Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

A study examined school personnel perspectives on barriers to the implementation of a statewide program to influence change in curriculum and instruction. Interviews were conducted with personnel from 5 schools and districts and generally positive results were reported in moving from their existing curriculum and assessment programs to the mandated state program. Interview data from teachers, principals, and curriculum coordinators demonstrated that adherence to the mandated statewide program was not without considerable challenges. School personnel reported that the implementation of the program and intended school change was made difficult by barriers related to the lack of alignment between existing and mandated instruction and performance assessment, lack of alignment between teacher practices and beliefs with those implicit in the statewide program, lack of resources to help implement change mandated by the state program, the performance assessment materials and procedures themselves, and the lack of sufficient communication from the state-related to the mandated program. Results suggest that overcoming the barriers to implementation of the statewide program requires a systematic approach that provides the resources to support change of classroom practice, helpful communication between those people involved in the curriculum, instruction, and assessment change processes, and ongoing refinement of the assessment program and the performance assessment materials and procedures. (Contains 21 references.) (Author/RS)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert