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…

An interdisciplinary, team-taught community college course combining American literature, writing instruction, and American history was designed to challenge students and eliminate some core curriculum problems. Emphasis on motivation and team teaching were successful in raising student achievement and enthusiasm. Course improvement is ongoing.…

Collective teacher efficacy refers to teacher perceptions that they constitute an effective instructional team, capable of bringing about learning in students. Previous research demonstrates that a school staff with a strong sense of collective efficacy is likely to generate high student achievement. This study of 2,170 teachers in 141 elementary…

Targeting the elementary school-age child, 5 to 12 years old, this book sets forth an integrated approach to developing classroom experiences, supporting a holistic curriculum intended to stimulate learning and social and emotional gains. The integrated approach has at its hub a child-centered classroom where students' individual needs form the…

The 3-year Wisconsin Action Research Project was designed to bring together teams of practitioners from general and special education and provide them with training and support to conduct action research studies. This report describes the first pilot year of the project. First-year action studies attempted to address the following three outcomes:…

Because of the high number of at-risk students at Carver Middle School (Meridian, Mississippi), the principal developed several programs to bring student achievement to the level commensurate with other students around the nation. The Early Bird Program is a Chapter One program of individualized work in math, reading, and language arts classes to…

In the spirit of education reform, this collection of 22 essays written by experienced teacher practitioners addresses the needs of Connecticut's teachers for effective schooling: (1) "Rediscovering Waldo: The Search for Meaning in Education Today"; (2) "Neglecting Children: Teaching Art from a Cart"; (3) "Tomorrow's…

For change to occur in mathematics instruction, teachers need control of significantly different instructional sequences, evaluation schemes, and curriculum and to think beyond procedural views of mathematics. Two-week inservice and coursework separate from classroom experience are not sufficient to achieve these goals. Inservice and support must…

This annotated list of 23 journal articles and documents provided focuses on faculty-librarian collaboration in bibliographic instruction (BI) at academic libraries. Topics including the following: BI for developmental and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students; faculty and librarian collaboration on the design of BI assignments; the teaching…

This paper presents the results of a two-year initiative to change the social arrangements and interactions of special education students and teachers assigned to a predominantly Mexican-American, low-income seventh grade campus of 520 students. The project investigated how to improve the learning environments of students at risk of being placed…

This monograph explores the current use in higher education of cooperative learning, the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The opening section sets out to define cooperative learning, and to look at the history of the technique, its basic elements, types of cooperative…

This book offers suggestions and guidelines for elementary school teachers in the areas of: (1) reading instruction; (2) teacher-student conferences and guidance programs; (3) discipline; (4) truancy; (5) busing; (6) teacher orientation; (7) school opening and closing; (8) physical education and intramural programs; (9) field trips; (10) study…

Eighteen projects funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title III, and providing funds to public school districts to demonstrate the feasibility of educational innovations, are described in this booklet developed as a dissemination project by Title III in Oklahoma. Programs described are said to have the common theme of increased…

The Milwaukee Bilingual Education Program has been guided by behavioral objectives related to desired pupil, staff, management, parent and community outcomes. The objectives were developed and revised mainly by curriculum supervisors. Frequent references are made to two publications, "Milwaukee Public Schools Bilingual Elementary Program…

This paper investigates the nature of social change and the special needs of youth, and innovation in the teaching of social studies at the secondary level. Drawing on curriculum experiments begun in 1967, a new social studies program of non-graded instructional modules was inaugurated in 1969 concentrating in 3 areas: 1) United States Realities,…