Examines nationally collected data on the placement rates of students with disabilities across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Results indicate that some states have made significant progress toward serving students with disabilities in less restrictive settings, whereas others have made very little progress. (CR)

Describes Hong Kong's Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC), a major curriculum renewal initiative designed to improve the quality of learning in local primary schools. Discusses the context in which it was introduced and factors that proved problematic in managing change. Focuses on five elements in the change process: practicality, ownership, teacher…

Suggests some things that can be done to make charter schools more accountable and to promote innovation and diversity. Remedies are offered for the areas of (1) accountability; (2) funding; (3) choice and student characteristics; and (4) innovation and empowerment. (SLD)

Explored within-school differences in teachers' sense of community. Surveys of teachers in three public high schools investigated time-related, work-arrangement, and school-organization variables. School organization (support for innovation and orderliness of student behavior) and time-related variables (tenure in school and time spent interacting…

States that a real education should give health-technology providers the skills and understanding that enable them to be autonomous in the performance of their duties. Asserts that simultaneous multiskilling, providing skills in a number of areas, and the reintroduction of traditions of "master craftsmanship" better prepare students for the…

Presents a historical case study of a once-innovative Canadian high school that, 25 years later, has "evolved" into a conventional secondary school. There is a predictable historical pattern that this and other innovative schools generally follow. Early indications of attrition may prevent further erosion of a school's vision. (79…

This study followed up 50 Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts) students who participated in the New Pathway (NP) program, an innovative curriculum that stressed humanistic medicine, lifelong learning, and social learning. Forty percent of NP students and 18 percent of traditional students went on to practice primary care or psychiatry; more NP…

Classifies the innovative strategic examination and transformation of the educational process in the schools of St. Petersburg (Russia): (1) methodological innovations that approach the design of educational systems; (2) institutional innovation that involves changes in educational institutions; (3) content processes that foster a high-quality…

Discusses the development of the university system within the Holy Roman Empire, especially in Germany, explaining that the University of Prague in 1348 was the Empire's first university. Reports that after the University of Prague, the new university type, or the "German type," developed by combining types of universities in Bologna and…

Describes Minnesota's approach to science education. The state has a history of "hands-on" science and a logical, sequenced middle-school curriculum based on common standards for all children that emphasizes creative thinking, inquiry, and experimentation. (LMI)

Discusses why the proven-effective reading instruction method (phonics instruction alongside an ample emphasis on meaning and connected reading) is not adopted by classroom teachers and compares today's situation with that of 30 years ago as recounted by Jeanne Chall in "Learning to Read: The Great Debate" (1967). (CR)

Presents the results of an ongoing evaluation in a project designed to recruit, educate, retain, and accredit ethnic minority science teachers in the larger central valley of California. Contains 23 references. (DDR)

Two studies investigated effects of a cognitive early education program on teachers' use of mediated learning strategies and kindergartner's cognitive modifiability and task-intrinsic motivation. Study 1 found that teachers with program experience used more mediation than nonexperienced teachers. Study 2 found that program children improved…

Describes some of the initiatives taken in conjunction with Singapore's national objective of having 60 percent of the population achieve a tertiary qualification to support the knowledge-based economy. Outlines programs designed for the varying abilities of students and the incorporation of appropriate use of information technology to make…

Describes a cross-curricular mathematics and physics course offered at Kanazawa Technical College in Japan. The course facilitates students' understanding of the connection between mathematics and physics through hands-on activities. Outlines the advantages of the cross-curricular approach, including students' increased levels of interest in…