The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of adult education for the poor. In this paper, the main focus is on the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois and its first three years.

The Odyssey Project is an Illinois version of the Clemente Course in the Humanities which was originally started by Earl Shorris（1936-2012）, a writer and journalist, in New York in 1995. The Clemente Course in the Humanities is a free adult education program which teaches the humanities to the poor. The premise of the Clemente Course is that the humanities provides a gate to reflective thinking and political life, and can be the way out of poverty. The Clemente Course is now operated by Bard College and has expanded not only to other cities in the United States but also to foreign countries such as Canada and Australia.

The first part of this paper reviews the history and structure of the Odyssey Project in Chicago. The Odyssey Project was founded by the Illinois Humanities Council in partnership with Bard College in 2000.

The second part examines the formation process and framework of the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign. John Marsh, the assistant director at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, was the main actor in founding the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign.

The third part scrutinizes the significance and limitations of the Odyssey Project in Urbana- Champaign. This part closely investigates the role of adult education for the poor from the experience Marsh had in managing the project. Through his experience in Urbana-Champaign, Marsh came to a conclusion that education programs, including the Odyssey Project, had little effect on poverty and unless social systems are transformed, social problems such as poverty and economic inequalities will not be solved. In fact, Marsh has never engaged in the Odyssey Project since he left the University of Illinois for Pennsylvania State University in 2009.

The fourth part argues for the possibility of the Odyssey Project in social transformation. Contrary to Marsh, Amy Thomas Elder, who directed the Odyssey Project in Chicago for years, believes the humanities, inspiring a strong hope for a better world and a better self, can play a role in social transformation. This part inquires into the divergence of Marsh’s and Elder’s opinions.

Based on the four sections described above, this paper considers the possibility of adult education for the poor.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the transformation of desegregation/integration plans from "color-conscious" to "color-blind" in the United States.

Current issues of equality in education are growing more and more complicated. Progress was made by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act（ESEA）in 1965, expanding equal opportunities in education for people of color, particularly black children. However, trends in population and racial/ethnic components continue to change, and some cities have seen increases in the Hispanic/Latino population in recent years.

Furthermore, color-blind ideology has spread in the United States. Because color-blind ideology is seen by some as an ideal, seeming to indicate equal treatment of all people, both right and left use the term. However, we should be careful in our dealings with this concept, as "color- blindness" has potential to hide and exacerbate inequality.

With respect to desegregation/integration, white students filed a lawsuit against the affirmative action admissions program in universities, claiming it to be "reverse discrimination" against white people. They requested equal opportunity for all, referring to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Some Supreme Court decisions concerning desegregation plans have additionally affected and narrowed the scope of desegregation/integration.

In elementary and secondary public education, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No.1; Meredith and McDonald v. Jefferson County Board of Education et al., U.S. 127 S. Ct. 2738（PICS）had a huge impact on desegregation/integration plans in United States public schools, specifically outlawing any desegregation/integration plan giving priority mainly based on race. The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education illustrated and suggested guidelines on voluntary use of race—that is, a race-neutral strategy for achieving diversity. For instance, Cambridge’s controlled choice plan had been recognized since the 1980s as one of the better integration plans based on race and other factors; from 2002 on, factors including socio-economic status, race, and gender were used in controlled choice. However, this plan was revised in 2013, as the use of race as a criterion was forbidden.

Color-blind or race-neutral educational policy has become widespread in pursuit of equality for all children. However, this strategy could in fact support rights for white people rather than people of color. We should thus examine the real situation of all children, and scrutinize whether inequality and（re）segregation has in fact grown worse than before.

The U.S. state of California is attempting to protect school education by building a safety net in the form of the alternative schools system, through stratification of public schools according to the special educational needs and risk levels of students faced with problems in areas such as academic performance, physical and mental health, and behavior or at risk of socially unacceptable behavior such as truancy, drug use, and violence and students who have suffered harmful experiences such as abuse or bullying.

