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This resource guide provides information on how teachers from preschool through high school can use personal, family, and community stories to: (1) Bring students' narrative voice into the classroom; (2) Enrich teaching and learning by tapping into students' knowledge, lives, families, culture, and community; (3) Engage and motivate students to write; and (4) Reinforce reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking connections and competencies. This guide is divided into two main parts: a literature review and practitioner examples. The research and literature reviewed explore the topics of writing instruction and the importance of personal, family, and community stories. The practitioner examples describe projects teachers have implemented that use personal, family, and community stories. The examples draw on the insights and practices of teachers to show how schools in the messy, real world of the classroom are creating innovative and effective strategies to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student population.

This booklet examines the issue of trust within the context of school improvement. Specifically, it looks at teacher-teacher and teacher-principal relationships. Drawing on existing research and the experiences of individual schools, it offers a summary of current literature and identifies specific steps that educators can take to increase the level of trust in their schools. It discusses in some detail the following topics: (1) the key components of trust, which are benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, and openness; (2) what the research says about trust; (3) the obstacles to building and maintaining trust in schools; (4) building trust between principals and teachers; and (5) building trust among teachers. Included in the booklet are profiles of 2 schools working on school improvement, summaries of 6 research projects on trust in schools, a list of additional resources, and 30 references. (WFA)

This booklet presents practical, research-based principles and instructional strategies that mainstream teachers can use to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), focusing on the following: "In Context: English Language Learners and No Child Left Behind"; "The Implications of No Child Left Behind for the Mainstream Teacher"; "Instructional Methods and Program Models for Serving English Language Learners: An Overview for the Mainstream Teacher"; "Overview of Second Language Acquisition Theory"; "General Principles for Teaching ELL Students" (a sampling of teaching strategies, examples of instructional strategies linked to appropriate language acquisition stages, and ten things the mainstream teacher can do today to improve instruction for ELL students); and "Conclusion." The booklet profiles several Northwest schools where teachers are working to improve the achievement of their ELL students. Schools with higher and lower percentages of ELL students, and schools in both rural and urban areas, are profiled to show how strategies are used in different contexts. An appendix presents forthcoming research on ELLs. A list of relevant resources is included. (Contains 56 references.) (SM)

Noting that full-day kindergarten has become an increasingly popular scheduling option in U.S. schools during the past 30 years, this booklet provides a brief review of recent literature on full-day programs and highlights important considerations for educators, policymakers, and parents assessing their kindergarten options. The booklet also profiles several full-day kindergarten programs in place in northwestern U.S. schools. Following introductory remarks, the booklet examines issues related to the curricular content of the extra time, school readiness, and cost. It is noted that drawing conclusions from the existing research is not easy, in part because kindergarten practices and student populations vary widely and because there are few studies in which students are assigned randomly to full- and half-day classrooms. Benefits of full-day kindergarten for students, parents, and teachers are delineated. The booklet also lists characteristics of effective kindergarten programs and offers tips for implementing successful full-day kindergarten programs. Questions to guide parents in considering which program will work best for their kindergarten child are included. The booklet then lists considerations for policymakers. Four profiles are provided of schools offering full- or extended-day kindergarten programs in the northwest; the profiles include staff-observed outcomes/benefits and challenges of the full-day program and keys to success. The booklet concludes by noting that choosing a kindergarten schedule depends on multiple factors, including the students needs; the needs and wishes of parents, teachers, administrators, and community members; and the availability of space, teachers, funding, and other resources. Also included are a 6-item annotated bibliography of studies on full-day kindergarten and a list of resources. (Contains 32 references.) (KB)

This workbook was written to complement the training manual "Planning for Youth Success" (Dorfman and others, 2001). That manual outlines how family and community members can work with school staff and students to set standards for student success. This workbook lays a foundation for building partnerships to help facilitate that process. It is based on the assumption that many educators have sought ways to actively involve families but have not gotten the results they desired. Its purpose is to help educators build more effective and meaningful school-family-community partnerships within their schools, programs, or classrooms. It is designed to be a practical tool for facilitating the planning process, specifically to assist partnership-development teams in creating school or program partnership plans. The workbook can also be used as a self-directed study guide. It contains sample forms, sample plans, worksheets, checklists, and activities. It also contains "ideas for action," which are hints, tips, and practical suggestions for putting plans into action. (Contains 22 references.) (WFA)

