Mueller and Hanson report on a continuous improvement process taking place in the Papillion-La Vista School District in Papillion, Nebraska, where a proactive stance to improved learning for all students focuses directly on the human element as the change agent. The district has implemented a systemic and systematic continuous improvement process…

As the Public School Forum enters its 31st year, they continue the tradition of forecasting the ten issues most likely to impact public schools across the state in "Top Ten Education Issues for 2017." As they do each year, they have included in the list issues they believe will be the top education issues for the year, as well as issues…

Examined is an outlook of the achievement gap among African-American and White students in school settings. Statistics and other pertinent information are evaluated to demonstrate how this is a growing problem in schools. An exploration of how school counselors can meet the demands and recognize the effects the achievement gap has on…

This article discusses Michelle Rhee's style of leadership--as steely as the sound of her peekaboo high heels on a linoleum-tile hallway--which has angered much of Washington, D.C., and baffled the rest since she arrived as schools chancellor in June 2007. But it is also helping her gain control of a school system that has defied management for…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Informing Adolescent Literacy Policy and Practice": Alliance Brief Offers Lessons Learned from Federal…

In this article, the author introduces a series of practical strategies to support the development of an innovative and technology-rich curriculum. The author begins with the importance of understanding what possibilities for innovation exist given the relationship between curriculum, equity issues, and education reform. The author then discusses…

This article reports that Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate education committee have joined the debate over the implementation of Reading First, with a call for an investigation into the federal program by the watchdog arm of Congress. The request to the Government Accountability Office follows allegations that federal officials…

Criteria representative of an exemplary reading program and defining the components and levels of school accountability for the Michigan Right to Read program are presented in this paper. Several components, including administration and organization, students/learners, needs assessment, delivery system/curriculum, delivery system/resources,…

This report is the result of massive public input, five Governor's Summits, and several Board task forces. The research-based plan reflects a confluence of state legislation aimed at improving student achievement, and the Utah Performance Assessment System for Schools (U-PASS), the state's accountability measuring system. The competency-based…

The public is deeply concerned that students in urban settings are not achieving at high levels. Over the past twenty years, large urban districts have attempted to restructure massive school systems using educational policymaking processes that have focused on school structures, standards-driven curriculum, and test-based accountability measures.…

From accountability to scientifically based research to adequate yearly progress, the No Child Left Behind Act has had educators scrambling to understand and comply with its daunting regulations. Although President Bush's education reform law is written with teachers in mind, media specialists have an equally important role to play in improving…

President Bush says that the No Child Left Behind Act is working, pointing to student-achievement results from a single subsection of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and tentative Reading First data. But the evidence available to support his claim is questionable. The data Mr. Bush cited are from just the "long-term…

Explains how one Houston (Texas) educator (Thaddeus Lott) has turned failing schools into laboratories for learning. It describes how Lott used a charter giving him freedom to train staff, develop a curriculum, and make hiring, firing, and promotion decisions at four schools to improve reading and math skills. Concluding comments address the…