"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

This important book provides African American parents with the knowledge to diversify K-12 school choices beyond traditional neighborhood public schools in order to optimize the educational chances of their own children, and it will help educators and policymakers to close the black-white academic achievement gap throughout America. In November…

As a nation, society benefits from an educated populace. At a time when economic, environmental, social, and security issues are the focus of many conversations in businesses, industries, government offices, schools, and homes, policymakers turn their attention to the further development of human capital. Educators acknowledge that they have key…

In this powerful collection of personal accounts, successful and respected teachers from across the country reveal how recent education policies have played out in their schools and classrooms in negative and counterproductive ways, and offer teacher-led alternatives for providing equitable, engaging, and empowering education. Framed by critical…

Elementary school students at a suburban K-12 charter school are facing a difficult transition into the secondary program. In an effort to ease this transition and retain students, the principal requires the secondary teachers to implement a study skills program into the daily curriculum. Initially, the teachers do not voice any objections to the…

The use of performance-based pay, or merit pay, has become a topic of increased focus in education circles in recent years. Questions about the effectiveness of these types of programs, coupled with a variety of criticisms about the benefits of merit pay, have resulted in teachers viewing this type of incentive structure with much skepticism. In…

This is a must-have resource for busy educators involved in creating, improving, or reevaluating their school mission statements. The authors provide numerous examples of mission statements from a diverse range of preK-12 schools, offering readers an extremely valuable resource for developing an understanding of various themes and ideas in…

Improving Schools to Promote Learning is a concise and common-sense examination of all the moving parts that drive student learning. The book ties together the research, policies, and practices relative to the state, district, school, classroom, and family, and explains their effects on student learning. The author covers an array of topics,…

Research demonstrates that authentic instruction is an effective form of teaching and raising student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine high school math or science teachers who had a high interest in using authentic instruction in three different school settings--an alternative school, a charter school, and a traditional…

Education Law Section 3012-c requires a new performance evaluation system for classroom teachers ("teachers") and building principals ("principals"). New York State will implement a statewide comprehensive evaluation system for school districts and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES). The evaluation system is…

Each year, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education publishes an online "school accountability report card" for each public school district, each building and each charter school. This document provides a statewide report card on key accountability measures about Missouri public schools, including information…

Since the early 1990s when the nation's first charter school was opened in Minneapolis, the scope and availability of school-based options to parents has steadily expanded. No longer can public education be characterized as a monopoly. Sponsored by the National Center on School Choice (NCSC), this handbook makes readily available the most rigorous…

The CollegeKeys Compact[TM] is a national call to action to school districts, colleges and universities, state education agencies, and nonprofit organizations to identify, share and expand programs and practices that address the needs and challenges of low-income students and help them get ready for, get into and get through college. The College…

In this study, we examined dynamics of pedagogical involvement of 39 preservice teachers (PST) as they tutored students at a charter school serving lower income, diverse students. We qualitatively analyzed PSTs' initial predictions, refections following each tutoring session, our observations of college students' lessons, and final anonymous…

The 2009 Nevada Legislature approved Senate Bill 317 (SB 317) requiring that Nevada's public high schools, including charter schools, provide instruction in financial literacy. In an effort to assist school districts with implementation of instruction in financial literacy, the Nevada Department of Education assembled a task force (Financial…