To help teachers at one California high school evaluate tracking and other practices, the principal developed a six-step process involving studying, defining, and delimiting the prevailing practice; studying the practice's heritage; reviewing and then operationalizing the research and theory; brainstorming practice implications; and discussing and…

A California English teacher explores the school safety issue for both innercity and suburban high schools students. Wearing certain sports team jackets can place kids in danger; girls degrade themselves by keeping gang members' drugs and guns in their lockers. Schools can help reclaim the "Great Disconnected" by developing…

An inventive first grade curriculum using a school construction project illustrates the fundamentals of the Mid-California Science Improvement Program, based on Susan Kovalik's integrate, thematic learning model. This cooperative learning program does not ask teachers to add yet another subject, but makes science the ingredient uniting all other…

In 1990, the California Assessment Collaborative was created to support development and implementation of teacher-designed performance assessments. Four key practices help ensure that assessment serves instruction: articulating standards and assessment design; building teacher capacity for using assessment to improve instruction; building student…

As bilingual education shifts toward more instruction in English, research on effective practice becomes increasingly important. To merge English language development (ELD) with content area learning, educators should avoid oversimplified material, use visuals to reinforce verbal content, provide sensitive feedback, and use synonyms and native…

Reading researchers are under attack by policy makers and others outside the field who want a quick, easy method for teaching students to read. Although common ground exists, nothing points to any single best way to teach reading. What matters most is the teacher, flexible approaches, and student interests. Contains 17 references. (MLH)

Faced with low literacy levels, four schools in Santa Clara, California, decreed that every entering kindergartner would be a competent reader by the end of second grade. The schools then implemented the 1,000 Days Network--an uninterrupted morning literacy block tailored to children's needs. Preliminary results are encouraging. (MLH)

Nearly 2 million new teachers are projected to enter U.S. schools in the next decade. Currently, 30% of beginning teachers leave during their first five years. To support new teachers, schools should carefully consider novices' teaching schedules, cooperate with university training programs, and provide mentors. California's state-supported…

California's K-3 Class Size Reduction Initiative (1996) called for a 20:1 student-teacher ratio. Passage of this initiative created an unexpected teacher shortage and presented California teacher-education faculties with several dilemmas having long-term implications. When districts hired uncertified student teachers on an emergency-permit basis,…

Describes a California high school's collaborative teacher observation model. The Teacher-Guided Observation/Curriculum Analysis is a continuously evolving instructional and curricular development program that recognizes teachers' need to be treated like professionals, have nonthreatening growth opportunities, assume primary responsibility for…

Full-service schools aim to provide both quality education and support services (health, welfare, recreation, and life-enhancing programs). Two middle-school programs in New York City and Modesto, California, are profiled. Despite barriers to success (governance and turf issues, lack of continuity, public controversy, and funding), full-service…

Teachers implementing a local history project in Belmont, California, had help from a federally funded technology innovation challenge grant: the Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project. Sponsored by a Silicon Valley school-business partnership, the initiative illustrates how technology can transform classroom learning while supporting instructional…

At a new charter school serving predominantly defiant underachievers and special-needs students, a psychology teacher was challenged to implement founders' brain-based principles. She succeeded by establishing a climate of relaxed alertness, immersing students in meaningful experiences, and guiding them in processing their experiences. (MLH)

Describes the curriculum and learning objectives at Academy X, a leadership and humanities school for 11th- and 12th-grade students at Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, California, the primary focus of which is a multiweek student internship divided into four components: the meaningful project, the essential question, the onsite…

Describes several prominent early grades small-class-size projects and their effects on student achievement: Indiana's Project Prime Time, Tennessee's Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), Wisconsin's SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) Program, and the California class-size-reduction program. Lists several conclusions,…