The material in this Technical Assistance Packet is intended to help mentoring programs monitor individual matches and develop a larger picture that provides a composite view of the strengths and shortcomings of all their matches. The packet contains the Youth Survey, a tool to monitor the quality of individual mentoring relationships, determine what the program is achieving, gain insight into effective and ineffective elements of a program, and establish benchmarks to measure changes in the quality of the programs mentor-youth relationships. The section of this packet is a guide to scoring the survey, with directions for calculating scores for individual surveys and finding averages and ranges for scores across all the surveys. A concluding section focuses on suggestions about ways programs can use their survey findings to strengthen practices. Also included are copies of the scoring sheets that can be reproduced. (SLD)

This booklet provides an introduction to project-based instruction, explaining the research-based rationale for using the approach and outlining how the approach can increase students' engagement and knowledge retention. It offers guidelines for planning and implementing projects and includes a checklist of important things to keep in mind when developing appropriate projects. Assessment considerations, potential pitfalls, and ways to avoid pitfalls are also discussed. The chapters are as follows: "What is Project-Based Instruction?"; "Benefits of Project-Based Instruction"; "Implementing Project-Based Instruction" (essentials for structuring projects effectively, project ideas, what to watch for, and avoiding pitfalls); "Assessment of Project Work" (e.g., purpose of the assessment, identify instructional goals and outcomes to develop appropriate assessments, selecting assessment tasks, student self-assessment, and project assessment); "Professional Development for Teachers" (skills of an effective coach); "Conclusion"; "Northwest Sampler" (case studies from five schools); and "Online Resources for Project Ideas." (Contains 37 references.) (SM)

This supplement to the resources and training manual Assessing Youth Success was designed as a facilitator's guide to activities for a 3-hour training. The purpose of the training is to help participants become more proficient in assessing youth success. The supplement contains five new optional activities intended to help participants explore assessment in more depth and to teach them techniques to build, develop, and critique assessment tools. Each activity includes goals, a time frame, a list of materials, and a brief background to the topic area covered in the title. The five activities are titled as follows: (1) Critiquing Assessment Scenarios: Assessment in Context; (2) Assessing Youth Success Characteristics: Building on Current Assessments; (3) Authentic Assessment Using Multiple Intelligences: Examples of Authentic Assessment; (4) Building a Rubric: Judging Performance; and (5) Standards We Agree On: Developing a Deeper Understanding of Students' Culture and Strengths Through Community. The supplement also contains a set of handouts for the training, many of which are formatted as worksheets; 15 online resources; 13 resources for further reading; and 7 references. (WFA)

All mentoring programs have to make decisions about which available adult volunteer to match with which specific child or youth. The issue of same-race matching is often a particularly difficult one for these programs. In the section "The Question of Race," this technical assistance packet provides an overview of the debate over same-race and cross-race matching. It outlines arguments used in defense of such matching, looks at research results that examined the strength of mentor-youth relationships and outcomes for youth in both kinds of matches, and provides cautions about those research findings. The next section, "Considerations for Program Practices," suggests practices that programs can consider implementing to address philosophical and practical implications. The last section, "Training Mentors in Cultural Understanding," provides information about conducting training in cultural understanding and includes suggested activities. Most cross-race matching involves white mentors and African American mentees, and thus, this document focuses on those matches. However, much of the information is applicable to any kind of cross-race matching, as well as to issues that can arise when the mentor and mentee are from different ethnic backgrounds. A brief conclusion and list of resources conclude the text. (RT)

