The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Opportunity." Contents include: (1) Students Deserve to Read Diverse Books --…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) has developed the "Resource Guide: Building a Bright Future for All" (Guide) to assist and enhance State and local efforts to support immigrant children from birth through the elementary grades. The second section of this Guide is a handbook for parents of immigrant children in early…

As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In "Creating…

"America after 3PM" began in 2004, precisely because of the absence of reliable data about such topics. That year, the Afterschool Alliance set out to fill the information gap, conducting what was at that point the most in-depth study on how children spend their time after school. The 2014 "America after 3PM" edition spans a…

How can we keep children safe in an uncertain world, but also raise them to be confident in taking the healthy, emotional risks necessary to succeed in life? The authors of this unique book--two clinical psychologists, who are also mothers--provide essential guidance for parents and teachers. They explain, step-by-step, how to help children become…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision provided unrestricted access to educational opportunities for all students. Unfortunately, despite the passing of the 50th anniversary of this landmark decision, academic excellence remains a dream deferred for many Black students when compared to their peers. This disparity, more popularly known as the…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Student Engagement and includes: (1) Teaching for Cognitive Engagement Materializing the Promise of Sheltered Instruction (Adela…

Teaching parents, colleagues, and community members what happens in music programs is one way to encourage them to more actively support music education. Impressions of music education are often formed in a performance-based context. What people see at a performance--the band playing expressively in tune and in time, the lovely blending and…

This newsletter theme issue deals with summer program offerings for academically talented youth. It notes the benefits of summer programs and outlines factors to consider in choosing the most appropriate one. Several types of programs are then described, including talent search programs, young students programs, math programs, science programs,…

This booklet is designed to introduce young people, their parents, teachers, and advisers to various fields of and possible career opportunities in physics. The colorfully illustrated booklet, aimed particularly at junior high school students, highlights the work and experiences of several young physicists. Although physics is not usually taught…

A blind individual offers career education guidelines concerning helping blind children make realistic vocational choices, providing job awareness, setting up work-experience programs, and developing special job-seeking skills. (DB)

This article presents an excerpt of a declaration from the United States Department of Education's "Strategic Plan: 2002-2007." The declaration signifies in no uncertain terms that the battle waged by critics of alternative research methods continues, and is likely to intensify. The denigration of research methods which decline to adhere…

In November 1999, Governor Bob Taft requested that the Board of Regents annually produce a performance report for Ohio's state-supported colleges and universities. This year's report has been redesigned to improve its readability. This document is a small sampling of the 2003 Performance Report. This issue demonstrates the kind of useful…

Factors that influence and predict academic success of ESL students were studied to assist the Ministry with decisions related to curriculum development, resource allocation, and support provision. The comprehensive nature of this study is unique in that it presents the state of affairs of K-12 ESL education in Alberta. Best practice information…