The article describes the process and the findings of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2003, with an aim to develop a communication strategy for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in BiH. The study was initiated and funded as part of a global UNICEF initiative bearing the same name and…

The Educational Training Academy (EdTrAc) is an NSF-funded project of Normandale Community College to increase the number, diversity, and skills of students preparing to be elementary and middle school teachers with a specialty in math and science. Overall, this evaluation indicates that the EdTrAc implementation is on track after its first year…

In an effort to assess students' perceptions of victimization in their schools, as well as their schools' safety, over 1,900 students from elementary, middle, high, and alternative schools were administered a 154-item questionnaire. The responses on the items were used to establish the psychometric properties of 19 theoretically driven scales and…

The nation's dropout problem has been making national headlines with more and more frequency and more and more urgency. Although certainly not a new problem, the failure to earn a high school diploma is receiving heightened attention because the causes and effects of dropping out have changed significantly. No longer is a dropout simply a young…

Improve school success for students who have learning disabilities and ADHD with "Academic Clubs," the proven learning-by-doing approach presented in this energizing guidebook. Sally Smith--the highly respected founder of the Lab Schools, where 95% of students with learning problems go on to college--shows elementary school educators how to…

Creative drama, as a language art, has been a part of the elementary school curriculum for a number of years. Community organizations also have long been concerned with offering children rewarding experiences in creative dramatics, and many have pioneered in the establishment of children's theaters. Because of the relatively small percentage of…

The factorial invariance of the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) across two divergent cultures (collectivistic vs.individualistic) was investigated with 835 Korean and 822 US students in elementary, middle, and high schools. Psychometric properties of the Korean version of the MSLSS were acceptable. A…

The evaluation of the Texas Rural Technology (R-Tech) Pilot sought to understand how districts implemented R-Tech grants, the effects of implementation on student and teacher outcomes, as well as the cost effectiveness and sustainability of R-Tech. The Texas legislature (80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2007) authorized the creation of…

This publication is the 13th edition of the "Mini-Digest of Education Statistics," a pocket-sized compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten through graduate school. The "Mini-Digest" is designed as an easy reference for materials found in much greater detail in the…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) NCLB Redux: House Committee Releases Draft Language on NCLB Reauthorization, Includes Significant New Programs for…

While American education is exclusively under the direction of the individual States, so that its organization and administration are determined by their school laws, the Federal Government has in certain limited ways concerned itself with education. Education for the home has specifically been aided: (a) by the Federal legislation which…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of an existing instrument, the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES)(Taylor, Dawson & Fraser, 1995; Taylor, Fraser & Fisher, 1993, 1997), for providing insights into the classroom learning environments of beginning science teachers. In the first year of the study, the CLES was…

Following the publication of an article summarising two systematic reviews on whether the teaching of grammar is effective in improving 5-16 year olds' writing (Andrews et al, 2006), the present article reflects on the relationship between knowledge about language and knowledge about grammar. It argues that there is no evidence for the assumption…

"National Science Education Standards" (1996), published by the National Research Council, recommends that students learn to explain Moon phases and eclipses by the time they graduate from eighth grade. It is clear from the research literature, however, that misconceptions about Moon phases and eclipses are widespread and resistant to change, even…

School construction in the United States dipped below $20 billion in 2003, the first time that had happened in the 21st Century, setting off alarm bells that the school construction boom might be fading. That concern appears to be unfounded. In 2004, school districts in the United States once again completed more than $20 billion worth of…