In Chapter Five, Alisa Belzer, Cassandra Drennon and Cristine Smith provide an overview of the challenges facing state-level professional development systems. The authors begin the chapter with a brief history of professional development in adult basic education, noting shifts in the funding and priority of professional development in the field.…

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System is invited to design a core curriculum for associate degree programs for paraprofessionals and other individuals interested in the field of education. All candidates who pursue Associate of Applied Science Degrees for Paraprofessionals will receive special training that will assist them in…

This document focuses on how states can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to support early childhood education initiatives. It draws on CLASP's previous report, "Financing Universal Pre-Kindergarten: Possibilities and Technical Issues for States in Using Funds Under the Child Care and Development Fund and Temporary…

The Illinois Children's Mental Health Task Force was convened in 2002 to assess the status of Illinois' mental health system for children from birth to age 18, and to develop short- and long-term recommendations for assuring that all Illinois children have access to coordinated and comprehensive mental health services and programs. This report is…

This document presents the transcript of a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Education Reform about state and local level special education programs that work and federal barriers to innovation as part of efforts to reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Highlights of the testimony include: (1) progress in New York in…

Under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), participating states and jurisdictions must provide services to children who are either experiencing developmental delays, or who have a diagnosed mental or physical condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay. Additionally, states may choose to…

During the 2000-2001 school year, an 18-month evaluation of Ohio's Phonics Demonstration Program (PDP) was conducted by the same evaluation team that had conducted a similar evaluation in 1997. In addition to evaluating phonics instruction in PDP schools, the evaluation also addressed the preparation of teachers for reading/phonics instruction in…

Smart Start is an early childhood initiative in North Carolina designed to build a statewide system of coordinated services for children from birth through age 5 and their families. At the heart of the program are 82 public-private nonprofit partnerships representing North Carolina's 100 counties, each sharing the mission of promoting school…

Child Trends is a organization with the overarching mission of improving the lives of children and families by providing research-based information to inform policy and programs that affect children's lives and their future prospects. This annual report details the organization's accomplishments for the year 2001. The report begins with a letter…

This document contains two issues of a journal on reducing youth gun violence, reprinted from a report by the U.S. Department of Justice. The first issue, part one, provides an overview of programs and initiatives. The second issue, part two, describes prevention and intervention programs. To reduce violence and build healthy communities requires…

The Instructional Support Team (IST) process is an intensive building-based pre-referral intervention program using teams of teachers and other school professionals to assist elementary students experiencing difficulty in the classroom. This trainer's manual outlines a 3-day workshop for team training. The schedule for each day is provided, with a…

This guide outlines the key elements of a full time equivalent (FTE) instructional support model, and provides suggestions for its effective implementation. Support teachers in the Instructional Support Team (IST) Program perform a variety of functions, including conducting instructional assessments, classroom observations, data collection,…

The Ohio Department of Public Schools launched its Ohio Urban Schools Initiative as a commitment to systemic long-term change in the state's 24 urban districts. This report contains a framework that represents the initial phase of the Urban Schools Initiative, which developed into a collaborative effort among the school systems, state and local…

Noting that growing consensus about the importance of the first 5 years of life has prompted in-depth considerations about the systemic quality of early care and education in the United States, this issue of "State Education Leader" examines various aspects of early learning. Topics considered in this issue are: (1) key issues in financing early…

This study examined how constructivist teaching and the organization of the learning environment relate to student achievement. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships among school and teaching attributes and student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics as measured by the Washington…