Background/Context: The problems that school district leaders identify and how they frame them have consequences--for both policy implementation and the ways that teachers respond. Although that is likely true in all community contexts (from rural to urban, inside and outside metropolitan centers), the influence of broader discourses associated…

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELs--who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schools--are struggling to meet the…

One goal of the US Department of Education-funded Project Insights was to see if the use of Problem-based Learning (PBL) would encourage students to reveal previously unseen academic potential. Two PBL units were taught to 271 sixth grade students in 13 classrooms. Afterwards, teachers identified students who demonstrated previously unseen…

This article considers identification and programing needs of hearing-impaired students from Afro-American, Hispanic, and Asian groups, based on experience within the San Diego (California) city schools. Addressed are demographic shifts and the dropout rate; cultural considerations; assessment; bilingual education; curriculum and instructional…

Initiated in 1964, the Illnois gifted program provided funds for development of local gifted programs by local districts. General purposes and criteria for individual programs were realized with varying success. Gifted programs increased and were extended to less wealthy and smaller districts; techniques and inservice education spilled over into…

The federally-mandated report on the status of bilingual education in the United States: (1) reports on programmatic, research, and training activities administered by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) within the Department of Education; (2) describes the coordination of OBEMLA programs with other offices…