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Deals with the research on how teachers could debunk children's mistaken ideas about the world. Suggestion of Peter Hewson, a professor of science education at the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison, Wisconsin; Techniques recommended by Leona Schauble, a UW-Madison educational psychologist; Reason for rejecting the term misconception and its examples. INSET: Findings.

Deals with student misconceptions in the United States. History of studies which focused on people's misconceptions; Possible sources of misconceptions; Negative connotation on misconceptions; Technique for incorporating student thinking into learning.

Reports on the error on the percentile rankings of New York City, New York students who took the TerraNova tests of CTB/McGraw-Hill. States affected by the error; Why the consequences of the error were particularly serious in New York City; Purpose of the tests in Nevada.

Focuses on school transitions. Pivotal points in a child's educational career; Difficulties faced by students from less affluent families; Tendency of fading academic gains by the third grade; Information on the transition from elementary school to middle school. INSET: Ingredients for Successful Transitions.

Recalls the long and tortuous route taken by the school district of Prince Edward County, Virginia to school integration. Decision to shut down schools, rather than mix races in 1954 after the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation; District as among the most integrated in the nation in the present.

Presents information on the work of Carol Gilligan, a Harvard University researcher, pertaining to the life cycle of boys during their adolescent years. Explanation of the array of psychological disorders that affect girls in adolescence; Criticism of Gilligan's findings; Suggestion that girls are more resilient than boys. INSET: Behind the `mask of masculinity'.

Reports on the state of urban public education in Kansas. Academic achievement; Standards and assessments; Teaching quality; School climate; Resources; Disadvantaged schools; Rural school districts; School improvement efforts in Wichita. INSET: State policy update..

Discusses the effectiveness of technology, specifically computers, to children in schools in the United States. Advantages and disadvantages of the computer in school; Few documented successes in using educational technology to foster learning; Changes that occur in schools as a result of the computer.

Focuses on the efforts of Richmond Community High School of serving gifted African-American students from low-income families. School history; Recruitment strategies for African-American students; Difficulty assimilating the Western and black cultures. INSETS: Finding a purpose.;`All about succeeding'.;A bit of a handful.;`Different directions'.

Focuses on the teaching of Afrocentric education from private academies to public schools across the United States. Afrocentric approach as a strategy for boosting black students' self-esteem; Assertion that ancient Egypt was a black civilization.

Discusses the role of virtual-reality technology in helping students in the United States to learn advanced concepts in science. Features on MaxwellWorld, a program created at the George Mason University; Work on the Science Space project; Concern over student mobility. INSET: Ideas & findings..

Reports on educational reforms undertaken at Patterson High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Division of the school into academies; Professional development assistance from John Hopkins University; Measure of control for teachers. INSETS: Atmospheric pressures on the decline.;Climate control..

Focuses on cultural differences between students and teachers as a barrier to students' learning in the United States. Studies including Shirley Brice Heath's work chronicled in the book `Ways With Words'; Research in Hawaii by Kathryn Au; Emphasis on collectivist values; Problem of stereotyping. INSETS: The value of verve, by Debra Viadero.;Ideas & findings, by Debra Viadero..

Features Afro-American educator Lisa D. Delpit's stance on educational reform in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Assertion that in caring for other people's children, teachers must recognize and value the cultural strengths they bring to school; Delpit's acquisition of additional schooling courtesy of her daughter.

Focuses on the comparison between students at the Mason Investigative Learning Center and students in Freda Hill's 7th-grade science class. Mason's schedule for 1996; Grant for Schools for Thought program.

Focuses on the results of the National Council on History Standards' completion of a set of national standards on what every schoolchild should learn about the United States' history. Terms of the National Center for History project grant; Debate on perspective to use; Issues in building a consensus; Plans for distributing draft copies of the standards; Forecast on the standards' effectiveness.

Focuses on Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for All Students (ATLAS) model for school reform which is being implemented in schools in several states of the United States. Combination of ideas in radical transformation in high schools; Theories of multiple intelligence resulting in multi-age classes; Involvement of parents and community in all aspects of school planning; Research and development. INSET: The design principles..

Examines the relevance of homework in children's education. Tensions created with the imposition of homework on children's academic and non-academic lives; Reference to the study made by psychologist Harris Cooper about the development of the concept of homework; Manassas, Va.-based Saunders Middle School's introduction of a homework hot line; Cooperation between parents and schools.

Details the standards-setting efforts of Beaufort, South Carolina. Assessment of the performance of the state's students in the 1980s; Hiring of educational consultant Denis P. Doyle to assist in the state's standards-setting efforts; Adoption of the standards set by the Charlotte-Mecklenberg, N.C. school system. INSETS: Teaching activity: Arts.;Teaching activity: Foreign languages.;Teaching activity: Science..

Features the New Standards Project which is aimed at establishing a common set of academic standards. Organizations involved in the joint project; National system of student assessments based on the standards; Potential problems; Key players in the project.

Discusses the emotional impact of violent natural events on the children who survive disasters. Degree of emotional stress in younger children; Getting schools up and running as crucial to the communities' recovery; Headaches that school administrators face in the aftermath of disaster; Positive aspects of natural disasters for school systems.

