The Accelerated Reader program from Renaissance Learning Inc. is a popular program implemented in elementary and middle schools across the country that encourages students to read and monitors their progress in the program. Despite its widespread use and popularity, there have been some questions about the program's effectiveness at increasing…

Research indicates that state-mandated tests (like ISTEP+, the Indiana Statewide Test of Educational Progress Plus) can catalyze school improvement. A focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and parental involvement boosted third-graders' ISTEP+ math achievement scores in one Indiana district. (Contains 15…

Examines criteria and procedures for selecting new (Ohio) elementary school principals during 1992-93. A survey of 50 superintendents indicates that selection criteria comprised academic criteria, personal characteristics, and professional competencies. Respondents rated attitude toward others and strong human relations skills as most important…

Describes the Broward County (Florida) Research and Evaluation Department's assessment of a Sylvan Learning Systems remedial reading program employed in two district schools during 1993-94. Sylvan staff adequately equipped both sites, appropriately used diagnostic tests for placing students, implemented motivation and direct-instruction…

Summarizes a study of six matched year-round and traditional-calendar elementary schools in a West Coast district. After 4 years, the year-round programs produced acceptable academic growth in students, compared to controls. Gains were higher for math than reading and slowed after several years. (Contains 31 references.) (MLH)

An elementary school principal and her staff implemented a nongraded, continuous-progress model of reading instruction based on frequent assessment of student skills. The model enjoyed widespread teacher and parental support. The school, serving disadvantaged students, was recognized by the state education agency for significantly improving test…

Evaluates a small New York school district's efforts to reorganize its two K-5 elementary schools into one K-2 primary grade school and one 3-5 intermediate school, focusing on student, staff, and parent reactions. Although the new arrangement created more focused schools, the intermediate principal misses the energy deriving from the Kindergarten…

Describes how staff at a Wisconsin elementary school developed a plan that dramatically increased parents' participation and visibility and created a useful method of tracking and measuring that participation. Teachers used a simple grid to chart parents' participation in various activities throughout the year. By the second year, the school had…

Describes a 1995-96 CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) controlled study conducted in seven major U.S. cities that measured the effects of online usage (via Internet and Scholastic Network) on student learning. Results show that online use can increase student performance. Students in experimental classes produced better results on a…

An evaluation of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools' summer-school program to help raise low-performing students' mathematics achievement showed that students received little benefit. Disappointing results arose from use of teacher-centered instructional techniques. Students had little opportunity for informal thinking, exploration,…

Examines the effectiveness of Teach Baltimore, a program (using trained college student volunteers) to prevent summer learning loss, for a group of 300 low-income, public elementary students, compared with 135 control students. Except for low-achieving kindergarteners, results show consistent, if statistically insignificant, positive effects for…

Based on interviews with a principal and two teachers at a Virginia elementary school piloting a multiage program for six- to eight-year-olds, this article describes the program's bottom-up development, holistic orientation, and stress on team teaching and continuous progress. Next year's program will offer more options, including a fourth- and…

Aware of increasing poverty among his students, a Virginia principal enlisted a retired teacher's assistance to provide direct support for underachieving students' families. After developing trust and rapport with identified families, the home-school consultant visited families to establish mutual goals, ranging from obtaining medical care, food,…