In June 1994, the Texas Center for Educational Technology (TCET) posted a survey on several educational listservs and conference groups on the Internet requesting comments, observations, and opinions from educators having experience with telephones in classrooms. Most of the respondents agreed on the need to equip K-12 classrooms with modern…

This document contains nine papers exploring the school-to-work transition and the role of career education in smoothing that transition. The following papers are included in the first section, which sets the context for the role of career education: "The School-to-Work Opportunities Act and Career Education" (Pat Nellor Wickwire);…

Overwhelmingly, the cultures of schools reflect the norms of middle-class European-Americans. Many young Native Americans fail to adapt to this culture and are perceived as unacceptable and uneducable. Deprivation of a sound educational system and concomitant social relegation lead to dismal educational outcomes and subsequent effects on health,…

In most schools, especially urban high schools, teachers are colleagues in name only. Some schools, however, do foster substantial collegial relationships among teachers; and when schools are organized to support such teacher collaboration, the benefits are substantial. To make teacher collaboration possible and effective, two fundamental…

The National Partnership for Excellence in Education and Accountability in Teaching (NPEAT) helps place improvement of teaching at the center of reform efforts, addressing two problems that impede the development of systemic reforms to improve teaching quality: (1) absence of agreement about effective strategies for improving teaching among those…

This Digest discusses School-to-Work (STW) programs, which are aimed at developing an integrated secondary school curriculum that facilitates students' transition from school to the workplace. It addresses school-based learning in STW programs, especially the practices that language arts teachers can use in classrooms to meet STW goals. The Digest…

This volume contains summaries of 20 papers commissioned by the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force. Based on research, testimony, and written materials submitted to the Task Force by hundreds of educational practitioners and concerned citizens, the papers provide in-depth analyses of current conditions in Native education and set forth rationale,…

In July 1991, 20 superintendents, who are members of the Urban Superintendents' Network, a coalition of educational leaders sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), participated in a special panel presentation and roundtable discussion entitled "Turnover in the Urban Superintendency:…

Defining propaganda as "efforts by special interests to win over the public covertly by infiltrating messages into various channels of public expression ordinarily viewed as politically neutral," this book argues that propaganda has become pervasive in American life. Pointing out that the 1990s society is inundated with propaganda from…

Recognizing the failure of American schools to educate Hispanic and other minority students, educators are searching for new strategies and discovering the powerful role that parents can play in advancing educational goals. A growing body of evidence supports the belief that involving parents in their children's education works in the best…

This ERIC digest examines the extent of early school leaving among migrants, conditions that precede early school leaving, common features of programs that work to retrieve dropouts, and illustrative programs that exhibit these features. The Migrant Attrition Project estimates a 45% national dropout rate of migrant students. Conditions that lead…

This publication reviews the literature pertaining to teacher education in, about, and for environmental education. The first section includes the definition, goals, and objective of environmental education. The second section summarizes the recent and current status of environmental education in elementary and secondary schools in the United…

This digest provides an overview of a new institution, the professional development school (PDS), and of its place in improving public schooling. The PDS is the result of a collaboration between universities and local school districts. In recent years, the literature has suggested that public schools as they exist today cannot adequately prepare…

The work of the National Research Center on Student Learning (CSL) is described. The CSL, one of 23 national centers funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, is an integral part of the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The CSL conducts interdisciplinary research that…

This book develops a framework to help policymakers and policy analysts understand and judge policy options, so they can construct alternatives to the reorganization of rural, small school districts. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the book by stating the objectives and providing working definitions for "school district reorganization" and…