This report provides an end-of-year summative evaluation of the STEPS (Striving Toward Excellence in the Performance of Students) program, which was first implemented in elementary schools in 1983-84. The program, which is based on research on effective schools, focuses on school improvement efforts in six areas: (1) aligning instruction with…

Focusing on how secondary school reading programs can be organized and on how their effectiveness can be measured, this book synthesizes reading research in several significant areas and makes concrete suggestions for using this research to improve reading instruction. Each chapter, opens with a question posed by a teacher, discusses research with…

Observational studies of elementary school classrooms have indicated that basal reading programs (BRPs) influence strongly both how children are taught to read and what they read. BRPs are developed by authors working in varying degrees of involvement with the editors of educational publishing companies. Classroom observation literature and…

Intended for secondary school teachers in all subject areas, this book synthesizes and translates reading-related research on a variety of specific topics. Each chapter in the book opens with a question or questions posed by teachers, then proceeds to a discussion of the research and practice pertaining to the issues raised. Each chapter ends with…

A project designed to train paraprofessional personnel (technicians) who could materially assist elementary classroom teachers in working with atypical readers is reported in two separate sections. The first section, titled "Highlights of the Reading Teaching Technician Project," describes the background, operation, dissemination, and…

Schools are the only universally accessible institutions where there are enough adults to provide continuous support for children's growth, development, and success in life. Using the process pioneered by renowned child psychiatrist Dr. James P. Comer and his colleagues at the Yale School Development Program (SDP), this unique field guide offers…

This document is comprised of the six issues in volume 15 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following: (1) January-February--"Retention vs. Social Promotion: Schools Search for Alternatives" (Kelly), and "School…

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a conceptual understanding of the key elements in a three tiered Response to Intervention (RTI) model. The three tiered model is discussed in terms of how it would be applied in implementing an intervention program to promote the development of reading. The characteristics of interventions,…

The Computer-Based Junior High/Intermediate School Program of Transitional Bilingual Education was a federally funded program in its third year of operation in one intermediate school and two junior high schools in Manhattan (New York) in 1992-93. During this period, it served 244 native Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient (LEP) students…

This publication presents information on 53 basic skills programs in Wisconsin that were identified as successful by the planning committee for the Governor's Conference on Basic Skills. Programs focus on mathematics, reading, writing, computer-assisted instruction, basic skills approaches, learning centers, career education, adult literacy,…

Results are presented from the first two years of implementation of Detroit's Peer Teachers as Mirrors and Monitors Project. The data describe reading and mathematics achievement in grades 1-4 at two schools which participated in the project interventions, and one comparison school. Results indicate that: (1) teachers' appropriate use of time…

A project was conducted to develop and refine an adult basic education (ABE) teaching/learning management system called CUBE (Continuity and Unity in Basic Education). (The CUBE system--a diagnostic/prescriptive system for individualizing competency based learning for students in ABE--provides a flexible and complete system of instruction for ABE…

Despite mixed reviews from many educators--and some researchers--Chicago's retention policy to end social promotion has turned out to be a popular program. Surprisingly, perhaps, its most avid fans are the people most affected by it: teachers and students. Chicago's ending of social promotion was intended to make educators pay more attention to…

This article features case studies of two elementary schools, identified as exemplary by Washington educators, as they worked to enact Washington's Essential Academic Learning Requirements and help students achieve proficiency on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. We describe school- and classroom-level practices and analyze the…

The partial immersion program at Key Elementary School (Arlington, Virginia), where half the instruction is in English and half in Spanish, has completed its sixth year. The program review, including classroom observation, interviews with or surveys of students, teachers, parents, and staff, and student assessment, revealed a highly successful…