Studies the use of microcomputers in four elementary school classrooms and their effect on classroom organization, teacher-student relations, and curriculum. Concludes that how people use a microcomputer, and not the machine's inherent features, determines how a microcomputer will be used in education. (FMW)

This study assessed school climate for both interpersonal and intrapersonal character traits and examined the links between school climate and students' perceptions of safety at school. Sixty-four elementary and 159 secondary students completed questionnaires in the spring. Findings revealed that character traits were reliably assessed for both…

Representing a work in progress, this paper presents the theoretical framework for a longitudinal case study involving the implementation of cooperative learning strategies in an ethnically diverse urban middle school. The effects that cooperative learning has on the curriculum as perceived by teachers are also to be examined during the 3-year…

This study assessed the effects of Instrumental Enrichment (IE) instruction with minority students on a non-verbal measure of students' intelligence (the Progressive Matrices test), on students' report card marks, and on students' City-Wide Test nationally-normed reading and mathematics scores in the School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).…

This report contains details of the results of the Primary Assessment Program conducted in 1991 in urban and non-urban schools in the Northern Territory of Australia. The assessment program, conducted annually at years 5 and 7 in urban schools and at ages 10 years and above in non-urban schools, monitors achievement in English and mathematics. In…

Problems that beset urban education in general are analyzed, and solutions are discussed and evaluated by a policy working group of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. The most acute problem in American education involves the unmet needs of disadvantaged students, who are heavily concentrated in urban school…

Project Accelerated Curriculum Classes Emphasizing Learning (ACCEL) was implemented by the Newark School District (New Jersey) in the 1989-90 school year in response to the ineffective practice of retaining underachieving students. The innovative approach of accelerated learning was made available to retained sixth and seventh grade students.…

This report presents findings from a national study of the relationship between different uses of educational technology and various educational outcomes. Data were drawn from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics, consisting of national samples of 6,227 fourth graders and 7,146 eighth graders. Data include…

Project Survival was a special innovative project conducted by the Atlanta (Georgia) Public Schools in the summer of 1991. By combining instruction in basic skills, opportunities to learn and practice conflict resolution strategies, and work experience, Project Survival addressed some of the major problems associated with high dropout and…

This report summarizes a study carried out during the 1993-1994 academic year that evaluated peace education curricula in selected Milwaukee (Wisconsin) public schools. Experimental and control sample populations were established with eight different classrooms, including two classes at a Montessori school and two classes at a neighborhood…

The New York City Board of Education formed the Latino Commission on Educational Reform to examine issues of concern to Latino children who comprise an increasing segment of the students in the public school system. An interim report was submitted on the dropout rate, curriculum and instruction, support services, parent and community empowerment,…

The San Diego City Schools (California) has received nearly $500,000 in federal funds to replicate and evaluate the following successful dropout prevention programs: (1) Motivation and Maintenance (M and M); (2) Partnership Academy; and (3) Summer Training and Education Program (STEP). The M and M program is designed to provide a case management…

Provides a brief history of the desegregation of two elementary schools in New Orleans (Louisiana) in 1960. Presents the recollections and observations of the mother of two of the White students who continued to attend school despite a boycott. (FMW)

This handbook focuses on five long-standing correlates for effective schools postulated by the late Ron Edmonds. Edmonds searched long and hard for those variables that were present in successful inner-city schools populated primarily by African American children. His work demonstrated that it is possible to educate so-called hard-to-reach…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has increased the role of assessment in K-12 education. Designed to ensure that all students meet high academic standards, the law currently requires states receiving Title I funds to test all children annually in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and report student performance disaggregated by poverty,…