Outlines a free reading program that involves students in producing audiovisual materials to create interest in books. (MAI)

Discusses the application of competency-based instruction to the teaching of theater arts in secondary schools. Advocates a four-step process of goal identification; procedure, content, and method selection; student participation; and evaluation of goal achievement. (JMF)

The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000) explains that phonemic awareness instruction and phonics instruction are highly beneficial for students learning to read. In the updated second edition, Edmund V. Starrett provides educators with guidance on teaching phonics as part of a well-planned reading program. This reference book presents the…

Discusses whole-language classrooms as ones that create and nurture a morality of caring. Lists ways in which teachers can facilitate growth of the ethic of caring in the classroom-- helping children to become "other centered"--whereby a community of responsible, concerned, and empathetic children emerges, and the classroom models the…

To support K-12 students with significant disabilities and get an accurate picture of their skills and knowledge, schools need to implement effective alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). This is the guidebook every team should have--not only to develop successful AA-AAS linked with grade-level content standards,…

Competency-based education can be a viable tool for demonstrating accountability in speech communication instruction. The objectives of speech communication instruction tend to be based more upon the content than upon the everyday communication needs of the students. Rather than continue the approach of basing instruction on assumptions of what…

Many schools are under pressure to meet new standards of learning mistakenly believe that they must adopt a narrow curriculum that imposes strict boundaries on what students are taught. In this book, Susan M. Drake and Rebecca C. Burns address this issue by offering strategies for synchronizing standards across the disciplines. At the heart of the…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional strategy for preparing administrators whose basic unit of instruction is a project. Students are organized into teams and work on these projects to grapple with the problem and to achieve the learning objectives that are embedded in the project. In this PBL project, students design and prepare a…

Shows the editor's viewpoint in the development of a news story on drug abuse in a North Philadelphia Puerto Rican community. Relates problems of working with a reporter, remaining accountable to the public good, and protecting employees and sources in a potentially dangerous situation. (LS)

Education reforms such as "A Nation at Risk" and "Goals 2000" have come and gone. However, we can be confident that the goal of student improvement shall not pass if the core mission is student learning. The true mission of learning has prompted educators to ponder the following questions: How do we need each student to behave?…

Presented in this continuing plan for education are listings of competencies that students enrolled in the public elementary and secondary schools of Mississippi are expected to achieve by the time a particular grade level or subject area in the field of science is completed. Included are the needs assessment, goals and priorities, objectives, and…

Compares instructions for taking a ninth-grade achievement test to the reality of the conditions in which the test was actually taken. (NKA)

Graduate student journals of research projects and their supervision are suggested as a means of structuring the supervisory process, making it more accountable, and facilitating students' successful completion of their academic and research tasks. However, the method also requires skill in successful thesis production on the supervisor's part.…

Examples are given of how a careless or overly personal sex education instructor can endanger an entire school program. (LH)

Explains how an experienced teacher is trying to incorporate Houghton Mifflin's new reading series, "Invitations to Literacy", into her elementary school classes. Discusses reasons for a standardized reading program, including high student mobility, younger less-experienced teachers, and a lack of accountability; and considers whole…