The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires Technology Coordinators employed by public school districts in the Commonwealth to be properly certified. The Technology Coordinator is responsible to implement instructional technology for the district, provide leadership in the use of technological delivery systems, and routinely work directly…

Instructional assessment is a systematic approach to solving student academic, behavioral, and social-emotional problems by identifying the key factors that have created or are encouraging the problem. The instructional support team (IST) process emphasizes assistance to students. Assessment in IST consists of ongoing analysis of student…

A review of research on prominent rural educational issues and a survey of the views of rural social studies teachers in Pennsylvania indicate that rural areas are as affected as urban areas by national conditions and policy. Teachers in rural areas have little optimism that conditions will improve. (KC)

Pennsylvania's Content Area Reading Program uses a network of 50 trained instructors to help teachers improve students' content area reading skills. This article covers program content, instructor recruitment and training, variations in program presentation, factors underlying program success, and steps in planning inservice programs in content…

Results of a survey show considerable support for students learning the "basics"; however, there is even greater support for students becoming good citizens, having a good self-image, being self-confident, and exhibiting proper health habits. (Author/MLF)

Reports on a survey of Pennsylvania school districts to determine whether citizens want to be involved in educational governance, at what level of the educational structure citizens believe decision making should rest, and how citizens desire to be represented in the governing process. (Author/IRT)

Discusses a Pennsylvania case to determine whether a school district is liable for monetary damages involving a teacher's sexual abuse of a student. The case turns on the meaning of "appropriate person" under the U.S. Supreme Court's Title IX analysis. (PKP)

Seven classifications of Pennsylvania secondary career and technical education (CTE) programs for 1995-1996 to 1999-2000 with annual enrollments over 1,500 and high percentages of students with disabilities (over 20%) were identified. They represent 22% of CTE program enrollments and 36% of all students with disabilities in secondary CTE.…

Recounts the history of Pennsylvania's attempts to invoke large-scale changes in language-related instructional curricula. Discerns patterns among school districts in terms of literacy instruction as well as in factors that seem to be associated with successful change processes. (RS)

Examines Pennsylvania's teacher preparation and selection processes over the past decade, highlighting teacher test scores across colleges of education and in employing districts. The higher a district's teacher unemployment rate, the more likely it is to hire former students. Student achievement is lower in schools with greater proportions of…

A Pennsylvania countywide, centralized alternative school called CLASS--Creative Learning Alternatives for Student Success--encourages students to stay in school, master the basic skills, and develop the cooperative attitudes needed for success. Eight districts now participate and enrollment has grown to 73 students in grades 7 through 12. (MLF)

This article reports how Kaplan K12 Learning Services Group, a division of Kaplan Inc., has developed a new, standardized college-preparatory curriculum for the Philadelphia school district. The curriculum, which made its debut in the Philadelphia district in 2005, was a critical element in the district leadership's plan to improve secondary…

The general purpose of this study is to present post-funding Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) data to address the more lasting features of CSR programs, their relation to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and support of its requirements, and the impact of CSR on student achievement. For the schools included in this study, many of the components…

This guide for superintendents, supervisors, and teachers who design curricular programs in music for the local school districts in Pennsylvania is divided into four sections. The first section can be used as a rationale for decision-making in curricular matters. Two topics in this section suggest a philosophical viewpoint for music in…

As the public clamors for better educational approaches to enable a diverse student population to meet newly designed academic standards, provide for more creative and innovative pedagogical strategies, and render a feasible option to regular public education, charter programs offer a viable alternative. Viewed as a venture capital investment,…