Due to low achievement among minorities and English Language Learners, a blue-ribbon panel was convened by NCATE to address the issue. It was determined that a transformation of teacher preparation was imperative. Out of this idea arose the clinical model for teacher preparation, which was deemed to be the important factor in preparing college…

Outlines current positions in the United Kingdom and the United States regarding pupil transition from elementary to secondary school. Presents U.S. findings as case studies from each state visited (New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Florida, and Georgia), highlighting significant similarities and differences in organization and practice. United…

This paper reports on a research project to identify school program criteria producing the highest teacher stress levels for three new middle schools. The middle-school environment embodies specific concepts endemic to educating adolescents. The new middle schools opened with teachers who were unfamiliar with both middle-school concepts and with…

Examined the impact of high-quality middle-level teacher preparation programs. Subjects were 2,139 teachers from 5 states. Middle schools with grades six through eight configurations were selected. Results showed that respondents prepared in comprehensive programs, had separate licensure, or who had taken more courses tended to give more favorable…

The Kentucky History Center (Frankfort), a 20,000-square-foot museum facility, is a walk through time, complete with the sights, sounds, and smells of the past. The museum's eight chronological areas feature artifacts, images, and life-size environments that evoke places in time. A ready-made reference area in the center of the exhibit provides a…

This guide to the core exhibit of the Kentucky History Center (Frankfort) focuses on the relationship between Kentuckians and the land. The guide extracts text from the exhibit's eight chronological areas and lists environments, displays, and other exhibit features to help students understand the ways people have settled, farmed, mined, and…

Kentucky is one of 27 states selected to participate in Carnegie's grant-sponsored Middle Grade Schools State Policy Initiative. This publication offers a blueprint for change in Kentucky's middle grades. Data were collected through surveys of: (1) a total of 214 administrators, 909 teachers, 878 parents, and 1,047 students at 228 Kentucky…

From 1997-2001, the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Arts Council have cosponsored an annual Kentucky Folklife Festival to celebrate the traditions of diverse groups from across the state. Folklife, or folklore, includes traditions that are shared by a group of people who have a mutual background or interest. Folklore can be expressed…

This guide to the core exhibit of the Kentucky History Center (Frankfort) focuses on African American history in the commonwealth of Kentucky. The guide extracts text from seven of the exhibit's chronological areas and lists environments, displays, and other exhibit features to help students understand some of the events that shaped the African…

An eastern Kentucky teacher has run the gamut of classroom challenges, from statewide educational reform to her own bout with technophobia. But through her application of the Foxfire approach, her students have engaged in active learning projects in their school and community and with other students in Nebraska and China, with lasting results.…

Objectives of the study were (1) to develop and implement an alternative work experience program for a middle school; (2) to test the effect of the program on attitudes toward school, career maturity, and vocational interests of the students; and (3) to provide information and procedures for a model work experience program. Western Kentucky…

A Javits grant implemented statewide in Kentucky used innovative curriculum and team teaching to identify and serve middle school gifted students. Project components included interdisciplinary curriculum development, staff development, expanded provision of services, alternative methods for identifying middle school gifted students, and parent…

In 1988, the Jefferson County Public Schools, in Louisville (Kentucky), received an initial planning grant from the Program for Student Achievement of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation to focus on three "highs" in education--high content, high expectations, and high support. The school district chose three middle schools to participate…

A middle school reform initiative, sponsored by the Program for Disadvantaged Youth of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation 4 years ago, has taken hold in 12 urban middle schools nationwide. The article discusses that reform, noting the lessons about change to accommodate student diversity that urban middle schools can teach. (SM)

This paper compares the responses of rural educators from northeastern Kentucky to those of a national sample of respondents completing Phi Delta Kappa's survey, "How Teenagers Respond." This survey aimed to determine what common values adults believe adolescents possess. Thirty-five administrators and teachers from middle schools and…