Effective Practices in Secondary Basic Skills Programs : A Compendium of Case Studies / Carol Ann West.

This compendium provides secondary school teachers, administrators, and Chapter 1 directors with descriptions of effective practices in Chapter 1 programs. The focus is on managerial and instructional strategies that promote success for poor and/or educationally disadvantaged students. The compendium is divided into five chapters: an introduction describing the background of the New Jersey Initiative project and four chapters organized around school and program characteristics associated with student achievement in basic skills. These characteristics are the following: (1) strong administrative leadership; (2) systematic management and monitoring of curriculum and instruction; (3) cooperative teacher planning; and (4) ongoing staff development and inservice training. Eight states participated in the project, each nominating effective secondary basic skills programs, which were studied to learn what contributed to their success. Each chapter defines one of the four major characteristics, summarizes related research, and provides a list of references. This material is followed by case studies which show how the particular management or instructional strategy works in a compensatory education program. Each case study reveals a number of characteristics operating in conjunction with the one highlighted. An appendix includes a list of other documents available from the Division of Compensatory/Bilingual Education. (PS)

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