At the start of each school year at Oil City Elementary Magnet School in Oil City, Louisiana, eager students ask, "What's our theme this year?" This curiosity comes from their expectations that they will study a different environmental concept each year. Kindergarten classes learn to "Be a Friend to the Earth," followed by life…

In June 2007, the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the College Ready School Diagnostic, a web-based diagnostic instrument. The purpose of this tool is to provide individual school profiles and customized recommendations, enabling each institution to make…

Many supporters of school choice argue that neighborhood assignment to public schools results not in diversity, but in the opposite: schools that are less likely to contain a diverse mix of students and that are more internally segregated along racial lines than are schools of choice. In recent years, a number of empirical studies of the effects…

This book is designed to provide guidance and ideas for science projects to help students learn more about science as they search for answers to specific problems. The 20 topics on electricity in this book suggest many possible problems to solve. Each topic has one detailed experiment followed by a section that provides additional questions about…

A classical Greek elementary magnet school in a large urban school district has identified the need for a multicultural fine arts program reflecting the contributions of ancient cultures to modern man. The author and teachers (K-5) of this school developed a multicultural program using classical literature, visual and performing arts, history, and…

The Enacted Practices Evaluation Model (EPEM) is an accountability system for "promised" program practices. Evaluating programs in terms of implemented treatment (i.e. enacted practices) in ways that yield valid and reliable results for accountability purposes is among the most vexing challenges in the field of program evaluation.…

Overwhelming scientific and anecdotal evidence indicates that the elementary school experience significantly shapes children's lives. This report examines the history of elementary education, and describes alternatives such as nongraded schools. The first part of the report describes the roots of elementary education in the United States,…

A study of magnet schools revealed that they have become a significant part of the nation's efforts to desegregate schools. Most magnet schools are in urban areas and offer a distinctive curriculum. School districts began employing magnet schools in the 1970s to help desegregate schools. The federal government has assisted magnet schools with…

This report examines recent school choice developments in four broad areas: (1) the public's interest in public school choice; (2) state and federal government responses to this growing interest; (3) new research on existing programs permitting choice; and (4) prospects for expanding state efforts to promote public school choice. After providing…

Black and white students attending integrated, non-integrated, and magnet schools in Saint Louis, Missouri, were subjected to the California Achievement Tests in 1980-81, the first year of a system-wide mandatory desegregation plan in the district. Results are presented in this report in the form of statistical tables and textual analyses.…

Magnet schools differ from other forms of alternative schools in being specifically intended to assist school systems in their desegregation efforts. Magnet schools have been defined by the federal courts as those having a "distinctive program of study" designed to attract a cross section of students from all racial groups voluntarily. Several…

In an effort to enlarge the focus on teacher effectiveness to include environmental factors outside the classroom, this report investigated (1) the relationship between supervisors' ratings of teacher effectiveness and the ability of teacher interns to make instructional decisions conforming to the school's value and organizational structures and…

The paper reports on the Vanguard Program, (Houston, Texas), an interdisciplinary, multilevel instructional program for gifted and creative children. The program, one component of Houston's Magnet school approach designed to comply with desegregation rulings, developed broadened criteria for identifying gifted minority students. Vanguard has…