In an article written for The Clearing House in 1974 titled, "Alternative schools: Can they survive?", Gerald Brunetti described features of schools that served as an alternative to mainstream public education. He raised the question of whether or not such schools would continue to exist in the future. A search of the literature reveals…

How has the recession and its resulting family instability impacted children’s residential and school mobility? Officials from housing, homeless, and school programs discussed the full spectrum of residential mobility in two recent Urban Institute roundtables: from chronic mobility, eviction, and foreclosure to doubled-up households and…

Purpose: This study is one in a series which aims to examine the theories of actions developed and internalized by school principals that help them serve as successful leaders in the tumultuous accountability climate. The dearth of recent empirical research focusing on best practices of successful school principals in a post-NCLB nation sets the…

Secondary English as a second language (ESL) curricula that address four levels of ESL proficiency and prepare students for the English language arts (ELA) curricula and state-mandated ELA tests are not common. A curriculum jointly developed by two districts is even rarer. Yet two urban districts in Rhode Island undertook such a curriculum…

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, federal law requires schools to demonstrate yearly progress toward academic proficiency. Data have shown that students with special needs often achieve higher levels of academic growth in inclusive classrooms than in special education classrooms. Furthermore, studies have also suggested…

Inclusion for students with disabilities into the general education classroom has grown exponentially over the last decade. With legislation, such as, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 schools are moving towards integrating their classrooms more than they ever have in the…

With the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and No Child Left Behind legislation (2001), the call for collaboration is omnipresent. A review of the current landscape makes this imperative obvious. With the mandate for inclusion and the necessity for special education teachers to collaborate with their…

The federal mandates set forth by the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) require an increase in inclusive education for students with special education needs in the least restrictive environment. This type of environment can be in a 'co-taught' classroom. Co-teaching is defined as an…

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990. When reauthorized in 2004 it maintained the IDEA acronym although it is now the Individuals with Disabilities Education "Improvement" Act. The federal government further demonstrated its emphasis on…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) creates a unique opportunity for states, districts, and high schools to work in concert on behalf of high school students. Generally, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are not intended to create new programs; rather, the majority of the funds are intended to fill gaps in existing…

To provide a deeper understanding of issues related to collaborative reconstruction and simultaneous renewal, the author provides a historical perspective of professional development schools (PDSs) and an overview of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education PDS standards and assessment process, with a focus on inquiry and…

Background: Accountability demands are increasingly pushing school leaders to explore more data and do more sophisticated analyses. Data-driven decision making (DDDM) has become an emerging field of practice for school leadership and a central focus of education policy and practice. Purpose: This study examined principals' DDDM practices and…

The pressure is on. For the first time in the nation's history, schools are being required to produce measurable evidence that all students are learning, and they are being asked to do so amidst fiscal crises at the state and local levels. While several legitimate criticisms have been made about No Child Left Behind and its unfunded mandates, few…

Current educational policy highlights the important role that assessment can play in improving education. State standards and the assessments that are aligned with them establish targets for learning and promote school accountability for helping all students succeed; at the same time, feedback from assessment results is expected to provide …

Accountability for student learning is the key focus of New Mexico's system of school improvement. The Public Education Department's commitment to continuous improvement is evident in the steps taken to refine the 2007-2008 School Improvement Framework to reflect No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. The School Improvement Framework was…