The "No Child Left Behind" legislation requires states to classify schools based on students meeting the state's academic standards. A combination of factors, including scores on state specific tests and nationally normed tests, can result in a school being awarded a low classification or a high classification. In the authors' state,…

Project FUTURE is one component of a multifaceted approach in the Northwest Texas region to target Hispanic and African-American youth, encouraging them to go through school with a desire to complete education programs leading to professional credentialing in teaching. Project FUTURE inspires students to believe that they can attend Texas Tech…

The bulk of current research on teacher professional development is focused on teacher learning in the context of teacher professional learning communities (PLCs). In teacher PLCs, groups of teachers meet regularly to increase their own learning and the learning of their students. Teacher PLCs offer a learning model in which, "new ideas and…