This article reviews some of the documents that have recently been published on the teaching of English, and argues that the 2006 QCA Functional Skills Draft has important implications for the future of an "entitlement" curriculum.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) "Special Education at a Glance," which includes a copy of the "Guide to Planning and Assessing School-Based Special Education Programs," provides in a single document, information about the special education population at each Montgomery County (Maryland) public school, including…

This report details five principles for creating powerful classrooms and offers a new vision for professional development: (1) High Structure; (2) High Challenge; (3) Intensity; (4) Intentionality and Learning How to Learn; and (5) Inquiry and Making Learning Visible. Included are recommendations drawn from the work of the 11 community college…

New research shows that adults with the lowest literacy and numeracy skills are likely to have experienced substantial disadvantage from early childhood. As the journeys of many adult learners attest, education can transform opportunity. What is more likely to motivate them to take up an educational offer is a life course transition or a new…

The pedagogical assumptions and teaching practices of learning community models reflect exemplary conditions for learning, so using these models with unprepared students seems desirable and worthy of investigation. This chapter describes the key role of faculty in creating active, integrative learning experiences for students in basic skills…

The Rostrum is a quarterly publication of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) An SLO Terminology Glossary: A Draft in Progress by Lesley Kawaguchi; (2) A Tale of Two Data Elements by Mark Wade Lieu; (3) Sustainability and the Academic Senate by David Beaulieu and Don…

This article focuses on the need for children to think their way into achievement of the four basic sets of skills so as to become fully developed as humans. (PD)

The speaker briefly covers the history of the "back to basics" movement, some of the practices that have helped create the movement, an alternative view of what is "basic" in education, and some of the oversimplifications and possible adverse consequences that might result from an unbridled back-to-basics movement. (Author/IRT)

The first priority of our schools should be to provide students with fundamental literacy skills and to provide them with enough understanding of the society so they can function effectively as citizens. More emphasis should be placed on education about the economic system. (Author/IRT)

Industrial education today must address the basic skills necessary to control and understand the manufacturing process. Machining, welding, and a common-sense knowledge of mechanics are needed. (JOW)

Preparing handicapped preschoolers for mainstreamed kindergarten should focus on developing kindergarten survival skills. Comparison of survival skills identified by teachers with skills measured by common preschool assessment instruments indicated only slight congruence. Programs should emphasize teaching such survival skills rather than…

This brief commentary argues that basic skills can and should be taught in preschool with the aid of instructional technology programs such as Distar. (Author/SS)

This Academic Year Report 2009-10 provides a snapshot of funding, facilities, staffing, and enrollments in community and technical colleges in the past academic year. The report also describes key measures of student outcomes and addresses the most frequently asked questions related to expenditures, personnel and students. Additional demographic…

This paper considers noncredit instruction in the California Community College System. It identifies three related concepts: a state need for increased levels of education that noncredit instruction is well placed to supply, several changes that begin to facilitate that response, and additional changes that are needed to ensure success. The…