Relates the story of Eliot Wigginton, founder of the Foxfire magazine language-arts movement, as he finishes a 12-month jail sentence for child sexual abuse. Accusations of child sexual abuse by former students; Wigginton's admission of guilt; Reactions from the education world; Effect on Foxfire foundation; End of career as a teacher. INSET: A Foxfire chronology..

Focuses on the alternatives for policymakers in making schools and districts accountable in the United States. Assessment of average test scores; State control of districts that constantly fail; Avoidance of imposing penalty on schools for problems beyond their control; Options in managing low-scoring schools; Effects of students' demographic characteristics to test scores.

Discusses several recent studies that is building a stronger case for the multiage primary classrooms. Existence of multiage classrooms as long as the one-room schoolhouse; Resurgence of the concept's popularity in the 1950s; Compatibility of the ungraded classroom with a wide range of new reform ideas; Advantages of grouping children in mixed-age classes; Key aspects of the Kentucky program. INSET: Findings..

The article focuses on the coherent curriculum introduced in California schools. Coherent curriculum provides a framework for preparing teachers, developing materials, assessing students and holding schools accountable. District officials have begun in recent years to take steps to make sure teachers have the equipment they need to teach in the new ways called for in the framework. The curriculum framework seek to articulate a more comprehensive, less specific-view of what teaching in a particular subject should look like. The framework calls for changes in the way subjects are taught in schools.

The article reports on the initiative undertaken by rural school officials to open regular classrooms to all students with disabilities across the district in Virginia. Indications have showed that court decisions, parental demands, new research, and the success of other educators, have put disabled children back into regular classrooms.

The article reports that the state of Maine called on the U.S. federal government to define and set high standards for education beneficial to children. Educators and citizens in the state came up with a wide-ranging educational plan that establishes goals for student learning. The document particularize what students should know when they leave school and the skills and attitudes they should take with them.

The article reports on the plan of giving students more information about Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus' landing approaches in the U.S. A barrage of educational efforts and a passionate debate over how best to teach about the historical event and its consequences was made. A list of other education-minded efforts geared to the celebration is presented. A number of universities are sponsoring similar institutes on the subject specifically geared to classroom teachers.

An obituary is presented for educator and author Theodore R. Sizer.

The article discusses online education for K-12 schools. The author details research that suggests online classes can be as good as classes that are taught in person. The differences between the designs of online classes and who takes them are examined, focusing on the conditions that help students excel.

This article describes research on the effects of lost school time on student performance. Dave Marcotte examined test scores during years with several snow days and found that 3rd graders meeting proficiency levels was 3% lower. However, Harris Cooper, of Duke University, says it is not just about time but using the time effectively.

The article reports on the studies exploring the relationship between education and economic growth of a country. As reported, today, a mounting database of results from international studies has made it possible for researchers to start exploring the relationship between education and economic growth in much more systematic ways. It is reported that estimates vary widely over the degree to which education matters in promoting economic growth.

The article reports on a study that examined the relationship between the arts and academic achievement. The author states traditional thinking has posited that the artist and the scientist are fundamentally different people. This research suggests that the cognitive processes involved in both the arts and the sciences are more related than previously believed.

The article discusses the growing number of students from low-income families in public schools, particularly in the Southern U.S. where over half of the students come from poor families. It includes a list of needs faced by poor children, including special education and English-language instruction. The article also presents trends showing a nationwide increase in number of low-income children, particularly in the Western U.S., and challenges the students bring to No Child Left Behind policies.

The article presents a report by Arthur E. Levine, the former president of Teachers College at Columbia University. Levine calls for graduate level education research programs to make a clearer distinction between the Ph.D. and the Ed.D. degrees and to increase the quality of research programs. The report was based on a four year long study of graduate level educational schools or departments in the United States.

The author discusses the change of focus in educational technology research, from innovations in technology in the 1990s to effectiveness of technology applications in 2007. She cites U.S. and British research showing that educational technology yields "small but significant" gains in learning and student achievement, and further research showing improved achievement when digital learning combines information on how children learn a topic with the subject being studied.

The article reports on a study being conducted in Coshocton, Ohio, where students are being paid for passing or scoring high on state exams. Coshocton is in the third year of an experiment being conducted by Case Western Reserve University researcher Eric P. Bettinger. Funded by local manufacturer Robert E. Simpson of MFM Building Products Corporation, preliminary results look promising, especially in math. Details about the motivations behind the study and preliminary results are presented.

The article reports on the potential of the exam called the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, which is one of the biggest assessment programs in the world. Created in 1958, a group of international scholars used this exam to measure student learning around the globe. The scholars had hoped the test results could offer insight on how best to teach children. Details are given on factors limiting and influencing students' test scores.

The article reports that in 2006, four years after U.S. Congress passed a law replacing the Department of Education's top research office with the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the transition has been completed. Critics and outside experts are giving it mixed, but mostly positive, evaluations. Specific changes implemented with the creation of IES are detailed, and causes for praise as well as criticism are presented.

