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This book describes a comprehensive process by which schools and districts can turn piecemeal initiatives to incorporate standards into curriculum into a coherent plan. The book explains how to determine who is to teach and assess each standard and how to create a curriculum and assessment plan. It defines effective practice in linking curriculum and standards and explains how to create a comprehensive assessment system. Action planning is described as the key to successful linking, and improved student performance is identified as the centerpiece of all standards-linking procedures. The chapters are: (1) \"Overview of Standards Linking\"; (2) \"The Curriculum and Assessment Plan\"; (3) \"Defining Effective Practices for Attainment of Standards\"; (4) \"The Comprehensive Assessment System\"; (5) \"Action Planning\"; (6) \"Reporting in Relation to Standards\"; (7) \"Professional Development, Supervision, and Evaluation\"; and (8) \"Getting Started.\" One appendix contains a learning opportunity survey for teachers, and the other contains a sample school district plan. A glossary is included. (Contains 35 references.) (SLD)

Harris and Carr share their experiences with standards based learning and offer practical examples of how to develop standards into units of study. The model and processes they describe in this book help readers in choosing and coordinating standards, topics, products and performances, assessment criteria, exemplars, and scoring guides.

Create a school environment that ensures improvement ideas are more likely to succeed by using the guidelines and strategies from this book. After the authors present the foundational principles of group decision-making in a collaborative school, they explain the functions that are key to a dynamic school that embraces change and improvement: (1) Establishing and managing effective study groups that reflect on current school practices and investigate new approaches; (2) Developing and supporting coaching relationships that foster professional development throughout the staff; (3) Designing and managing mentoring programs that maximize the talents and resources of veteran and beginning teachers; and (4) Promoting and sustaining shared leadership that focuses everyone on mutually agreed-upon goals. Learn how these functions come together to form a learning community that is committed to a continuous improvement cycle.

Critical Issues in Gifted Education by Maker, C. June . Pro-Ed, 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, TX 78758. 1986, 357 pages. $35.00

On December 15, 2000, the US Congress passed HR 5660, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, containing sweeping changes to the US exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives markets. The act was attached to an omnibus appropriations bill that President Clinton signed into law on December 21. Among other things, the act: 1. provides for deregulation of, and major structural changes to, the US futures exchanges, 2. removes the ban contained in Section 2(a)(1)(B)(v) of the Commodity Exchange Act on the offer and sale of certain securities-indexed futures contracts in the US, and 3. provides for the trading of wholesale OTC derivative transactions free of oversight and regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Visual Literacy Connections to Thinking, Reading, and Writing by Sinatra, Richard. Charles C. Thomas, P.O. Box 4709, Springfield, IL 62708. 1986, 307 pages, $33.50.