We evaluated the role that social capital among teachers plays in affecting teacher pedagogy in the context of comprehensive school reform (CSR). CSR implementation was designed to change school- and classroom-level processes, including organization and governance, curriculum and instruction, professional development (PD), and parental…

A selected annotated bibliography on managing development projects, intended for rural development practitioners, highlights items that outline some pressing issues and concerns confronting those involved in rural development in general and rural project management in particular. A section of annotated entries lists 21 publications on project…

Ganado Primary School on the Navajo Reservation has formulated and implemented an attendance improvement plan which has provided encouraging results. Formulation and implementation of the attendance improvement plan were initiated after reviewing the 1980 attendance registers which indicated the average length of enrollment had been 169 days with…

Ganado Primary School located on the Navajo Reservation--in its attempt to decrease absenteeism--has formulated and implemented an attendance improvement plan which has provided encouraging results show positive implications for its adaptation into similar programing in other schools. (ERB)

Objective: The authors describe a faculty practice plan that assigns a monetary value to various educational and research activities. Methods: Four years experience in the implementation of the plan are reported. Results: During this four-year period, the total dollar value of grants increased 319.6% from $9,175,495 in 1998-99 to $38,762,499 in…

This beginning teacher program is a combination of a support and training program for first-year teachers in 12 school districts in Kansas. Participation is required and the program features regular meetings with the building principal, a year-long, performance-based skill training program, and a set of performance tasks which ask the beginning…

In accordance with research into what makes schools effective, efforts were made to translate the findings into a school improvement project in the New York City Public Schools. The research isolated five characteristics of schools identified as effective (that is, as demonstrating for 3 years the ability to deliver basic school skills to the full…

Between 2001 and 2005, the state of Maine shifted the focus of its statewide high school improvement efforts to include an explicit focus on adolescent literacy. One trigger for that change in focus was a 5-school adolescent literacy initiative previously launched in a rural county under the federal Northeast and Islands Regional Educational…

Discusses the role of teacher achievement and recognition in job satisfaction, and describes a mini-grant incentive model that offers teachers opportunities and incentives for achievement and recognition through increased responsibilities and expanded opportunities for development. The application process, implementation phase, and evaluation…

This handbook is intended to help Missouri school districts develop and implement quality family and consumer sciences programs that will prepare students of all ages to be critical, ethical thinkers and successful family, career, and community leaders. The handbook begins with a bibliography listing 27 resources. The following are among the…

The impact of the School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program in Maryland schools was studied. The program encouraged application of research on planned change to implement one or more of four instructional models: Active Teaching, Mastery Learning, Student Team Learning, and Teaching Variables of "content" and…

The School Improvement Program (SIP) is a project which involves over half of California's public elementary and secondary schools and which emphasizes cooperative planning by schools and communities to improve education. The improvement planning process in each school is undertaken by a School Site Council (SCC), composed of the principal, and…

The three diagnostic dimensions of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) are tools that can evaluate the degree of new program implementation at the classroom level. Implementation success is a function of use/nonuse, appropriate/inappropriate practice, and user concerns about the innovation. These dimensions: Levels of Use (LoU) of the…

Many school district leaders, high school administrators, and teachers--particularly those in urban areas--have struggled to reduce high school dropout rates but find themselves overwhelmed by the dimensions of the problem. Consider: Research has shown that lack of preparation in elementary and middle school, long before students reach high…

During 2003-07, the Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) project fostered data-based campus change initiatives at more than 100 four-year Historically Black, Hispanic-Serving, and Tribal colleges and universities to increase student engagement and learning. Each campus made a commitment to analyze the scope and…