The article reports that students learn more from certified teachers than they do from uncertified teachers, even when the uncredentialed teachers are Teach For America recruits from some of the nation's top colleges, a Stanford University research team concludes from a study of test scores in Houston. Findings from the study, which researchers presented here April 15 during the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, have refueled the fierce, continuing debate in research and policy circles over programs that let new teachers into the field without traditional training. In the more recent of those reports, researchers from Mathematical Policy Research Inc., of Princeton, New Jersey, found that elementary students taught by TFA recruits in eight cities learned more mathematics over the course of a school year than their peers whose teachers were hired through more traditional routes.

This article reports that after meeting as a community to set policy on schools and other matters since 1766, residents of Deerfield, New Hampshire are altering that democratic process to make room for modern demands. One Saturday each year, when the cold weather begins to break and the maple sap rises, the citizens in Deerfield pull on their boots and head to the town's only public school for the annual school district meeting. School district meetings are gatherings where voters debate and then decide how to educate the town's youngest residents. Though Deerfield has held regular school meetings over most of its official history, this year's session was more historic than most. It was the town's last traditional style school meeting.

This article informs that under Stephen Decatur Middle School's policy, all students wear the standard school attire consisting of khaki pants with polo shirts in white, burgundy, or navy blue. Rhonda E. Chandler, the parent of a 7th grader at Decatur, likes not having to buy more expensive designer clothes or worrying that her child will change into less appropriate clothing in the school restroom or on the bus going to school. They don't cultivate student self-esteem and motivation. They don't balance the social-status differences that often separate students.

Five-and-a-half years ago, against the advice of his wife and his academic colleagues, Samuel C. Stringfield stepped out of his ivory tower. The then-50-year-old education researcher, a nationally known expert on school improvement, became a member of the Baltimore city school board. In the process, though, Stringfield became an overseer of one of the historically most troubled urban school districts in the nation. Over the course of his board tenure, the 89,000-student school system saw its rock-bottom test scores creep up, and it faced down fiscal insolvency and a possible state takeover. At one painful point, protesters even swarmed into the school board meeting room, took over members' seats, and called for their ouster. At another, Stringfield and his board colleagues listened to the pleas of a grandmother worried that a planned school closing would mean that her grandchildren would have to walk past dangerous, drug-infested street corners on their way to school.

At Robert E. Lee High School in Houston, Texas, 10 small learning communities have replaced one-size-fits-all education. Five years ago, Robert E. Lee High School was a big school with big problems. Overcrowding at the 3,100-student school forced some students to use air-conditioning units for chairs. With advice from local and national experts, Lee High was subdivided into 10 smaller learning communities of about 200 students each. Like miniature, semiautonomous schools, each academy has a career theme designed to tap into students' interests. Lee High was an all-white school where students had to produce their parents' financial statements in order to join the Key Club.

The school, a predominantly Hispanic, K-5 school nestled in a hilly agricultural valley between Salinas and Santa Cruz, is a testing ground for researchers from the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, & Excellence, known as CREDE. For a center whose work specializes in devising ways to meet the needs of the growing numbers of students nationwide who come from nonmainstream cultural and ethnic backgrounds, the school has been an apt choice. The federal research center, which is based at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has spent its time here testing five standards that CREDE researchers believe distinguish effective instruction for students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The standards call for dialogues between teachers and students, for adults and students to engage jointly in productive activities, and for students to grapple with challenging concepts, among other characteristics.

A debate is under way over whether the time has come for education schools to overhaul the way they train the next generation of education researchers. Researchers in education spend years at a time pondering what makes a good school or a good lesson. What they haven't thought about as much is what makes a good researcher. At the heart of all the efforts is a general desire to improve educational research by improving the preparation of the people who do it. Whether the criticism is that studies in the field are too few, too sloppy, or just not produced or packaged in a way that practitioners find usable, the thinking is that education schools, by and large, can do better. "Schools of education chronically permit to graduate students as researchers who have very poor research skills," says David K. Cohen, an education professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Presents news briefs related to developments in the field of education as of May 7, 2003. Grant provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development for the rehabilitation of a secondary school in Umm Qasr, Iraq; Judgment ruled by a federal judge about reinstation of a 17-year-old student at a school; Measures taken by officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the discovery of lead dust and paint chips in classrooms.

Despite its diversity, public educators in the city of Providence in Rhode Isalnd are beginning to speak in a single tongue: the language of cognitive science. The work here is really a collaboration involving the 27,000-student school system, the noted cognitive psychologist Lauren B. Resnick, and the Institute for Learning. Resnick founded the institute eight years ago to act as a liaison between researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center and practitioners in the field. The circle of Providence educators taking part in institute-run training sessions has expanded.

Focuses on research that explores the apparent link between bullying and school violence in the schools of the United States. Reasons for attention given to bullying in the schools; Facts regarding the bullies; Views of the people in the country on bullying; Difference between the bully victims and hard core bullies; Solutions provided to cut down bullying.

Focuses on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requiring practices based on research in the United States. Implementation of standards of quality for education research; Debate on the quality and usefulness of educational research; Plans of the Education Department to evaluate the claims for products and programs. INSET: Finding What Works in Education.