This report summarizes the 2007-2008 program evaluation results of Austin Independent School District's high school professional learning communities initiative.

What are states doing to improve graduation rates? A requester asked a state scan matrix of Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states or other states with similar student demographics, and other states with exemplary programs with great successes. This paper responds to this request.

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Confronting the Autism Epidemic: New Expectations for Children with Autism Means a New Role for Public Schools (Kate McKenna); (2) Internet Research 101:…

In the summer of 2008, the Commonwealth of Virginia was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the U. S. Department of Education. The College Access Challenge Grant Program (CACGP) is coordinated through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). The focus of the grant is to increase student access to postsecondary education,…

Although there is a great deal of interest in the concept of literacy coaching in the wake of the No Child Left Behind legislation, and a number of programs exist that incorporate this technique, there has been little reliable research done on the impact of literacy coaches on student achievement. Currently, the information that is available…

This article is a descriptive account of a professional learning community established among university professors, university teacher candidates, a school district instructional supervisor, the high school principal, a high school literacy coordinator, and teachers of a Mid-Atlantic high school in the United States. This learning community…

The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. A total of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United…

This article examines one US high school teacher's attempt to become a coach by enacting what I call "a pedagogy of negation". For this teacher, the challenge of becoming a coach is nested within a wider agenda of social and personal transformation. That agenda is symbolized first in words as she constructs "a language of coaching" to inform her…

Organized youth programs can serve as a context in which youth are connected to resource-bearing adults in the community who promote the development of social capital. This article explores the process of how this happens and what types of resources are gained by youth. Qualitative interviews were conducted with adolescents in three youth programs…

"Real inclusion" of kinds with special needs occurs everywhere, inside the classroom as well as outside. This is a fairly basic principle, however, it is not always easy to achieve. In this article, the author describes how her family have had to "fight" for inclusive education and shares some amazing moments of inclusion with…

In spring 2005, the Educational Policy Institute was contracted by an anonymous, non-profit, Missouri-based organization to conduct analysis of data from a series of focus groups of 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students. The purpose of the focus groups, conducted by the Change and Innovation Agency in Jefferson City, was to examine the postsecondary…

In education, mentoring is typically understood as a one-on-one relationship between a novice teacher and a more experienced, competent colleague. Through the mentoring relationship, the veteran teacher guides the new teacher into the profession. In this article, the author supports an alternative conception of mentoring by describing how a group…

"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) House Passes Budget Resolution: Prospects of a Compromise with the Senate Appear Dim; (2) Older Students' Science…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) School-Based Coaching: A Revolution in Professional Development--or Just the Latest Fad? (Alexander Russo); (2) Fluency Tests Help Identify Struggling…

This final research monograph describes intervention research to improve thinking skills in high ability, high school students attending an urban magnet school for primarily low-income ethnic minority students who come from families that have historically experienced social inequality and various forms of discrimination in the United States. The…