Teachers College Columbia University

Ask the average parent or teacher what change they'd most like to see in their school, and there's a good chance the answer will be "smaller classes." Now a new review of major research on the subject finds that reduced class size is far from a universal panacea, and may have no bearing at all on student achievement unless enacted under the right political, economic and academic conditions.

Henry Levin to give Distinguished Lecture; Susan Fuhrman, Amy Wells, Edmund Gordon and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn in Presidential Sessions
Janet Miller receives lifetime achievement award; Edmund Gordon hosts "A Scholar's Evening in Harlem" at Schomburg Center

Doug Greer has fashioned a teaching approach from the ideas of B.F. Skinner. Now he's testing it to see if it can help close the nation's achievement gap At first glance, Karla Mondello's second grade classroom in the Morris School District in Morristown, New Jersey, looks pretty much like any other. Children sit together at tables; there are drawings and paintings tacked up on the walls and math problems on the blackboard; the shelves are filled with books, a terrarium, a plastic skeleton and other cool stuff.

A new report by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) of Teachers College, Columbia University looks at state policies that promote students' seamless transition from high school to postsecondary education and rewarding careers.