Educators and attorneys routinely struggle with the issue of mixing academic evaluation with student discipline, as this summary of litigation reveals. The text opens with a synopsis of academic sanctions for nonattendance and unexcused absences, advising school districts that any grade-reduction policy should have an educational purpose. The…

Improvisational gaming is a technique involving the use of theater and drama in the teaching of other subjects. The student uses intuition, sense-memory, and imagination in a holistic approach to learning which teaches social skills while it teaches subject matter. Everyone can act and improvise; getting everyone involved is seldom a problem as…

This issue focuses on decision making. The term "D[cubed]M" used throughout the issue means data-driven decision making. D[cubed]M is not merely crunching numbers or translating statistics; it is about creating a picture to see where you have been and to determine where you want to go. Provided is a special D[cubed]M checklist to figure out how…

This paper states that the unequivocal goal that Governor George Bush has set for the state of Texas is that "all students should be able to read on grade level or higher by the end of third grade and continue to read on grade level or higher throughout their schooling." The paper explains that the governor identified eight key elements…

The University of California at Berkeley has developed a Mathematics Workshop the purpose of which is to improve serious deficiencies in minority students' mathematics and study skills. Now in its second year, the workshop has five functions: (1) building a community of minority freshmen that is academically-oriented and a source of peer support;…

School board members can use board policies to set the direction for effective instructional management. Effective schools appear to have these characteristics in common: (1) strong instructional leadership by the principal, (2) a safe and orderly atmosphere, (3) high expectations of all students, (4) schoolwide emphasis on basic skills…

This issue contains an interview with Elizabeth Fennema in which she explains that decades of research on learning has had a minor impact on what goes on in the schools. She and other researchers decided to try to integrate the study of teaching along with the study of learning. Their desire was to effect real change in the classroom and to…

Controversy surrounding the accountability movement is related to how the movement began in response to dissatisfaction with public schools. Opponents see it as one-sided, somewhat mean-spirited, and a threat to the professional status of teachers. Supporters argue that all other spheres of the workplace have accountability systems and that the…

Studies suggest that developmental students like peer tutoring, are more relaxed with peers, and feel that peer tutoring helps their grades. However, the small number of studies on college tutoring provides no consistent evidence that underprepared students who are tutored improve either their grades or grade point averages. The students who do…

This review explores the factors of cognitive processing, style, and metacognitive organization as they contribute to academic success. Specific discussions consider aspects of short- and long-term memory, including how these affect learning and academic performance, and the keys to attaining long-term memory capability by involving redundancy,…