This curriculum project was developed by an individual who studied in India for 5 weeks in 1993 as part of the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program. The activities seek to: (1) offer factual information on India from literature, customs, culture, and socioeconomic and political perspectives; (2) help students be more tolerant about people of…

A thematic teaching program and portfolio assessment were used to maintain basic academic language arts and mathematics skills during the summer for 21 elementary students placed in residential foster care settings as victims of physical and/or sexual abuse. All activities were designed around the selected theme of a safari. Students listened to…

This report briefly describes the tests, subtests, test scores, and reports that fulfill the requirements of Arizona state legislation regarding educational accountability. It summarizes the fall 1994 Arizona statewide results by grade and across grades. Discussions of student achievement strengths and weaknesses by grade level and demographic…

This manual is intended for teachers using the Project Success Enrichment (PSE) program to teach language arts to gifted and typical elementary school students. Following an introduction that outlines the purposes and objectives set forth in the Project Success Enrichment: Language Arts Introductory Unit, this component focuses on the short story…

This manual contains ideas for integrating service learning into various disciplines for grades K-8. The integration of activities can add real-life experiences to the academic curriculum and help create the capacity for students to improve their school and community. The three types of service activities include: (1) direct activities that…

Portfolio assessment has become a widely cited technique for obtaining a rich demonstration of the skills that students have acquired, and it is often implied that portfolio assessment provides different types of information from that obtained from standardized tests. This paper provides support for the contention that portfolio assessments do…

The expansion of field-based preparation for teachers in recent years has been driven by several factors. The satisfaction of university students and instructors participating in site-based instruction and the encouragement of local schools seeking reform themselves have refueled this expansion. In a site-based course, preservice teachers provide…

The effects of a cooperative learning program, Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC), on the Spanish and English reading, writing, and language achievement of second and third graders of limited English proficiency in Spanish bilingual programs in El Paso (Texas) were studied. BCIRC was expected to improve student…

This book asks teachers to examine their beliefs about language, the beliefs of other educators, and the implications of those beliefs for English classes, where the primary goal is to foster language development through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It is offered as a catalyst to the ongoing process of research and reflection that is…

By intertwining narratives, journals, interviews, and traditional analysis and argument, this book offers an ethnographic account of a diverse group of community college faculty working together to revise their writing center's tutor protocols and expectations for student writing. In doing so, it takes postsecondary writing teachers to the place…

The development of national minimum educational standards for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) began in 1988 with the deliberations of a national task force that created performance expectations in a number of subjects. In 1988 the development of nationally standardized tests reflecting these standards began. This document presents the…

Ensuring that new forms of assessment are fair and valid for language minority students is essential for research on assessing the performance of Latino language minority elementary school students engaged in a cooperative learning language arts curriculum in Spanish and English. Strategies for developing performance assessments are described, and…

Pointing out that understanding, considering, preparing, modeling, teaching, collaborating, assessing, and supporting are steps along the path to using literature in the classroom, the essays in this book provide a solid background for those teachers who are considering making the transition to literature-based instruction in their classrooms.…

Six communication instructors redesigned the curriculum of two courses to make integration part of teacher training both in course content and in the way trainees were taught and prepared. Having conducted a literature search, the six teachers developed a language arts interdisciplinary team to plan, pilot, and implement a new integrated approach.…

Problems involved in reducing the achievement gap among ethnic groups in the Seattle (Washington) public schools were studied. An 11-member team selected 25 elementary schools and 216 classrooms for the study, which included classroom observations, teacher questionnaires, and measurement of ethnic achievement gap reduction through California…