Wouldn't it be great if all your teachers were as good as your best? Teaching is often an isolated profession in which teachers work behind closed doors, doing their own thing. Peer coaching is a collaborative, ongoing process that can increase the effectiveness of all your teachers. This "Focus On" is designed to lead a faculty into the peer…

Some of the most effective schools and school districts are increasing student achievement with the successful implementation of a Response to Intervention (RTI) initiative. RTI pulls all the pieces of the educational puzzle together to help students succeed, and this book can be the key to engaging your team. It will facilitate buy-in and support…

"Six Pillars of Dynamic Schools" uncovers an often overlooked truth--effective change is the product of hard work and dedication. There is no silver bullet; no matter how many programs, software packages, or new initiatives a district uses, the magic won't just "happen." Dynamic schools result from consistent and redundant focus on the fundamental…

Are America's schools broken? "Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality" seeks to address misconceptions about America's schools by taking on the credo "what can be measured matters." To the contrary, Dr. Bracey makes a persuasive case that much of what matters cannot be assessed on a multiple choice test. The challenge for educators is to deal…

This "Focus On" discusses curriculum mapping, a process that allows educators to align the curriculum both within and across grades and to ensure that the curriculum is in line with school, local, and state standards. It outlines the steps of the curriculum mapping process from planning the mapping initiative to creating and editing curriculum…

This report examined the experiences of young people during their first year of tertiary education. The data used in this report are drawn from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which study the progress of cohorts of young Australians as they make the transition from secondary school to work and further education and training,…

This article describes a four year research project which investigated how a system of democratized primary school government, in which parents were prominent, was functioning. Findings suggest that the democratized government was an effective, acceptable, and practical reform. States that strategies and guidelines may be drawn from this example.…

Examines the schism of values between qualitative and quantitative social science researchers. Focuses on some practical methodological issues which face researchers wishing to adopt a qualitative-interpretive approach. (JDH)

Reviews research on teaching and makes an appeal for involving classroom teachers as field workers and partners in applied pedagogical research. Covers difficulties involved with such an approach, the need for replication, teacher training and the problem of generalization. (JDH)

Investigates two methods of assessing social interactions among different ethnic groups: sociometric testing and protracted ethnographic observation. Highlights inherent limitations of sociometric testing and points to those aspects of inter-pupil contact that are likely to form the basis of teacher's perceptions of students' friendship choices.…

Maintains that simple squaring of the correlation coefficient between two variables to obtain "the degree to which the variance of one is explained by the other" is often misleading, represents "vulgarized knowledge," and obscures more meaningful relationships between variables. Illustrates this point with scatter-plot diagrams and references to…

Discussing factors that have contributed to the development of Human Services programs in universities and colleges in the U.S., this article describes characteristics of the Human Services major in the context of the School Counselor's role. (JC)

This brief monograph, intended for preschool teachers and administrators, explains various aspects of the assessment and evaluation of children and early childhood education programs. The value of evaluation procedures for program development is noted. The different forms that research designs and tests can take are explained. It is emphasized…

This document provides information for teachers and administrators about 54 tests which can be used with young children (2-5 years of age) to assess and evaluate early childhood education programs. Brief descriptions of the tests, presented in charts, include the following information: the name of each measure its author, the publisher, age or…