This practicum was developed to involve Hispanic parents in a middle school where Hispanic parent involvement was nonexistent. Thirty at-risk Hispanic eighth graders in an urban middle school were identified by the eighth-grade guidance counselor as in danger of not being promoted to the ninth grade. The objectives of this practicum were that 30%…

In an effort to meet all federal, state, and accreditation requirements, as well as accountability demands from business and industry, Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) developed a 3-year faculty-driven process to develop a plan for assessing student outcomes. The first step in the process was the formation of a 22-member faculty…

A study examined how at-risk readers constructed meaning while reading, writing about, and discussing a full-length novel during Transactional Literature Discussions (TLD). Subjects were six fifth-grade students, four males and two females. Students chose the novel and participated in 15 group sessions of 45 minutes over 8 weeks. Scaffolded…

Discussions of teacher participation in the reform literature do not take into account the different meanings of the term, teacher participation. This paper uses a critical perspective to review the main approaches to teacher participation; to bring to light issues these approaches fail to address; and to offer alternatives. It is argued that…

This handbook for educators offers guidance on ways to understand parents, parent-teacher communication, the process of reinforcing classwork at home, ways to support family communication, and resources. Contents offer: (1) practical tips and strategies designed to help educators develop communication skills for use in working with families; (2)…

A democratic model of educational evaluation and some policy recommendations to develop culturally appropriate evaluation are presented. The traditional hard science paradigm in research must be replaced with evaluation designed to feed back to communities of varying cultural backgrounds. The most fundamental assumption of the new model is…

In nongraded education, children of different ages and ability levels are taught together and make continuous progress rather than being promoted once per year. Research studies support nongraded primary education by indicating that young children vary in their rates of intellectual development and learn best through hands-on activities with…

An evaluation review was done of the training activities of the Creating a New Approach to Learning Project (Project CANAL) during the first half of Year 4 of the project. The review covered types of training opportunities that were available, observations on participation by members of the groups for whom the training was designed, some…

A practicum is reported that was designed to organize collaborative efforts among primary, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and bilingual teachers at an elementary school with a 1,200-student enrollment. The school had seen a transition from a white, middle-class to a racially mixed and transient community, with large segments from…

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs advocate the incorporation of writing into all classes and all disciplines as a means of helping students to improve their writing skills and to use writing as a learning tool. While most instructors agree that students write poorly, the greatest obstacle to implementing WAC courses on community college…

This document reports the results of the Allegheny Conference Education Fund's mini-grant program which was responsible for funding over 230 teachers, at all grade levels, in the Pittsburgh Public School system during 1981-1982. The following topics are covered: (1) the definition and purpose of a mini-grant, a description of the review committee,…

The Education Game, a simulation designed to help professional educators experience what schooling means to students, was originally developed to introduce rural Ecuadorian farmers, who had little formal contact with schools, to the schooling experience, and was later expanded to stimulate discussion among Ecuadorian teachers on school-related…

Vallecito Middle School in San Rafael (California) has been using video production techniques since 1981, and the staff has observed many positive changes in learning, attitudes, and behavior resulting from the use of television. Videotaping has facilitated learning in science, physical education, English, and social studies classes. Guest experts…

Approaches to faculty evaluation to assist departmental chairs who have no formal background in personnel administration are discussed. Stages in the development and maintenance of performance appraisals for instructors are considered, including a written position guide, a performance planning conference, a performance appraisal procedure, a…

Action research, a term first used in the 1940's by Kurt Lewin, implies the application of tools and methods of social science to immediate, practical problems, with the goals of contributing to theory and knowledge in the field of education and improving practice in the schools. Collaborative action research suggests that each group represented…