Middle school, which is generally thought of as sixth to eighth grades, is not easy for anybody. It is a rough time to be a student, and a tough age to teach. Teachers are expected to ease the transition of students from elementary to middle school. However, if you are an elementary teacher, you may not know what kids will be facing in middle…

Since the passage of PL 94-142, also known as the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, in 1975, special and general educators have been urged to work together to improve the education of children with disabilities through increased access to the general education curriculum. Over the years, the evolution of a collaborative approach to…

Many public school districts across New York State provide sex-ed instruction that is inaccurate, incomplete and biased. This report examines sex-ed materials used during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years from across New York State. Among the New York Civil Liberties Union's (NYCLU's) key findings: (1) Lessons on reproductive anatomy and…

Every step in a student's life is important for future success. Schools are building stronger frameworks of curricula, instruction and assessments to prepare students to move from one learning environment to another with maximum results as they journey toward adulthood. This issue of "High Schools That Work" contains examples of…

This report presents the results of an innovative study designed to provide a more detailed understanding of how parents and their teenage children were affected by the Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards program, a comprehensive conditional cash transfer program. The three-year program, launched by the Center for Economic Opportunity in the Mayor's…

In 2011, the Campaign for Educational Equity established the Safeguarding Sound Basic Education Project. One of the major components of this project has been to gather and analyze data about the availability of resources and services in high-needs schools both in New York City and around the state. A number of groups have issued statistical…

Guided by a new framework, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment was updated in 2009 to keep the content current with key developments in science, curriculum standards, assessments, and research. The 2009 framework organizes science content into three broad content areas. Physical science includes concepts…

Schools are finding effective ways to engage students totally in learning by addressing students' minds, personalities and behaviors. They are designing curricula and instructional strategies to generate interest and challenge students to stay in school and do their best. The goal is to graduate a "complete student" who will be ready for…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among New York State school board member attitudes toward components of school board governance and their sense of effectiveness in high and low math academic achievement districts in New York State. The study examined board members' perceptions of their actual practices in policy…

This study examined the effects on academic achievement of offering students enrollment in the Promise Academy charter middle school. The school is sponsored by the Harlem Children's Zone[R], which combines reform-minded charter schools with a web of community services designed to provide a positive and supportive social environment outside of…

In recent years, some of the most ambitious charter school operators, with the support of philanthropic investors, have sought to increase the scale and scope of their work by creating charter management organizations (CMOs) that aim to replicate effective charter school models across multiple campuses. CMOs are nonprofit organizations with…

The Afterschool Alliance and MetLife Foundation are proud to celebrate a fifth round of the MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Awards. For the past five years, we have collaborated to highlight the work of quality afterschool programs that support children, families and communities across the nation. This compendium is a compilation of four…

In this paper, we examine the impact of New York City's School-Wide Performance Bonus Program (SPBP) on student outcomes and the school learning environment. The SPBP is a pay-for-performance program that was implemented in approximately 200 K-12 public schools midway into the 2007-08 school year. Participating schools can earn bonus awards of up…

This study explored students' perceptions of 3 dimensions of school climate (teacher support, student-student support, and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom) and the associations between these dimensions and adolescent psychological and academic adjustment in China and the United States. Data were drawn from 2 studies involving 706…

This study examines the collaborative practices between three sets of special education and English/Language Arts teachers involved in the co-teaching of inclusive classrooms--classrooms consisting of both general education and special education students (SWDs). The study took place in two middle schools in two different school districts in New…