The authors describe an initiative to improve child care for the children of teen parents. Since 1999, the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy has worked with seven childcare programs in four school districts to achieve this goal. The initiative included development of a quality improvement plan for each…

Lately, preparation programs for PreK-12 school leaders have been at the center of controversy. Infamous among university circles is the 2005 "Educating School Leaders" report, which calls for an overhaul of university-based principal and superintendent preparation programs. The focus of the report is that school leadership programs are in…

School administrators, eager to raise student achievement levels to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, are increasingly looking to staff development as a means to enhance student achievement. In this article, the author describes how Mountain View Alternative High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, an alternative high school…

Given the perennial interest in the construct of age identity yet its persistent resistance to explanation, the purpose of this study was to re-examine the conceptual structure of age identity by using a focus group design modified to reflect contemporary social science theory. The second purpose of the study was to examine how this modified…

The objective of this study was to refine the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ), to reduce its length, and to verify its psychometric properties. The CSBQ is a questionnaire for parents or caregivers of children with PDD. The items describe a broad range of features that are typical of PDD, particularly in its milder forms. Based on…

Internal Audit Services conducted an Early Implementation Review of the Understanding the Early Years (UEY) Initiative in 2006-07. This review is intended to provide assurance to senior management that program delivery has been established appropriately in order to meet its objectives and highlight any areas that require focused management…

This year, Congress is scheduled to review the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In 2002, this law signaled an important change in federal education policy by focusing on accountability for results rather than simple compliance and by seeking to set the performance bar high for all children, regardless of where they live. The time is now to learn…

This brief publication provides bullet points of what education authorities are doing well and how they can do better in the following areas: (1) Planning for implementation; (2) Transition arrangements; (3) Meeting additional support needs; (4) Resolving disagreements; (5) Coordinated support plans; and (6) Working with children and young…

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the…

Mentors need to be proactive in helping the newer teacher to anticipate the critical episodes that inevitably face any teacher. These episodes include the challenge to manage a daunting workload while following habits necessary to stay healthy; to recover from disappointments, errors, and disrespect; to form positive relationships with students,…

The school improvement came into question that schools meet the educational needs has been made to make it more effective, changing in parallel globalization. The purpose of school improvement is to rise levels of student achievement and school environment to increase participation. In this context, the basic aim of this study was to determine the…

Ontario embraced a provincial lead improvement plan that was designed to improve its 5,000 schools by focusing on literacy and numeracy, improving high school graduation, and improving public support for education. Its primary strategy was developing networks of educators and building their capacity for growth.

The government of Ghana has designed various initiatives to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on education and the Education for All goals. Despite these initiatives, student outcomes continue to be poorer than desired. Although access to education has improved, student dropout remains a problem and student scores on achievement tests…

This study investigated the differences between demographic, enrollment, academic, and self-directed learning characteristics of completers and noncompleters in online courses at one community college. The study also obtained students' self-reported reasons for not completing their coursework. No significant differences were found in the…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Balancing Act: Achieving a Harmony between…