Each school day, hundreds of thousands of students are missing from their classrooms--many without a bona fide excuse. Left unchecked, truancy is a risk factor for serious juvenile delinquency. Truancy's impact also extends into the adult years where it has been linked to numerous negative outcomes. Consequently, it is critical to identify…

Adequate technological education among schools in Asia is a major concern for educators and administrators. Many worry that the lack of knowledge about technology may make them obsolete. Other concerns include the cost of maintaining up to date technology and training. Many Asian educational systems today struggle to provide current technology…

Unless school boards link member training and school improvement plans to performance evaluations for themselves and their schools, the exercise might not be worth the time and effort. Board evaluation should focus on three general areas: board dynamics, policy process, and educational quality. Three evaluation approaches should be considered:…

Team management became popular during the late 1960s and early 1970s as educators adopted the concept to help solve the increasingly complex problems facing schools. The mere existence of a management team of central office and building administrators does not mean that team management is being practiced. Chapter 1 enumerates the benefits of team…

"New Things Considered" reports on emerging trends and issues in education to policymakers and participants in SEDL-SCAN, an emerging issues tracking system being pilot tested by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Policy Information Service and the State of New Mexico. This issue presents brief summaries of the thinking…

This summary examines the shortage of science and mathematics teachers in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states and describes initiatives underway. Fewer persons have been graduating from college prepared to teach and large numbers of science and mathematics teachers are leaving the classroom. At the same time, requirements and…

To foster individual development, educators must seek the gifts in every child, in those not demonstrating academic abilities as well as in the most brilliant. Instead of stifling thinking, creativity, and interest development, educators must encourage these behaviors. Currently, a big discrepancy exists between the child's potential and what…

This issue of Changing Schools explores what algebraic thinking is and why students need algebraic thinking. The efforts of Kansas and North Dakota to incorporate algebraic thinking into their state mathematics standards are described. Contents include: (1) "Algebraic Thinking: Preparing Students for Mastering Algebraic Concepts" (Vicki…

Five recent studies included in this annotated bibliography highlight the diverse facets of an effective principal evaluation system. A technical report by Jerry W. Valentine and Michael L. Bowman includes a clinical instrument for assessing teachers' perception of principals' effectiveness. In a second report, Daniel L. Duke and Richard J.…

A two-issue volume presents articles describing innovative schools, classrooms, and alternative learning arrangements found in some of today's schools. Issue one contains three articles offering glimpses of an elementary school committed to the Core Knowledge curriculum of E. D. Hirsch, a renovated school devoted to early childhood learning…

Before charging blindly into the issues of implementing educational choice programs, states and local districts need to stop and think about direction for efforts to improve and restructure education. Recent research shows that the most successful choice systems are tailored to their community's needs. Among the plans that have been implemented…

There is mounting evidence that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is spreading rapidly among teenagers. To stop this spread of HIV infection, experts agree that states need to include HIV/AIDS prevention and education as an integral part of comprehensive health education programs for…

This theme issue of "California School Boards," October/November 1983, identifies some of the business-education partnerships in California. After an introduction with an overview of the reasons behind the increased interest in business-education partnerships, are articles on the following: (1) educational reform recommendations by the…

The human species excel in the exquisite use of symbols. The sending and receiving of sophisticated messages sets humans apart from all other creatures on planet earth. The arts are one of mankind's most visual and most essential forms of language; and if children are not educated in the symbol system called the arts, they will lose not only their…

Discussed are the rationale for, and the benefits accrued from, the use of graphing calculators within all aspects of the secondary mathematics curriculum. Examples are included that highlight specific features of graphing calculators. (JJK)