Middle school brings rapid developmental changes for adolescents, and parent engagement is as essential as ever. However, what worked for parent-teacher partnerships in elementary school doesn't fit so well in middle school. Adolescents are building their autonomy, and teachers must help empower parents' efforts to bolster students as independent…

Researchers Martha Abele Mac Iver, Joyce Epstein, and Steven Sheldon summarize the outcomes of their four-year partnership with an urban district aimed at improving the ways schools engage families during the critical transition to high school. They describe how schools put into practice the strategies learned in ongoing professional development,…

School districts shape the conditions in which schools operate and as such can support or undermine school success and thus student success. All of which is to say that school districts matter. This article looks at the success of two districts whose low-income and minority students beat the odds in academic achievement. Lessons from these…

Homelessness is a complex and layered phenomenon, but schools can be effective in reducing its educational consequences. Schools currently are not doing enough. The next step is to consider the services that are needed for students as they arrive on the school campus. Taking care of homeless children in school systems involves seven provisos:…

Describes the learning community model that involves teachers in an ongoing process of developing and refining curriculum. Through the sharing of information teachers improve their classroom practices and are more accountable for what they teach. (MD)

Failures in the university-public school partnership to raise student academic achievement in disadvantaged areas is attributed to faculties that hold diametrically opposed views regarding both the dimensions of the problem and the basic aims and objectives of education. (MF)

Outlines a broad range of organizational features that minimize teachers' ability to teach. Research findings show that the dominating motivational force for teachers is the reward found in promoting students' growth and development, but the conditions teachers work under often make teachers function less effectively. (MD)

Adults participating in a Los Angeles "school family" network will be engaged for the next several years in the Annenberg Challenge--a national reform initiative aimed at improving student performance. Participation offers opportunities to develop a coherent K-12 education plan, access extra resources, and pursue collaborative…

Reports the positive initial assessment of California's attempt to encourage individual elementary schools to assess the needs of their children, to plan appropriate instructional settings, and to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. (Author/IRT)

Examines schoolwide improvement programs initiated by four states. Describes successful endeavors of California, Ohio, and Colorado schools to improve curricula and student achievement and the Connecticut schools' strategy to improve principal-teacher communication. Attributes the success of these reform programs to solid leadership skills,…

Describes U.S. student body's unique diversity and startling demographic changes to come, considers student achievement data from grade school to graduate school, discusses educators' failures in working with certain students, and indicates what must be done to educate all young Americans. Concentrating efforts on at-risk students (lowest 40%) and…

In this article, the authors describe a collaborative effort involving 30 school districts in California's Silicon Valley that are seeking to overcome the ill effects of mandatory high-stakes standardized testing in mathematics. These districts administer, score, and analyze a common set of performance assessments in mathematics in a way that…