Provides a critique and a defense of Maryland's Project Basic, a curriculum design that uses adult activities as the source of objectives for the curriculum. (Author/MLF)

Teachers in Fort Howard, Maryland, adopted a planning wheel to keep teachers' content area central and allow integration of logical, natural elements of associated course content. The planning wheel has become a useful organizer for curriculum development, individual teacher planning, and team planning across daily lessons or at the unit level.…

The National Center on Educational Outcomes offers guidelines for including students with disabilities when identifying outcomes, assessing students, defining acceptable performance, and reporting on schools' progress in meeting outcomes. Schools should include all students in their accountability and data collection programs. All students have…

An inner-city Maryland school that serves 610 students coming from 37 different countries and speaking 25 different languages has created a caring, inclusive community by providing kids with incentives, stability, and a chance to celebrate their various cultures at a community exhibition center. Dedicated staff accept no excuses for truancy and…

From making holiday decorations for a local nursing home to serving food at a homeless shelter, students at Friends Academy in upstate New York participate in service activities designed to match their level of social awareness. Maurice Howard's sidebar shows how Maryland high schoolers participate in a state-mandated service-learning program that…

The desire for students to graduate with more than basic skills has fueled interest in performance assessment methods such as essay writing, group science experiments, or portfolio preparation. Officials in Vermont, California, Kentucky, Maryland, and other states are betting that performance assessments may prove as powerful a classroom influence…

Facing a new state mandate, Maryland teacher educators established a pilot professional development school (PDS) and achieved positive results with preservice teachers. The PDS internship was more effective than the regular program in preparing teacher candidates to maintain classroom discipline, use technology effectively for instruction, and…