Today's schools, with their increasingly diverse student populations and ever-higher achievement standards, need to use all of their resources in ways that create the maximum positive impact for students and student learning. A school's counseling program is one of these resources, and this book provides a roadmap principals and counselors can…

Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA) is an approach that Children's Trusts and Children's Services can use to assist with planning services and assessing their performance. The OBA approach focuses on outcomes that are desired and monitoring and evidencing progress towards those desired outcomes. OBA makes a distinction between two types of…

This collection draws from the best of the "ERS Spectrum" principalship literature over the past five years to provide K-12 principals with a guide to reflective practice. The resource provided here is distinctive in the way it addresses the dual roles of the principal--as instructional and managerial leader--in a format that is designed both for…

This report presents the findings of an analysis of the new or updated Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) published in 2007. The documents analysed, known variously as plans, reviews or refreshes, are collectively referred to throughout the report as CYPPs. Attendees at the Planning for Excellence (PFE) network workshops suggested that…

The chapters of this theme issue describe 11 book-based literacy projects conducted in a variety of countries. In these programs, a "flood" of high-interest books is placed in classrooms, and teachers are shown how to use them to improve children's literacy levels and their attitudes toward literacy. Articles make the case for extending these…

The six chapters of this theme issue describe and discuss many complex factors affecting teacher education throughout the world. Following an overview, two chapters focus on external factors, two relate to design decisions in teacher education institutions, and one contains case studies to examine program designs in different countries. (SLD)

Seven articles comment on the proposed resolution of the "learning paradox" of how people make meaning and learn from prior learning. The reviewers find much of merit in the proposed reliance on the work of J. Dewey and C. Peirce, but they criticize many aspects of the paper, especially its brief treatment of the learning paradox itself. (SLD)

Contributors to this special issue present information that has accrued within specific subfields of self-regulated learning. Essays discuss key issues of self-regulated learning, providing suggestions on how the modeling, scaffolding, and fading of self-regulatory skills can be done. (SLD)

The eight chapters of this theme issue describe studies of learning environments conducted in a variety of conceptual and methodological perspectives by researchers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. Studies reflect perspectives on conceptualizations of learning environments that range from objectivist to more…

The seven chapters of this theme issue are concerned with how individuals learn and reason in the subject matter domain of history. In this general context, there is a more specific focus on historical explanation and understanding. These chapters explore what should be taught in history and how it should be taught. (SLD)

Two papers respond to an article by P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, and M. Hammersley (1988) critiquing papers by E. Jacob (1987, 1988) on qualitative research traditions. The use of T. Kuhn's concept of "paradigm" and the criticism that the British were not included in the Jacob's study are addressed. (TJH)

S. Graham comments on taking a meta-analytic approach to reviewing race differences in need for achievement, discussing limitations of the methodology. A rejoinder by H. Cooper and N. Dorr supports the utility of meta-analysis in such studies and discusses disadvantages to narrative review. (SLD)

Eleven papers on developments in middle school education (grades seven through nine) in England, West Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium are presented. Topics include comprehensive education for 11 to 16 year olds, mathematics, political issues, accessibility, curricula, school evaluation, and the view of the United States. (TJH)

Topics related to the identification and use of effectiveness indicators in the economic analysis of education are discussed. These topics include the relation between economic concepts and educational production; the economic concept of utility; and the nature and use of input, process, output, and outcome indicators. (TJH)

Six papers on applications of item response theory are presented. Applications involved include item bias, criterion-referenced measurement problems, test score equating, computerized ability testing, information processing approaches, unidimensional binary responses, multidimensional and polychotomous responses, and estimation and goodness of…