This curriculum outline represents the design framework for the development of a Paraeducator Instructional Institute Curriculum. The intent of the curriculum is to help Title I paraeducators in Montana meet the qualification requirements set forth under Title I, Section 1119(c) of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The curriculum is organized into seven modules. The first three explore professional standards for Title I paraeducators based on guidelines developed by the National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals in Education; the fundamental roles, responsibilities, and functions of the teacher-paraprofessional instructional team; and an examination of effective classroom practices. The fourth module provides an overview of effective instructional practices, setting the stage for the last three modules. These last three focus on developing the knowledge and skills that paraeducators will need to assist their directing teachers in the instruction of reading, writing, and mathematics. The curriculum modules were developed to be delivered in a sequence of three 2-day institutes over the course of 1 year. This allows time for the application and practice of learning at the work site. (SM)

This booklet provides an overview of the current issues surrounding paraeducator employment and synthesizes recommendations of various national, state, and local paraeducator task force groups. Based on these recommendations, the booklet outlines suggestions for paraeducators, teachers, and principals to increase paraeducator effectiveness. After an introduction, the booklet focuses on: "In Context: What are the Current Issues Involving Paraeducators?" (concerns about preparation training, and roles and about recent legislation); "How are Researchers, Practitioners, and Policymakers Responding to These Concerns and Policies?"; "What are the Guidelines for Paraeducator Roles and Responsibilities?" (roles for teachers, principals, and paraeducators); "Northwest Sampler" (Houghtaling Elementary School, Ketchikan, Alaska; Oakwood Elementary School, Preston, Idaho; Hardin Public Schools, Hardin, Montana; and Cherrydale School, Steilacoom, Washington); and "Conclusion" (paraeducators can offer tremendous benefits for children, providing instructional reinforcement that enhances every student's opportunity to learn, meet standards, and achieve academic success). An appendix presents existing or proposed state paraeducator certification policies. Relevant resources are listed. (Contains 28 references.) (SM)

A central theme in this book is that there are many paths to literacy. The materials in this guidebook are intended to encourage those involved in teaching reading and writing to engage in dialogue and reflection with colleagues, to know their students well, to examine their own experiences and beliefs, and to generate and seek answers to their own questions by collaborative study of research. The guidebook builds and expands on two earlier Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) publications: "Learning to Read and Write: A Place To Start" and "Building a Knowledge Base in Reading." To make the guidebook a practical resource that will assist preschool and early elementary teachers and others in the education field, the materials provide a strong link between research and promising practices. The materials are organized into these sections: Learning To Read and Write: A Place To Start; Creating a Caring Community of Learners; Sharing Books with Children: The Heart of the Early Elementary Literacy Program; Teacher Demonstrations of Strategies for Decoding and Word Recognition; Storytelling, Story Acting, and Writing: Essential Language Experience for All Children; Nurturing Emotional and Aesthetic Literacy: Learning To Read the Heart; Monitoring Children's Progress; and Conclusion. Includes a handout section. Appended are a discussion of professional learning teams to enhance teaching and learning; an annotated 77-item list of children's picture books; and an annotated 48-item list of suggested professional resources. (Contains 315 references.) (NKA)

This guide focuses on children and learning, while offering a picture of how technology can help to further educational goals. It includes anecdotes from the real world of the classroom which show how teachers are using technology to support and enhance students' literacy skills, creating opportunities for positive learning experiences, and helping students acquire confidence to use new tools to advance their own learning. Although young children are surrounded by technology, many educators are not entirely comfortable with these new resources, or wonder how best to integrate the tools of the Information Age into classroom practice in developmentally appropriate ways to reach a range of learners. This guidebook draws on both research and classroom practice to steer educators toward effective uses of technology to advance literacy. It is organized into these sections: Understanding Early Literacy; Understanding Technology's Role in Literacy; Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners; Considering Technology; Putting It All Together; and Conclusion. Appendixes contain a discussion of professional development teams and how they enhance learning and teaching; and a 28-item annotated bibliography of print and online resources. (Contains 68 references.) (NKA)

This guide is designed for anyone who wants to work together with others to improve schools. Its aim is to create a high-performing learning community that is able to meet the highest goals for every student in its care. It identifies the "bottom line" of school-improvement efforts, that is, which elements research, best practice, and theory indicate are most important. In the research provided, school staffs and other stakeholders can find solid information that they can use to build a knowledge base that represents the very best that is known about school improvement, school-change processes, teaching and learning, and the cultures in which they occur. Contents are divided into topics that appear routinely in research and other school-improvement literature. The guide concludes with a series of "toolboxes" that can assist in establishing roles and relationships between school and district staffs and the larger community; enabling shared decision-making; developing focus and building coherency for a school-improvement plan; finding time for adult learning, planning, and collaborative work; supporting professional learning communities; and promoting and fostering leadership. (Contains 102 references.) (RT)

