Employees of school districts recognized as accountability leaders share common stories about why change was necessary and how it is being accomplished. Change requires a crisis and an antagonist. Leaders identify the force threatening the organization, and skillful, heroic employees outsmart the villain. Stories help gauge organizational…

Nearly 100 Minnesota secondary schools offer community service-learning courses. Assessment methods include journal writing, self-assessment, research papers, site observations, and performance evaluation by agency supervisors. A Rochester high-school teacher designed a "community interaction" standard that students may fulfill by completing four…

As this story about a mischievous, underachieving 10th grader shows, meeting standards and showing caring, compassion, and respect are not mutually exclusive. Unless students experience a positive, supportive climate, some may never achieve minimal standards or realize their full potential. The author later discovered she had inspired Eugene to…

An experienced teacher spends too much time as a special-events coordinator facilitating movement among tests, instead of encouraging and enhancing student learning. For each test, she must rearrange the classroom and its routines, coordinate test materials, and assuage her third graders' fears. Teachers lack time to improve their practice. (MLH)

To shorten the line at his desk, a fourth-grade teacher tries to build thought and work habits that will inspire his students to strive for excellence and achieve it in every assignment. Each lesson incorporates an experience, criteria for excellence, student practice, a rubric, examples, self-evaluations, peer and teacher evaluations, revision,…

In an age of inclusion, schools for blind children may seem an outdated delivery model. Student outcomes show that these placement options are justifiable, legitimate, and critically essential for many children. Although specialized schools are more expensive, they provide more services and produce well-qualified graduates. (MLH)

In a previous issue, Lawrence Schweinhart and David Weikart conclude that children who attended a direct-instruction preschool program had significantly greater adult felony arrests than children following the High/Scope or nursery-school curricula. Analysis of research methods suggests improbable links between preschool experience and adult…

The Improving America's School Act funds numerous small programs that dissipate its purpose and increase its vulnerability. Congress is debating extension of federal roles into areas such as social promotion, parental rights, reading programs, class-size reduction, and national voluntary tests. Changing budget rules pits education against military…

The ultimate learning environment is the Internet itself. Digital media are helping educators and students shift from linear to hypermedia learning; from instruction to construction and discovery; from teacher- to learner-centered education; from absorbing to synthesizing material; and from school-time to customized lifelong learning. (MLH)

Launched in 1990 by WNET, the National Teacher Training Institute is a grassroots initiative to boost technology integration, active learning, and interactive teaching methodologies. Teachers are trained to choose appropriate topics, explore them on the Web, devise meaningful student activities, and publish and circulate information on the Web.…

A pioneering middle-school teacher in Eugene, Oregon, found that harnessing the World Wide Web's vast resources can be challenging. However, structured directions and creative repackaging of "almost perfect" sites can turn the Web into a useful tool for developing reading comprehension and meeting statewide Learner Content Standards. Sample sites…

Technology offers tools and information that students need to explore real-world mathematical connections and investigate questions reflecting their own interests. This article illustrates how students can use technology to gather and interpret information, perform descriptive and graphical analysis, make statistical predictions, and create and…

Describes a French teacher's efforts to substitute interactive video/computer technologies for textbook materials. She designed special language-lab events to introduce eighth graders to the vocabulary of animals, colors, simple adjectives, fruits, flowers, and natural landscapes and to cultural artifacts, such as paintings, arias, poems, and…

KIDLINK is a grassroots organization aiming to improve worldwide relations by involving students ages 10 to 15 in electronic dialog. Using KIDLINK connections, a teacher of Internet telecommunications courses successfully involved three mainstreamed, neurologically impaired seventh graders in writing a book and teaching others the value of…

The Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries, or "E-Rate," is a cooperative business/government program allowing needy public schools and libraries a 20 to 90% discount on new telecommunications technologies. Schools must have technology plans, complete various forms, and contact participating vendors to determine appropriate discount…