This paper examines online collaboration between small rural primary schools in New Zealand, focusing on principals' perspectives. Through semi-structured interviews with eight principals involved in the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) Primary, the study explores the benefits, challenges, and key factors for successful collaboration. The findings…

Many schools identified by states as needing improvement through their Elementary and Secondary Education Act waivers have selected Response to Intervention (RTI), a three-tiered instruction program sometimes referred to as tiered levels of instruction, as one of their main strategies for improving school performance and closing achievement gaps.…

Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest assisted Milwaukee Public Schools in developing a fidelity monitoring system for measuring schools' progress in implementing Response to Intervention (RTI). The study examined the ratings produced by that system to determine the system's reliability, schools' progress in implementing RTI, and whether ratings…

This case study creates a dilemma that many school districts face. Public education is under-funded. Principals are expected to be the instructional leaders and are held accountable for student achievement. Is it appropriate then for public schools to have local businesses as benefactors when teaching personnel are involved? The conflict between…

A collaborative project to build a productive, trusting relationship among university staff and an elementary school staff consisted of initial meetings, involvement with the principal, availability of university staff at the school, classroom visits, classroom management assistance, workshops, and development of classroom projects and a…

This survey is the fifth in a series conducted to gather information about attitudinal barriers to parent involvement and to examine their implications for teacher training. In six states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas), school superintendents, school board presidents, and state agency officials were asked about…

Although parental involvement can be important for improving schools, very few parents are involved. This paper explores attitudinal barriers to such involvement from the perspectives of 1,200 superintendents, 664 school board presidents, and 30 state agency officials in six states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and…

Describes European Community attempts to foster awareness of cultural unity. Explains that efforts include curricula and classroom instruction, educational materials, teacher training, and international contacts between teachers and students. Lists three objectives: (1) determining how the educational system contributes to the creation of the…

Describes a cooperative project between the Hinsdale (Illinois) Public Library and the local schools to publish a literary magazine. Goals, selection of an editorial board, rules for contributions, promotion, a cover design contest, format, selection and editing of entries, and the layout and printing process are discussed. Sample entries are…

The principals of 11 small elementary schools in Renville County, Minnesota, pooled their resources to offer a popular series of Saturday activities for student enrichment, including spelling and mathematics competitions, a Science/Agriculture Exploration Day, and an Arts Exploration Day. (PGD)

Teacher or principal home visitations help schools better understand students and create a strong school-home link. Basic home interview questions are provided. (DCS)

Developing a community of people interested in improving student reading achievement is an ongoing trend in education. Time and effort need to be put forth to become engaged in studying and promoting reading achievement. With high stakes state-mandated testing, it becomes even more important for teachers, school administrators, and the lay public…

Mentors need to be carefully selected to assist new teachers in making a successful transition from student teaching to being fully licensed and certified to teach in the regular classroom. During the school year, the mentor may help the new teacher in a variety of ways--one is to build confidence in the new teacher for teaching and another is to…

This resource manual was designed to encourage active parent and community cooperation with the school in developing good nutrition practices for school children and their families. Chapter one presents introductory information. The second chapter contains a variety of materials that may be used to involve the parents in the nutrition education…

Describes how parents of the Southwest Elementary School (Waterford, Connecticut) were successful in developing relations with local businesses to help raise funds for enrichment programs in their school. Their success led to more involvement on the part of community businesses with the entire school district. (MD)