Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) is a multiyear effort to implement a scientifically based approach to reading instruction in all schools with grades K-3. Since 1998, using a process of continuous evaluation and improvement, the Alabama Reading Initiative has fashioned a multilayered professional development system that now trains and supports…

"Our culture underestimates teachers--not only the complexity of their work, but also their potential to contribute substantively to the dialogue about school reform," write the authors of this article. Online teacher networks have the potential to transform traditional concepts of teacher leadership, enabling teachers to bond together into…

A brief resume of a major study conducted in 1973 identifies the extent to which the indigenous building methods and materials of Oman are capable of meeting the country's contemporary shelter needs, and compares them with alternative materials and techniques being introduced as replacements. Visits to 20 towns and villages in 6 regions and…

The first part of the case study describes the establishment of kilns to produce fired bricks in the Luristan region of Iran and utilization of local skills and resources to meet local needs. The emphasis is on providing job opportunities to supplement the existing agricultural economic base and on supporting the local building industry, both of…

Two case studies, one conducted in the Luristan region of Iran in 1974, the other in the Caspian region in 1978, outline a methodology for assessing the problems and potentials of indigenous building methods. They illustrate how the methods can be used and developed to meet present shelter needs and how the problems that exist can be overcome…

A recent evaluation has concluded that the Doctoral Scholar's Program of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) has more than lived up to its promise in encouraging minority students to enroll in graduate school and in supporting them with "more than a check and a handshake." In its 7-year history, the Doctoral Scholars Program has…

Describes the Principals' Executive Program (PEP), in which North Carolina principals who are in at least their second or third year of practice meet regularly to share their experiences. The PEP curriculum covers typical principal challenges, helps principals make sense of their own experiences in school, and builds networks to reduce isolation.…

Describes how an Alabama school system incorporated the National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development into a district-wide effort to improve staff development. Evaluation of the professional development effort was a top priority, with participant input an important component. Professional development was designed to be…

The Alabama Reading Initiative is a public-private consortium promoting a research-based approach to literacy instruction. Its goal is 100-percent literacy. Use of the approach at one middle school involved development-, practice-, and demonstration-oriented professional development and deep faculty collaboration. The effort resulted in a dramatic…

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, influential in middle-grades policy, advocates a three tiered approach envisioning high-performing schools as academically rigorous, developmentally responsive, and socially equitable. This report discusses pioneering programs, critics' concerns, exemplary Michigan programs, and urban schools'…

In early January 2003, "Education Week" released a new report on the status of teaching in the United States and concluded that many states are taking steps to recruit and retain skilled teachers, but few efforts focus on the schools where these teachers are needed most. Drawing upon a large national database, "Quality Counts…

This analysis of data from the 1999-00 Schools and Staffing Survey examined the 50 states and District of Columbia on their progress toward improving teacher quality. States were evaluated on the extent to which they assessed teachers, whether they had less out-of-field teaching, and how they prepared and developed teachers. Results indicated that…