Intended to increase the awareness of school staff, parents, students, and the community about equity issues and effective school practices, this handbook provides role-appropriate responsibility lists of primary education stakeholders that promote educational excellence for all students. This resource emphasizes the importance of the extended learning community in creating and sustaining a respectful, challenging, multicultural, and safe school environment that promotes the success of every student.

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This revised edition is the result of two conferences on racial harassment and numerous training of trainers administrator workshops conducted by the Equity Program. Although much national attention has been focused separately on the issues of racial harassment and on sexual harassment, these conferences and training underscored that where one type of harassment occurs, the opportunity exists for all types of harassment.

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 unique aspects of racial and sexual harassment as appropriate. The hope is that the material will help teachers, administrators, students and communities create a safe and bias-free learning environment.

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America's culture, its very identity as a nation, has been shaped by the native people who initially inhabited this continent as well as the immigrants who formed and built what is now called the United States. Awareness of past and recent experiences of immigrants is essential to effectively educating immigrant youth. Understanding and respecting the diversity that has brought the United States to world prominence will help ensure that all students develop the skills necessary to meet the challenges of a changing, multiethnic nation.

This publication serves as a resource for addressing these critical issues by: (1) providing information and resources for gaining a better understanding of immigration and the immigrant experience, and (2) offering strategies and techniques to assist K-12 educators in meeting the educational needs of immigrant students within the context of the regular classroom.

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Partnerships by Design is a practical, realistic tool, focused on working with families and the community, that provides easy-to-read information and an efficient planning process. It contains simple forms, worksheets, and activities that help schools and organizations write their own school-family-community partnership plan. Partnerships by Design also includes "Ideas for Action" - hints, tips, and practical suggestions for putting the plans into action.

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The Looming Deadline and Implications for English Learners
The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reports consistently show that a majority of schools are unlikely to meet the 2014 deadline set by the NCLB Act of 2001...

Disproportionality in Special Education
Disproportionality occurs when the representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education exceeds their proportional enrollment in a school's general student population. If data at your school...

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Closing the Achievement Gap: How Close are We?
Is your school academically successful? How would you know? According to the No Child Left Behind requirements, a school is considered successful...

Preventing School Violence
The spike of tragic school shootings in 2006 in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania show that potentially every school, regardless of location, demographics, or size, is at risk. Every school should take precautions...

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Cyberbullying: A New Challenge Facing Schools and Parents

While access to technology has enhanced learning for students, it has also created new problems for youth. Through the use of email, Internet chat rooms, cameras, cell phones...

Quiz: Understanding Cyberbullying Terminology

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U.S. Department of Education

What Works Clearinghouse

Doing What Works

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights provides information to parents and students regarding their rights under the law. It also includes an online complaint form that can be used to file complaints of discrimination.

The Midwest Equity Assistance Center at Kansas State University maintains an annotated multicultural, multimedia resource center and houses thousands of books, videocassettes, audiocassettes, CD-ROMs, laserdiscs, filmstrips, phonograph records, and games related to equity issues.

Teaching Tolerance is a national education project dedicated to helping teachers foster equity, respect, and understanding in the classroom and beyond. Site contains articles from Teaching Tolerance Magazine, classroom activities and resources, and recommended reading.

Educational Equity Concepts (EEC) is a national not-for-profit organization that promotes bias-free learning through innovative programs and materials addressing equity in school and afterschool (science education, disability awareness and inclusion, early childhood education, sex equity).

A set of links to sites that contain materials on students' legal rights and civil legal issues which arise in public school settings.

• Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education - Products and Publications
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - Students' Rights
• Center for Law and Education
• Education Law Center, Inc.

The following sites contain research and information on issues related to equity, standards, and improving education for diverse learners.

• Center for Language Minority Education and Research
• Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence
• Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
• Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy
• Consortium for Policy Research in Education
• Quality Education for Minorities Network

Education Northwest's Center for Classroom Teaching and Learning has recently updated and revised five guidebooks for key components of creating safe, positive schools. The guidebooks feature a combination of fresh research, best practices, and planning tools to help educators and administrators make effective decisions and create successful programming.

Made possible with generous support from the Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence at the George Washington University and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the publications provided here are based on previous work done by the Hamilton Fish Institute and the Education Northwest (formerly NWREL). These resources have all been updated with the latest research by leading experts in the fields of school safety.

The five revised guides in the series can be downloaded (in PDF format) by clicking the links below:

• Creating Schoolwide Prevention and Intervention Strategies
• Ensuring Quality School Facilities and Security Technologies
• Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement
• School Policies and Legal Issues Supporting Safe Schools
• The Role of Mental Health Services in Promoting Safe and Secure Schools

Equity practices lie at the core of good teaching and therefore will benefit all students, not only those traditionally filtered out of the science and mathematics pipeline. This guide of proven practices eases the challenge of translating theory into classroom practice. It provides lists of books, curricula, organizations, and online resources to help teachers implement the equitable teaching strategies that work for them. Practices discussed include topics such as expectations, interactions, hands-on activities, cooperative learning, learning styles, ability grouping and tracking, family involvement, and professional development. It is part of the It's Just Good Teaching Series.

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