The Learn-Ed Nations Inventory was designed by a panel of American Indian and Alaska Native master educators to determine how and to what extent a school is serving Native students and supporting their needs. The inventory encompasses all factors impinging on students, both directly and indirectly. Nine key school areas were identified to be inventoried: (1) visioning, planning, and school improvement; (2) administrative leadership; (3) parents and community; (4) school-wide behavioral climate and policies; (5) instructional practices; (6) assessment; (7) professional development; (8) facilities; and (9) resources. For each area, indicators are presented and are to be rated on a continuum from significant to not present or not applicable. Space is provided to note the specific evidence used to gauge each indicator. This is a useful feature because if questions arise, those involved can refer to these sources again for clarification or to determine whether the source of evidence was adequate. There is space provided in each area for descriptions of strengths and areas needing improvement. Once the information is gathered, it is intended that the school community engage all stakeholders in a dialogue to share opinions, achieve a deeper understanding of the issues, and determine whether they are traveling along or straying from the improvement path for American Indian and Alaska Native students. Resources include 98 print materials and 28 web sites. The inventory forms are included. (TD)

Existing federal laws require training for paraeducators hired with federal funds. The challenge of professional development for paraeducators has become more acute as they have increased dramatically in absolute numbers and as a proportion of all instructional staff. This report is a guide to state and local education agencies that are designing policies for paraeducator development. It highlights existing programs that demonstrate key elements of effective paraeducator development and describes in detail some promising programs in the states of Iowa and Washington. The paper suggests resources for possible standards and guidelines for state and local education agencies exploring how to appropriately train their paraeducators, and it offers information about postsecondary educational programs and the current scope of paraeducator training and employment. The report emphasizes that the purposeful use of paraeducators includes providing them with clear objectives coordinated with the mission of the school. Three appendixes include a listing of existing or proposed state paraeducator certification policies, a history of paraeducator programs, and highlights of other paraeducator training initiatives. (Contains 30 references.) (SM)

This manual is designed to assist facilitators working with members of a school community in forming or strengthening partnerships that will promote greater success for their youth. Participants can identify characteristics that are most important for youth to be successful in their community, consider ways to determine that students are developing these characteristics, identify resources and assets in the community that will help youth develop them, and plan and implement a project to promote these characteristics. Five presentation topics include: (1) "Introduction," getting acquainted, creating community networks, and introducing key points; (2) "Defining Youth Success," answering the questions "How do we define youth success?" and "What aspects of youth success are critical for us?" (3) "Measuring Youth Success," exploring ways to measure youth success; (4) "Mapping Community Assets That Support Youth Success," identifying strengths and assets within the community; and (5) "Planning the Project for Youth Success," answering the questions "What project shall we undertake to promote youth success?" and "How can we engage the community and measure the results of this project?" Students should be actively involved in the workshop in addition to adults. Scripts and overheads are included for each topic. (RT)

This English-Spanish language report includes the rationale for creating an assessment model for Spanish writing, offering an overview of the components of high quality assessment for any subject area, particularly Spanish writing. It presents the characteristics of effective Spanish writing, rubrics for scoring student performance based on the characteristics, and student writing samples (all from the work of bilingual and English as a Second Language teachers in the field). The 13 sections look at the following: "Introduction"; "Changing Demographics"; "The History of Bilingual Education"; "The Benefits of Spanish Language Instruction"; "Characteristics of High-Quality Assessment"; "Assessment Options for Spanish Speaking ELLs"; "A Better Option: Dual Assessment Development";"The Traits of Effective Spanish Writing: Las caracteristicas"; "How the Spanish Traits Relate to the English 6+1 Traits"; "Rubricas para la evaluacion"; "Student Writing Samples" (tema e ideas, organizacion, tono y estilo, uso del lenguaje, fluidez, and gramatica y ortografia); "Classroom Applications and Strategies for Teaching Spanish Writing"; and "Conclusion." The appendixes present scoring guides for sample papers and project methodology. (Contains 125 references.) (SM)

