teaching of reading suggests that the needs they report must be analyzed by objective means to determine the underlying conditions that result in expression of the symptoms. (Author/MLF)

Two cornerstones to professional growth may be the right of educators to say "I don't know how" and their use of the appropriate planning tools for learning new skills and knowledge. (Author)

A successful bilingual program contains needs assessment, curriculum development models and instructional planning, planned evaluation processes, and a plan for initiating change. (Author/MLF)

Describes a technical assistance approach that offers a systematic framework for planning, conducting, and evaluating in-service training. (Author/MLF)

John Goodlad suggests that individual schools should be encouraged to establish their own priorities for improvement and should be supported by their districts and by networks of schools with similar concerns. He further suggests that subject area teaching should concentrate on broad concepts rather than on unlimited, discrete topics. (PGD)

Educational needs are determined by the distance of the student's present behavior from some desired behavior, but author warns that the substituting of technology for open and public debate about these vitally important matters is a morally dangerous one. (Author/CB)

Achievement is up in Washington State's District 414 where administrators have reorganized their responsibilities in order to spend more hours on instructional leadership. (Author/JM)

The Mississippi Chemical Corporation began its cooperative venture with the Yazoo City (Mississippi) schools by sponsoring a needs assessment study that led to specific recommendations for improving instructional programs. (Author/MLF)

Presents steps that communities can take to use politics for the benefit of curriculum development. (Author/MLF)

Outlines a comprehensive curriculum development model intended to define the school board's responsibilities in curriculum development and to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs and interests of all the publics to which the board is accountable. (JG)