However, as expressed in their characterization as a "School to Prison Pipeline" these alternative schools have been criticized as serving to exclude at-risk students from schools and the community. Under such conditions, in an effort to operate alternative schools in ways that would realize their ideals and objectives research is being conducted in California to assess the quality of education conducted at such schools, in an effort to establish an accountability system. Focusing on the State of California’s Alternative Schools Accountability Model（ASAM）, a system for assessment of alternative schools, this paper aims to verify the results of the alternative schools system and elucidate the limitations of and future prospects for this assessment system by describing the background of its establishment and the actual facts of operation of its assessment activities.

This paper employs the following structure: First, as a systemic overview of California’s alternative schools it will take an overview of four types of school systems and elucidate the distinguishing systemic features of each. Second, while outlining the standards-based educational reforms that have been promoted in the United States since the 1980s and identifying the position of the series of initiatives to assess alternative schools within the context of these systemic reforms, it will describe the ASAM framework in detail. In particular, ASAM efforts can be broken down into the two main categories of Phase 1 efforts conducted during the period from the 2001—2002 through the 2008—2009 school years and Phase 2 efforts during the period from the 2010—2011 through the 2012—2013 school years, and this paper will analyze the impact of reforms to ASAM assessment indicators while also looking at large-scale changes in assessment indicators and accountability. Third, based on consideration of the above matters it will examine the limitations of and prospects for the alternative schools assessment system for atrisk students.

This research examines the RTI（Response to Intervention）model for the gifted，which is a new practical framework for gifted education in the U.S. and clarifies the relation between its characteristics and those of other gifted education programs.

In recent years，the RTI model for the gifted has been disseminated as an RTI application model，which is different from an ordinary RTI model developed as a diagnostic and teaching system for children with learning disabilities. The teaching contents and curriculum in the RTI model for the gifted requires the use of pre-existing gifted education programs as a precondition. Hence，this paper examines how these existing gifted education programs are positioned within the framework of the RTI model for the gifted，which is characterized by a multi-tiered structure， and what kind of changes they bring about in the imparting of gifted education.

In particular，the contents of gifted education in the U.S. were classified and sorted according to two curriculum types: acceleration and enrichment. Furthermore，their incorporation into each tier in Utah’s Four-Tier Model（the RTI model for the gifted in the state of Utah）was examined. The results indicated that in the acceleration program，various acceleration measures and systems in traditional gifted education were utilized at each level and radical acceleration specialized for gifted children was conducted in fourth tier. In contrast，in enrichment programs， enrichment education targeting all students was conducted in １st tier normal education while a more advanced enrichment education was conducted in the higher tier simultaneously. In both cases，specialization and differences in teaching based on children’s interests，attention，learning style，and level of understanding were emphasized，with the forms of teaching and the established plans changing on the basis of students’ abilities.

Further，the Schoolwide Enrichment Model，which is a representative curriculum in gifted education，was examined to investigate and explore how existing curriculum models can be adapted within the RTI framework. The characteristics of curriculum models that could be easily adapted to RTI were also considered. The results showed that curriculum models such as the Schoolwide Enrichment Model，which boasts a multi-tier and multi-stage structured curriculum and in which the teaching level and contents gradually change to match students’ abilities and needs，have an affinity to the RTI framework.

Lastly，the challenges in implementing gifted education programs in the RTI model for the gifted were examined to identify the necessity of enriching the implementation of the core curriculum，forms of teaching，and plans that were suitable for implementing the program as well as for training teachers regarding gifted education.

The propose of the theses is to make clear the promotion factor of the Interdisciplinary Curriculum in America through the conceptual framework of Curriculum Management in Japan. Through a series of an empirical research, the following points have become clear.

First, the concept of Curriculum Management that has been cultivated in Japan has been in most testified in the theory and the practice of Interdisciplinary Curriculum. The key concept of Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Curriculum Management has in common which is "relevancy （connection）", "collaboration" and "Interdisciplinary Curriculum leaders".

Both of the concepts of Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Curriculum Management would be shown as follows : the former was made and the latter was reorganized by the author, but the original concept of Curriculum Management was created by Dr. Nakadome.

