High-quality teaching is the most significant school-related factor in helping students make significant gains in learning or achievement. Students who have effective teachers year after year routinely make more progress than other students. This is why every child must experience great teaching every day. For this to occur, teachers must have…

Response to Intervention (RtI) came into the national forefront in the late 1990s as an alternate approach for identifying students with specific learning disabilities. In brief, RtI assumes that a broad system of early intervention and support is in place, one possible component of which is evaluating a student for suspected learning…

A historical case study from a 6-8 middle school in the coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania was conducted to examine the extent of teacher collaboration before and after the implementation of the teaming concept as well as the construction of a new middle school. The study was triangulated through the use of multiple data points including…

During its third year of operation, the National Council on the Handicapped continued to develop priorities for the National Institute of Handicapped Research (NIHR) and worked to identify all research on disabilities and handicaps that is currently underway. In addition, the council's Committee on Services undertook a review and assessment of…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers assessment of student services. This activity is specifically directed to three areas associated with student services: (1) guidance services as they relate to counseling, student records, testing,…

Intended for use by council and staff members as well as individuals in communities that are considering forming or joining an education work council, this report discusses the nature, function, and growth and development of work education councils and examines the collaborative processes that councils engage in. The education and work council…

This training guide is designed to provide strategies and resources for involving work experience education (WEE) coordinators and special educators in the cooperative development and improvement of WEE for students with exceptional needs. Addressed in the guide are the following topics: an overview of the training program, why students with…

This Transfer Enhancement Plan was prepared by the Transfer Task Force from the City College of San Francisco (CCSF). The purpose of the plan is to improve the transfer success of all CCSF students. This report reviews current transfer structure, efforts, activities, and programs, and identifies successful transfer efforts that should be supported…

While education accountability systems emphasize teacher quality as a prerequisite for student learning, education administrators have struggled to staff low-performing schools with effective teachers. Fueled in part by the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, compensation reforms have gained center stage status among strategies aimed at improving…

The School Administration Manager (SAM) project, supported by The Wallace Foundation as part of its education initiative, focuses on changing the conditions in schools that prevent principals from devoting more time to instructional leadership. In schools participating in the National SAM Project, principals have made a commitment to increase the…

The Durham Family Initiative (DFI) is one of two community-based child abuse prevention efforts that comprise The Duke Endowment's Child Abuse Prevention Initiative. Beginning in 2002, the Endowment provided support to the Durham Family Initiative (DFI) in North Carolina and Strong Communities in South Carolina to develop a comprehensive approach…

Instructional strategies aimed at improving achievement of low performing student subgroups in need of support were selected by the District Improvement Advisory Committee, so that WCPSS could exit District Improvement status. Impact of each initiative, which often included teacher training and coaching is examined in this implementation report.…

Many educators and researchers have proposed reforms for dealing with the ongoing adolescent literacy crisis. Progress in strengthening young people's literacy now depends on schools a) choosing appropriate programs and b) implementing them consistently and effectively. Yet the history of school reform is littered with reforms that were adopted…

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…

This guide for school improvement uses as its foundation the Concerns-Based Adoption Model which describes the changing feelings of individuals as they learn about, prepare for, use, and refine new practices. Seven linear steps are depicted as they relate to the school improvement process: (1) establishing the school improvement project: (2)…