Articles

Legal Center for Foster Care & Education
Questions and Answers on mobility issues and special education for children in out-of-home care. Does special education law address the issues?

A Research and Development Framework for the School Drop-out Problem
“Schools and education systems have become centerpieces in regional, national, state-provincial, and local plans for integrated economic and social development. Workforce development, typically framed in economic terms as human capital development, justified educational system changes and ‘re-engineering’. The twin aims are to prepare young people for the global economy and get them ready for global citizenship.”

Stuck in the Middle: The Problem of Overage Middle School Students in New York City
“In recent years, community-based providers and school officials that serve students in the public school system have been noticing a disturbing number of sixteen-year-old seventh graders or seventeen-year-old eighth graders who are appearing (or staying) in middle schools across the city. Educators and advocates are scrambling to understand the special needs of this population. Finding resources to help overage middle school students who are disillusioned by an education process that has been out of touch with their academic and social needs is a challenging task, but it is a task that the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) must rise to meet.”

Getting Serious About High School Graduation.
A report from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). The trends in high school graduation rates in SREB states are depressing. This report offers strategies that can increase high school graduation rates.

What Students Need – Drop out Prevention and Recovery
Prepared for the Louisiana High School Redesign Commission by The Ed Trust. The Challenge? Too many American teenagers drop out of our secondary schools and many of them do not find their way back into the K-12 system in time to earn a regular high school diploma.

Interesting Reading Web Sites
Web sites for information on funding, attendance, mental health & community services, parent involvement, and differentiated instruction.

Study Looks at What Works Best for Alternative Schools
Flexible school hours, self-paced lessons, student internships, and high expectations are hallmarks of the best alternative schools. So are staff training, time for teachers to collaborate, and strong leadership, according to the BERC (Baker-Evaluation-Research Consulting) Group report.

The Cost of a Lost Education
Each year’s class of dropouts will cost the country’s economy over $200 billion during their lifetime; will lessen the dropouts’ personal income and employment opportunities, will cost taxpayers $224 billion per year due to adult illiteracy, and will accelerate health problems for teens and young adults. See these facts and more.

Drop Out Prevention
Sobering statistics on dropouts …is the ninth grade a critical year? Are there “on-track” indicators? What about early indicators?

What Is a Differentiated Classroom?
A different way to learn is what the kids are calling for . . . . All of them are talking about how our one-size-fits-all delivery system-which mandates that everyone learn the same thing at the same time, no matter what their individual needs-has failed them.
-Seymour Sarason, The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform

Students At Risk
Is it acceptable-as we do in this theme issue-to call students "at risk"? Some educators don't think so.

No Child Left Behind
As the latest incarnation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the No Child Left Behind Act is expected to greatly expand the federal role in education.

Risk Factors for Youth Violence
Research has documented the magnitude of youth violence and the trends in that violence over time. But what do we know about why young people become involved in violence? Why do some youths get caught up in violence while others do not?

Why Districts, Schools, and Classrooms Should Practice Service-Learning
Service-learning should be practiced in schools because it yields so many simultaneous benefits. It is what many educators consider a "value-added" approach because it helps multiple participants from schools and communities and has multiple benefits for each. This fact sheet highlights some key reasons why districts, schools and classrooms should practice service-learning.

Six Principles of Effective Accountability
"We have to think about accountability in a very different way," says Douglas B. Reeves, chairman and founder of the Center for Performance Assessment and the International Center for Educational Accountability. "We have done a splendid job of holding nine-year-olds accountable. Let me suggest as a moral principle that we dare not hold kids any more accountable than we expect to hold ourselves."