The Norfolk, Va., Public Schools began to close the gap with powerful learning, new instruction, and support.

In March of 1999, the Professional Development Laboratory (PDL) of the New York University School of Education conducted an Evaluation Forum to address the issue of evaluating professional development. The Forum engaged PDL stakeholders, educational leaders, and community supporters in generating and responding to critical questions related to…

Describes a model of academic literacy instruction in English in content courses, drawing on the collaboration of general education (GE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instructors. In this model, GE and ESL faculty codevelop a writing assignment designed to guide students through the writing process and teach them the skills required to…

Discusses how as inclusive efforts became more prevalent in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) came to be considered a key factor in achieving high quality services and instruction for students with disabilities. Describes a technique, the Summary of Individualized Objectives (SIO), for making IEP goals and…

This article tells the story of young second-grade teacher and her quest to help students reach the New York state standards in reading. It is the yearlong story of significant professional growth highlighted by the conversations surrounding student learning. The collaborative conversations between the teacher, her colleague, and her staff…

Focus of Study: This article investigates how teachers' relationships with boys can be central in bolstering boys' resilience and connection to their work in schools. Specifically, we examine how teachers understand the ways that their relationships with boys shape their teaching practice as well as their understandings of boys' learning in…

Educators often overlook the largest body of evidence of student performance: student work. With careful and deliberate examination of various sources of student work, teachers can gather a wealth of information about student achievement and about their own instructional practices. Examining student work is not about grading or scoring papers. It…

In 2004, five North Carolina school districts combined forces with five corporate foundations to leverage their collective wisdom and develop regional strategies for school improvement. The result was the High Five Regional Partnership for High School Excellence, a corporate-public sector effort that had the common goal of improving graduation…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2013 proceedings: (1) Teaching About Asia in a Social Science Education Program (Cyndi Mottola Poole and Joshua L. Kenna); (2) Teaching Students about…

In 1995, the North Carolina General Assembly directed the North Carolina State Board of Education to develop a plan to bolster student growth and performance in grades 4-8 throughout the state. In response, the board developed the ABCs of Public Education. (ABC stands for Accountability; teaching the Basics of reading, writing, and mathematics;…

This booklet summarizes findings from Just for the Kids' recent examination of promising practices in Texas Schools. It focuses on those schools that served disadvantaged students yet had high performance over 3 years. The key focus of Just for the Kids is on the students. Schools break down the goals of school reform into manageable chunks,…

Describes four key elements typically seen in schools that show continuous improvement in student results. Such schools' cultures are permeated by a shared focus on student learning, a strong culture of reflective practice, a collaborative environment where teachers see colleagues and parents as important partners, and an ever increasing…

More and more schools in California and across the nation are showing that when school communities accept the possibility and responsibility of bringing all of their students to proficiency levels, they can do amazing things. Six schools located in southern California--Martin Luther King and Harvey of Santa Ana Unified, Morrison Elementary of…

A study group from a Wyoming school and nearby university delve into the Japanese process of lesson study, learning the differences between the Japanese and U.S. education systems and how the process can work--and does not work--in an American context. The group's understandings highlight ways that lesson study can be adapted for use in the United…

One of the most comprehensive studies to highlight the achievement gap between students in the United States and those in many other countries is the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). TIMSS showed that a handful of countries (with Japan near the top) consistently outperformed the others studied (including the United…