"Curriculum Management" will be actualized when curriculum as content, method and function of educational activities and management by providing and maintaining the condition are effectively complementary to each other. The type of combinations of relevancy and collaboration should be patterned and its necessary conditions should be extracted.

The concept of the curriculum embodied in Interdisciplinary Curriculum is the theme learning integrated the interest and concern of the students, centered connected curriculum. Through developing the various kinds of problem-solving and inquiry activities, interdisciplinary collaboration among teachers would create systematically planned, organized, and constructed learning.

Second, Interdisciplinary Curriculum has been functioned in the middle schools.

Third, the function of the curriculum leaders has in common. Especially, the function as the curriculum coordinators is intensely required. By way of case studies, these points have been clarified.

In a theory and practice, the construction of Interdisciplinary Curriculum should be required as a necessary condition, which has aims or missions. But in the concept of Interdisciplinary Curriculum, aims in general fail in. That is to say, the site-based educational purpose in the Interdisciplinary Curriculum has been deficient in practice, though it has the function of the curriculum. Discipline or subject takes first priority.

Therefore the mutual and sincere negotiation among the teachers in the charge of the subjects may be liable to cause misunderstanding as product of the compromise.

The theses and the practice of Interdisciplinary collaboration based the understanding of the realization of educational purpose would be required.

The developing task of this research needs comparative study among the kinds of schools, such as elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to the organizational study of the management, each sphere of man, materials, management and money, and the correspondence of "curriculum & instruction" would be essential for the study of Interdisciplinary Curriculum.

In this paper, the following four points can be observed from Beyer’s theory about thinking-teaching techniques.

First, Beyer made a connection to a concrete proposal of thinking teaching methods by considering the concept of thoughtfulness. Grant Wiggins, an educational consultant, claimed that thoughtless curricula consider "facts as the remedy of ignorance and accurate recall as the only sign of knowledge." After examining such curricula, Wiggins concluded that students have no control over what or how they learn. Skills are drilled and tested, and only rarely applied. In light of Wiggins’ enforcement, Beyer insists that the thoughtful classroom nourishes thinking by making it possible as well as necessary. As a result, in thoughtful classrooms, a learner’s thinking is a normal, expected, and nonthreatening learning activity; it is also the major learning pursuit.

Second, Beyer indicates the specific methodology of thinking-teaching. When there are many points to be learned, Beyer’s thinking-teaching strategies can be used to overcome difficulties. For example, preview and rehearsal are significant because they make clear the process in which learners consider their teacher’s questions. However, the teacher leads the students. All methodologies of thinking-teaching strategies, including preview and rehearsal, provide the kind of guidance and support that enable learners to recall newly encountered or difficult thinking operations as they practice and become increasingly proficient at applying them.

Third, appropriately designed graphic organizers can serve as useful scaffolds for carrying out cognitive procedures that are relatively complex or difficult to execute. They assist learners in carrying out a mental procedure by providing visual and often verbal prompts as to what is to be done first, then the next steps until the process is complete. The visual structure and verbal prompts of graphic organizers also provide feedback while learners move through the procedure. Furthermore, they provide a comprehensive and ongoing available view of the entire operation to be performed, so the user can see exactly where learners are in carrying it out and either how or what has been done or needs to be done in the future relates to the whole.

Fourth, it is also thought-provoking that I place the language of thinking as part of the classroom discourse after learners have expressed a recognition behavior, thoughtful strategies and the language of thinking along with the meaning of the inference. Beyer suggested that learners answer a teacher’s questions by using the language of thinking and doing activities in pairs or small groups. Therefore, classroom discourse is formed.

However, the following two problems arise : ⑴Beyer does not indicate the practice analysis from the viewpoint of learners’ group activities. ⑵Learners can now take their cue from these words. However, a question of whether they can manage to use those words is open to discuss. The meaning may not be expressed via the word that is related to the thought, like a conclusion and a hypothesis for each subject; it is sometimes expressed via the word that is specific to a territory.