This document discusses educational reform and the implications of educational standards on students with disabilities. Topics addressed include: (1) common educational reforms; (2) new laws promoting education reform; (3) how today's reforms fit with special education; (4) the different types of standards, including content standards and…

Recent research on student achievement conducted by the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that American students are deficient in reading, mathematics, writing, and other skills. To reverse this trend, the Accountable Curriculum, a program that raises expectations for students was created. The program is a departure…

Some of the difficult questions surrounding intensive scheduling, along with examples of successful applications of this approach, are described in this document. This book offers a blueprint from a practitioner's perspective and is intended for educators and lay people interested in improving secondary schools. Chapter 1 demonstrates how to…

This report identifies the elements for improving performance in a standards-based system and carefully examines the incentives for students, teachers, schools, and states. Student incentives include using standards for promotion and admissions to higher education, standards for graduation from high school, requirements for employment or entry…

Innovative educators teach creatively while showing compassion and respect for their students. Innovation allows educators to apply their unique talents to create a stimulating environment where learning is fun and exciting. Innovative teachers continually evaluate lesson plans and make modifications to allow for change. They make decisions…

This paper describes the University of Washington School of Communication's project to redesign the graduate student teaching assistant position into a new "research mentor" role. This new position emphasizes undergraduate acquisition of research skills, where students are guided through the research process by graduate students who…

Numerous ideas regarding school reform have been in evidence of late. One idea that has received increased attention is standards-driven education reform, which is the subject of this book. The text features an outline of a CD version, which is included. The volume is intended for interested laymen and professionals and features an eight-step plan…

A task force examined Vermont's special education paperwork and procedures to determine whether Vermont's requirements exceeded the federal requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Upon close examination, the task force found only four areas in which the Vermont special education regulations require more paperwork…

This book is intended for those who are worried about the state of schools and who want to improve them. It focuses on the Authentic Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ATLAS) program, which brought together the most successful ideas and practices of four partner organizations (Education Development Center, School Development Program, Harvard…

This book examines caring from three perspectives. It opens with a discussion of Nel Noddings's caring tenets--caring is collaborative, situational, reciprocal, and committed--that are seen as necessary for an ethic of caring. A critique of an ethic of caring from the viewpoints of caring with leadership, caring as a "female ethic,"…

This book describes trends in technology and learning that are influencing community colleges. Chapter 1, presenting results from a 3-year, 700 college study, concludes that colleges will become more learning-centered, find it difficult to maintain services and open access as student demands increase and resources shrink, form more partnerships,…

One of the diagnostic tools used in the evaluation of programs implemented under the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) (1990) is the Innovation Configuration Component (ICC) Map, designed to specify the key elements associated with an innovation and to define what "use" means in the context of implementing an innovation. This study…

Early childhood educators across Australia are starting to rethink traditional approaches to planning in early childhood education, including respecting children as powerful, competent learners; valuing families as partners; and developing new approaches to observation and record keeping that encourage dynamism and flexibility. This booklet…

Urban Impact is a Title II Teacher Quality Enhancement Act partnership grant supporting the development of new strategies and structures to strengthen the preparation and development of beginning teachers in urban settings in Tennessee. This study evaluated the success of Urban Impact in restructuring university coursework and university/school…

This volume contains abstracts of the approximately 200 discussion papers, symposia, displays, and training sessions of the 2001 annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association (MSERA). Papers deal with elementary, secondary, and higher education and cover a broad spectrum of educational issues. Although many papers focus on the…