About 30 percent of American children are regularly involved as bullies, victims, or both. Despite this number, bullying behavior is rarely detected by teachers and is even less frequently taken seriously. The consequences of bullying are far reaching, from lower attendance and student achievement to increased incidence of violence and juvenile crime. The dynamics of bullying behavior need to be understood and taken seriously if schools are to be safe and effective. This booklet provides an overview of what is currently known about bullying behavior and successful efforts to address it. Topics discussed include research findings; schoolwide efforts undertaken to prevent bullying; what parents, teachers, and counselors can do to address bullying; what policymakers should consider; and potential pitfalls. The approaches taken by five schools (including one district and state organization) are described to illustrate the ways school staff members implemented and adapted a program for their students' needs. The booklet ends with a list of the programs mentioned along with contact information, a technical assistance resource, and reading resources. A list of questions and worksheet to aid in choosing a bullying prevention program are also provided. (Contains 27 references.) (RT)

Every day in virtually every school, students and staff suffer the pain and indignity of being a target for harassment ranging from written or verbal abuse to physical violence, which, in some cases, causes serious injury or death. This guide addresses the more comprehensive issue of school-based harassment by capturing similarities in cause of, type of, and remedy for all forms of harassment, while also addressing the unique and legal aspects of racial and sexual harassment, as appropriate. The hope is that the material will help school staff, families, students, and communities to create a safe and bias-free learning environment. After the introduction and overview, which describe the characteristics and scope of school harassment, six sections highlight school harassment issues, describe some effective remedies and prevention strategies, present analyses of schools' responses to actual incidents of harassment, provide brief summaries of relevant legislation and court cases, and describe additional resources. Three sections on what school employees, families and communities, and students need to know can be pulled out and used as is. The guide concludes with a list of selected resources and references. (RT)

This document presents research intended to help teachers and administrators improve the quality of instruction. Topics include: (1) classroom (e.g., teachers carefully orient students to lessons, teachers provide clear and focused instruction, teachers routinely provide students feedback and reinforcement regarding their learning progress, teachers review and reteach as necessary to help all students master learning materials, teachers use validated strategies to develop students' critical and creative thinking skills, and teachers foster the development of self-directed learning skills); (2) school (leaders undertake school restructuring efforts as needed to attain agreed upon goals for students, strong leadership guides the instructional program, administrators and other leaders continually strive to improve instructional effectiveness, and administrators and other leaders engage staff in professional development and collegial learning activities); and (3) district (district leaders and staff encourage, support, and monitor school improvement efforts). Each of the three sections provides a listing of key references. (Contains approximately 370 bibliographic references.) (SM)

This booklet is the seventeenth in a series addressing current educational concerns. The booklet focuses on technology in the early childhood classroom, discussing technology and child development, technology in the curriculum, and technology-related inequities. The booklet includes a discussion of research and literature, implications for policy and practice, a description of how Northwestern educators are using technology in early childhood classrooms, and selected resources. (Contains 27 references.) (EV)

This technical assistance packet is intended as a guide for those who develop programs in support of mentors of youth. It offers guidance to help mentors build trusting relationships with their mentees, and, ultimately, contribute to positive outcomes for the children and youth in the mentoring program. Successful mentoring programs provide ongoing support for the mentoring relationships, not just until the mentor and youth have been matched. Research on mentoring programs is unequivocal about the critical importance of ongoing supervision and support of mentors. Depending upon program characteristics and available resources, the details of this ongoing support may vary somewhat from program to program, but providing the support is critically important for all programs, whether they are school-, institution-, or community-based. The first section, "Monitoring the Relationships," examines approaches for monitoring and supervising mentors. The next section, "Providing Ongoing Training and Support," provides suggestions for inservice training and other forms of ongoing mentor support. The Conclusion describes strategies for recognizing mentors' accomplishments, both individually and collectively. The material also includes checklists to help guide planning, and a list of additional resources. (RT)