Testing and accountability have commanded almost constant attention since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became federal law four years ago. What is frequently overlooked is the special power of parents to lift their children to new academic heights. The partnership helps to achieve the primary aims of that law. Without better informed and…

In June 2005, the Victorian State Government introduced the Regional Jobs Package (RJP)--a twelve-month pilot program that attempted to kill two social policy problems with one stone. The problems were youth unemployment and skills shortages in regional areas of Victoria, Australia. The intention of the RJP was to create a "win-win"…

This paper reports on a study of one pre-service teacher's implementation of the sport education (SE) model in a post-primary school in Ireland. The study sought to identify and understand the mechanisms that facilitate or inhibit learning to teach the model from the perspective of a pre-service teacher. Occupational socialization was used to…

This paper describes how the patriarchal structure of Japanese society and its notions of women, femininity, and gendered stereotypes produced strong cultural barriers to increasing the participation of females in science education. Baseline data on attitudes toward science and the perceptions of gender issues in science education, academic major…

The study conducted included four school districts that were addressing New York State Chapter 405 citations related to disproportionality. The purpose of this study was to identify the districts' common characteristics related to disproportionality, as well as common approaches and processes used to address the issue. An action research,…

A current objective in Canada is a provision of childcare services for all children. This objective has not been achieved as many children, especially those with disabilities, are often denied services from publicly funded daycare centres. The authors argue that policy discussions framed from an inclusive perspective provide a better understanding…

This paper reports on a case study of an in-service teacher-training programme for Greek philology teachers, from 2002 to 2003, which was designed to develop the use of information and communications technologies in their teaching. It draws on questionnaires and interviews with 34 teachers who took part in the training. In addition, the three…

In most elementary classrooms, students with autistic characteristics are too often dismissed from the literate community. The autistic child is frequently asked to practice memorizing sight words while classmates are introduced to literature. Although autistic children are increasingly being taught in general education classrooms, they are often…

In the United Kingdom over the past few years there has been a dramatic growth of national and regional repositories to collect and disseminate resources related to teaching and learning. Most notable of these are the Joint Information Systems Committee's Online Repository for [Learning and Teaching] Materials as well as the Higher Education…

Against a background of concern about staff recruitment and retention in social services in the UK, the authors examine one model of employer support for staff undergoing professional training alongside their employment. It is argued that support for these mature students needs to be broader than that normally offered within educational…

This report collects the results of all available studies using valid empirical methods to compare segregation in public and private schools, both in general and in the context of school voucher programs. Examining the widespread claims that private schools have high segregation levels and vouchers will lead to greater segregation, this report…

In any given year, there are approximately 800,000 youth in the foster care system. These are young children and adolescents whose parents are deceased or who have been subjected to some form of neglect or abuse. They are considered "wards/dependents of the court" and placed in the foster care system, making them the legal custody of the state.…

The authors explore the ways current curricula continue to frustrate parental and student goals in the classroom, focusing on three separate ethnographic studies of subjects from African American, Appalachian, and Latino backgrounds. The researchers determine that, despite the idiographic nature of their individual studies, many marginalized…

For nineteen years, Mercy Learning Center, a community-based literacy organization, has provided basic literacy instruction to low-income women in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During that time it has grown from three students and two tutors to 450 students, 155 tutors, and five full-time teachers. This growth has been affected by changes in welfare…

The transition from pre-kindergarten (center-based programs for four-year-olds) to kindergarten is a critical milestone with far-reaching consequences for children and their families because positive transition and school readiness are integrally linked as predictors of future school success. This study was conducted to explore the existing…