Devises and validates an index of texture to be used to accurately analyze texts of developing writers as an aid in improving readability. An index reflecting conjunction, conjunctive reach, specificity, connectivity, topic, and topic shift was created. Results were a perfect correlation in rankings produced by the index and judges. (32…

Addresses three critical issues challenging South African and U.S. efforts to improve teacher quality: equity, demographics, and violence. Both countries want education to ameliorate long-standing racial inequities by improving teacher qualifications; both face increasing enrollments and teacher shortages; and both have high crime rates. (Contains…

Describes a program at an Illinois middle school that was designed to increase reading achievement, vocabulary, and the enjoyment of reading. Highlights include the library's role; use of the Standardized Test for Assessment of Reading; the Accelerated Reader program; teacher training; teacher comments; and grant funds. Four appendices include:…

Past failures in American Indian education are linked to lingering assimilationist practices, outdated curricula, and low expectations of Indian youth. A key to improving Indian education is changing school culture and increasing the numbers of Indian teachers and administrators. Elements of a model teacher education program are presented, and…

Addresses the dearth of literature about preparing teachers to teach African American students, the attempts by scholars to fill this void, and the need for ongoing research in this area, highlighting: the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience; strategies for improving teacher preparation (e.g., autobiography, restructured field…

Describes theoretical and practical problems facing the field of early reading, examining: readers and texts (reader processes, text difficulty, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and unique learners); home and school (home-school match, communities and reading, preschools as contexts for reading acquisition, and best practices); and policy and…

The School Improvement Grants Program is a British Columbia-based action research project to support efforts to raise literacy and math skills in public schools serving low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods. The program--which provides $25,000 in planning and implementation grants for each participating school over 2.5 years--began in 2001 and…

Social, political, and economic changes in the former Soviet Union precipitated both the collapse of a once-centralized medical education system in the region and the development of individual models in its place. In the context of rapid globalization and international concerns about health, this development of "nation-based" models for…

For more than a century, American educators and education policymakers have chosen sides in a great debate about the nature and function of American high schools. The origins of this long-running argument can be traced to 1893, when the influential Committee of Ten, a bluechip panel of educators, issued a report proposing that all public…

As the largest and most highly publicized initiative to improve teaching in American schools, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has raised great expectations. It has created rigorous standards for teaching and a system to assess and certify teachers meeting these standards; it has promoted financial incentives to…

At the turn of the twenty-first century a paradigm shift in economic development is taking place in the world. This is reflected in the transition to what goes by the name of the new economy. Given birth by the information and communications revolution, this economy is developing under the conditions of globalization and competition while…

This article profiles the educational system of Manitoba and discusses initiatives for students who are at-risk. It describes programs and services for students who are at-risk, relevant educational legislation, areas of strength, challenges that need to be overcome, and areas of action. (Contains references.) (CR)

This article profiles the educational system of Newfoundland and Labrador and discusses initiatives for students who are at-risk. It describes programs and services for students who are at-risk, relevant educational legislation, areas of strength, challenges that need to be overcome, and areas of action. Agency coordination of services is…

The responsibility for the academic success of our nation's children historically has been shouldered by the school principal. In many school communities today, that accountability has been mandated by state law. The Indiana equivalent of the accountability movement sweeping the nation is Public Law 221 (P.L. 221), which makes the principal solely…

In this study, the authors explore potential relationships between trust and collaboration at both the school and individual levels of analysis. The study design focuses on a set of ostensibly reciprocal relationships between trust and collaboration. The database for the study is composed of self-reports of elementary and middle school teachers in…