In 1998, California voters approved Initiative 227, requiring that all limited-English children be provided an English-immersion program for 1 year or longer as needed. Hispanic parents are leaders in the movement. Dire predictions that bilingual children in English-language classrooms would fall behind have not materialized. (Contains 18…

In 1998, passage of Proposition 227 virtually eliminated bilingual education programs and called for instruction overwhelmingly in English. However, diverse student populations require diverse instructional approaches. Standards-based reform aids only students who can fully understand and assimilate high academic content. Constructivists value…

By choosing to classify its decoding approach as "real reading," a 1998 National Research Council report avoids discussing effects of real issues like poverty, race, class, and cultural identity on student achievement. Politicizing education muffles the rigorous academic debate concerning the grievances and educational needs of linguistic minority…

Schools often ignore the existence and special concerns of multiracial and multiethnic students, whose numbers are increasing faster than those of monoracial children. Serving these students requires changing teacher education, recording heritage sensitively, assessing formal and informal curricula, revising ethnic and racial celebrations,…

Today, fewer city blocks preserve the confidence of lifestyle and urban geography that sustain traditional games and outdoor play. Large groups of children choosing sides and organizing Red Rover games are no longer commonplace. Teachers must encourage free play; urban planners must build cities that are safe play havens. (MLH)

Modesto (California) City Schools discovered common-ground thinking during a crisis over a safe-schools policy. Instead of shunning controversy, schools should face issues, invite all stakeholders, get training, formulate and approve policy, and train staff and the community to understand common-ground (religious neutrality) thinking. (MLH)

Teachers need different types of communities to sustain and inspire them. They seek like-minded "outsiders" committed to learning and discussing what they learn. When the author invited "San Francisco Chronicle" readers to help convince his students about reading's importance, he received 1,000 helpful replies. (MLH)

As a young teacher, the author discovered that children's literature sparks students' imagination and inspires meaningful teaching. The daily exercise of reading prepares children for all the unstandardized tests that life will administer. Reality is not a place, but a power to "realize" or bring into being. (MLH)

A focus on people--whether community members, students, historical figures, or fictional characters--and their motivations brings excitement to learning. A community's experts on everything from jazz music and Chinese tapestries to building construction can help students move inside history and other subjects. (MLH)

A group of teacher educators discovered that creating root metaphors (for example, teaching = bread making) connected them with the enjoyable and comforting aspects of their profession. Reading one another's metaphors initiated connections, images, ideas, and insights that could be shared with their preservice students. (MLH)

By studying survey data from 1,000 teachers participating in a Title II workshop, researchers identified three structural features (form, duration, and collective participation) that set a proper context for professional development. Three core features of professional-development learning experience include content focus, active learning, and…

Presents a professional-development template to help increase teachers' growth, satisfaction, and motivation. Programs should offer small, significant doses of user-friendly, high- challenge, low-threat, and hands-on activities that encourage teachers to construct their own knowledge, reflect on their practices, and try new approaches. (MLH)

Video clubs give teachers opportunities to watch and discuss videotapes of their teaching and to develop new techniques for viewing and explaining classroom interactions. This approach is useful, because immediate responses are unnecessary, narrower views of classroom interactions are possible, and teachers can observe one another's practice. (MLH)

Teachers require new ways of teaching, including readers' workshops, literature circles, and book clubs to promote critical thinking and positive attitudes toward reading. When teachers gather to discuss nonprofessional literature, they tap into their love of reading while enhancing their understanding of students' needs. (MLH)

To enhance effectiveness, teachers should analyze memories of successful learning experiences and teachers, share enthusiasm about their subject with students, blend plans for professional and personal growth, choose appropriate teaching and classroom-management styles, develop portfolios charting progress, participate in support groups, and build…