The present bulletin on education in France is another in the Office of Education's long established series on education in other countries. France is of particular interest because of its strong educational traditions and its dedication to democratic principles. In the process of gathering information for this study, the author visited schools in…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a well established tool for formative assessment. CBM has also been used for prediction of state test scores. However, validity coefficients between math-CBM and state tests have been moderate at best (Skiba, Magnusson, Martson, and Erickson, 1986; Martson, 1989; Putnam, 1989). The purpose of the present…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) More Than "Making Nice": Getting Teachers to (Truly) Collaborate (Laura Pappano); (2) "Doing the Critical Things First": An Aligned Approach to PreK and Early Elementary Math;…

The student population in United States early childhood education programs is becoming more diverse every year. As schools and communities become more diverse, it becomes increasingly important for teachers to be well prepared for teaching and learning in cross-racial, cross-ethnic, and cross-cultural situations. Based on the premise that teachers…

This article discusses a study that explored first-grade students' responses to and interpretations of eight picture books with metafictive devices. The article focuses on children's visual and written responses to the picture books and describes the relationship between the students' visual and verbal texts with respect to storytelling. The two…

This article reflects on what it means for teachers to put relationships with children as the priority in their practice. The authors focus on four themes that they believe are at the heart of a good relationship: (1) recognition; (2) familiarity; (3) respect; and (4) commitment. "Recognition" is acknowledging another person's presence and…

The purpose of the present study is to examine associations between quality of teacher-child relationships from preschool through third grade and children's third-grade achievement using Phases I, II, and III data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Care and Education, a prospective study of 1,364…

The professional development opportunities and the impact these opportunities had on teachers' instruction were examined through a case study design. This school was selected because it was participating in a reform initiative and had improving student achievement scores. The research questions for this study included: (1) What was the nature of…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 5900 Culminating…

There is a nationwide call to better provide schools with a teaching force equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively teach the diversifying U.S. student population. This series, Collaborative Partnerships Between ESL and Classroom Teachers, edited by Debra Suarez, aims to contribute to the field's responses to this…

In November 1996, the voters of Montgomery County approved by referendum an amendment to the County Charter that changed the County Council's review and approval cycle of the six-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) from an annual to biennial cycle. The referendum specified that in odd-numbered fiscal years (on-years) the County Council would…

Pupils' books in primary science are either rarely used, underused, or misused, even though many excellent books and schemes exist. Various explanations have been offered, such as cost, lack of "match" to the QCA scheme, failure to differentiate, lack of visual literacy, cultural inappropriateness, and language problems (Peacock, 1995, 1997). So…

In this article, the author presents fifty skill-building activities that can be used by teachers teaching kindergarten through Grade 8. Among others, one effective teaching tip for primary teachers is to use sandwich theme on November 3 lectures as this was the day that the sandwich was invented.

Estimates suggest that approximately 12% of South Africans are HIV positive. As a result of the rapid increase of infections in the mid-1990s and the concomitant increase in HIV/AIDS-related deaths, it is estimated that 13% of children have lost one or both parents due to AIDS. In this study data were obtained by open-ended written accounts by…

Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been used with increased frequency in Higher Education settings since first introduced by Barrows and Tamblyn during the 1980's. Since this time PBL has been used in medical, engineering and education faculties to support pre-service students in the acquisition of skills and content knowledge relevant to their…