The push for the English-only literacy approach sends the wrong message to language-minority families. The Arlington (Virginia) Public Schools have established first-language pilot programs to accelerate Latino students' academic achievement and have welcomed community-based educational initiatives. A family-literacy program motivates parents to…

Public schools must give all students the arts-literacy advantage by developing their skills in communication, culture, cognition, and creativity. Afterschool programs and private lessons are insufficient. A national study finds that a district's provision of arts education is strongly influenced by community support, insistence, and…

Adults cannot adequately prevent their children from observing media messages. Students are actually safer if they are educated about analyzing and assessing unsavory messages for themselves. Appropriate media-literacy pedagogy involves five essential elements: background, tools, deconstruction of media techniques, product evaluation, and original…

A 1996 study attributed adolescent remedial readers' low comprehension to poor motivation, lack of experience, and egocentricity. Secondary teachers can help by connecting reading assignments to real-world learning experiences, providing self-directed activities, and inviting collaborative learning and varied self-expression. A San Diego program…

Public schools' lack of common curricular and teaching goals provided the rationale for the standards movement. However, too many state standards documents provide insufficient clarity for teachers and students. Educators must focus on standards already assessed, add judiciously to the current list of standards, and avoid topic overload. (MLH)

Like today's educators, Japanese haiku poets were caught between standards (like courtly love) and everyday realities. From this tension, they created a remarkable poetic form. Three examples from teachers' professional development work apply simple-and-deep principles to listening tasks, an assessment "deal," and curricular-standards poster…

To educate themselves, a group of 16 Massachusetts school leaders has devoted an afternoon monthly during the past year to examining, describing, and wondering about student work. The Collaborative Assessment Conference protocol has revealed that educators hold different, often contradictory, assumptions about teaching and learning. (MLH)

Hirsch believes it is vitally important to specify the "core knowledge" that all students must learn. Here, Hirsch explains elements of his K-8 core-knowledge sequence. Teachers should avoid canned lessons but should know where they are going. New English standards are unacceptable, since they omit Shakespeare's works. (MLH)

Under the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments, all states must now include students with disabilities in statewide and districtwide educational assessments. So far, Kentucky is the only state with a comprehensive alternative portfolio-assessment program for students unable to participate in "regular" testing programs. (13…

Many schools host kindergarten roundups to facilitate children's transition from home to formal education. Roundups should not assess school readiness, but could be a valuable tool to help teachers' meet students' diverse needs. Roundups should open up parent-teacher communications, check for correctable learning impairments, and share meaningful…

To improve third graders' reading scores, a suburban New York school implemented a plan to develop specific reading skills. Success hinged on focused reading instruction using specific strategies; small student groups working with professionals; a consistent, predictable schedule; teacher-prepared materials; regular feedback; and parental…

In San Antonio, four schools are using the kindergarten level of the computer-based Waterford Early Reading Program to determine whether well-designed educational technology can bridge the gap between successful and disadvantaged schools. New technology and an old-fashioned buddy system are infusing classrooms with effective, dynamic teaching…

Outlines a four-step grading system to help teachers implement standards-based education. Teachers should design a workable format; define three sets of codes (for assessment types, performance levels, and time periods); create a grade book with easily accessible student grade sheets; and monitor and adjust the process. (MLH)

Designed to improve equity, MMAP (the Middle School Math Through Applications Project) draws traditionally underserved students, such as minorities and girls, into higher mathematics. The plan features an assessment strategy based on what students are learning, definitions of quality work, student accountability, and encouragement of further…

Staff at a Sandy Hook, Connecticut high school agreed that content standards are fixed learning goals specifying what a student should know and accomplish; performance standards describe student work products (criteria) to meet these goals. Forthright expectations increased students' accountability for quality work, improved grading objectivity,…