One of the lightning rods in the discourse over teacher pay has been the question of "how much" teachers should be paid. What the "how much" debate does not directly address, however, is the question of "how" teachers should be paid. This paper attempts to help lay groundwork for a better understanding of what exactly teachers want in terms of how…

The students (n = 117) in this quantitative study were enrolled at a campus housing both an alternative and charter school. Using a survey assessing student perceptions of improvement in three domains--academic, behavioral, and social--this study examined the difference in responses between students with and without disabilities. Compared to the…

There is a heavy emphasis on summative, standardized assessments of academic achievement in public schools in the United States (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Stiggins, 2002). Assessment should be integrated with instruction, which implies the meaning of items or assessment tasks will depend on the environment (Brookhart, 2008, p. 452). However,…

Project Early Kindergarten (PEK) aims to improve the school-readiness of Saint Paul children and help close the achievement gap through offering high-quality educational experiences for preschool children. This report comes at the conclusion of the sixth year of PEK. Following an initial planning year (2004-05), PEK has served children through the…

This longitudinal study focuses on a new generation. Members of the high school class of 2002 were born in the years 1983 and 1984. In order to situate their lives in historical context, it is helpful to think back to some of the major events in the lives of these young Illinois citizens. This analysis of the cohort of 2002 provides leaders of…

This article examines the problem of learning to learn from the perspective of research on the organization and quality of students' knowledge. This approach is based on the assumption that students' learning competencies can be studied through the analysis of the outcomes of schooling. The article synthesizes findings of a long-term research…

This study represents a systematic replication of a previous intervention which took place in schools in Mangere from 2003 to 2005. (McNaughton, MacDonald, Maituanai-Toloa, Lai, & Farry, 2006). The contexts and theoretical rationale are the same for the present study as those for the original Mangere study. The authors have repeated that…

The National Institute of School Leadership's (NISL's) Executive Development Program (EDP) was established to provide professional development to school leaders to drive their schools to high performance. The program emphasizes the role of principals as strategic thinkers, instructional leaders, and creators of a just, fair, and caring culture in…

The 4Rs Program (Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution) is a "dual focus" whole school universal intervention designed to promote literacy development and social-emotional learning, that is currently being rigorously evaluated using a school-randomized trial of 18 elementary schools (9 intervention, 9 control) in New York City. The…

In recent decades, federal, state, and local policies have demonstrated renewed efforts to address the concerns of both teacher quality and quantity, resulting in initiatives to attract, reward, and retain qualified people in the teacher profession. Initiatives to address the problems of teacher quality and quantity often take the form of…

The Saint Paul Public Schools' Project Early Kindergarten program aims to improve the school readiness of Saint Paul children. The program offers a rigorous academic approach and targets children who are English Language Learners, come from low-income families, or need Special Education services. Ultimately, the program intends to help close Saint…

In 2001, Illinois began administering the ACT (American College Testing) test to all 11th graders in Illinois public schools as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). For the first time, ACT scores and background information were available for most public-school students who would be completing high school one year later, rather than…

Today's workforce comprises distinct generational cohorts-Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials. "Generations at School" provides educators with the knowledge and tools to create and sustain true collaboration, teamwork, and consensus. Suzette Lovely and Austin G. Buffum introduce the traits and tipping points of these diverse age…

Long-term suspended (LTS) students are barred from the school system for lengthy periods, leaving them at risk of academic failure and vulnerable from lack of services. A program in a North Carolina public school system provided counselors to work with each LTS student. Outcome data were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of counseling…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program during the period from July 2008 through June 2009. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary science…