Students enter postsecondary institutions to change their lives in some way, with degree pursuits providing opportunities to grow academically, socially, and professionally. However, significant numbers of students are unable to meet the goals they had set for themselves when they entered college. Developed by the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC)…

At its most effective, advising is a collaborative process between a student and an advisor designed to help the student realize their educational potential. Most postsecondary institutions have historically used advisors to help students select and register for courses, but postsecondary institutions are increasingly asking advisors to play an…

This issue brief looks at evaluations of 34 academically focused summer programs in order to distill challenges and compile promising strategies for creating quality summer programs. While many summer programs face similar implementation challenges, each program has different components and needs, and not every strategy is feasible or even…

Designed to raise awareness of the implications of cable television and satellites for the Open University, this paper indicates why cable television developments will affect the university and the wide range of university people and departments who will be affected by such developments. Four main issues that the university will have to deal with…

A Wisconsin advocacy model for gifted education programs is presented, emphasizing ongoing collaboration and dissemination to most effectively utilize meager resources. Essential elements of the dissemination design are identified, including use of regional sites, requiring participation of an administrator on the team, group problem solving, and…

A series of five discussions with more than 50 people involved in the national school-to-work initiative created by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (STWOA) resulted in the following conclusions (among others): (1) Problems with the concept include a negative attitude toward the phrase "school-to-work," the complicated nature…

A number of factors put pressure on schools to work more closely with health, social service, and other youth-serving institutions but poor communications, program redundancies, fear for job security, and concerns about parent and community support for controversial services inhibit close collaboration. Recent successful collaborative school,…

Management issues, guidelines, policies, and procedures for implementing a statewide plan in Oregon for improving secondary school special education and transition programs for students with mild or severe disabilities are described. An overview is given of the development of the plan, including discussion of: background events; general underlying…

The diminishing role of the federal government in rural development has created an opportunity for new initiatives in this area. One potentially useful response is the creation of a state-rural policy center. Such centers can combine the efforts of land grant institutions, extension services, and state universities in the development and…

Birmingham-Southern College has surmounted major problems of enrollment, finances, and mission by adding and expanding career-related curricula and selected adult and post-baccalaureate offerings, reaffirming and finding new applications for its original liberal arts mission. (MSE)

The role of an "Educational Consultant" at the Cochlear Implant Center of the Manhattan (New York) Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital involves assisting in implant candidate selection; acting as a liaison to local education agencies; interviewing parents; visiting the child's school; demonstrating classroom listening activities; and monitoring the child's…

This article argues that colleges and universities that overlook the potential of new technology for development of distance-learning programs may find themselves losing students and revenue to other institutions and corporate competitors. Eight considerations in development of an institutional telecommunications policy are outlined, and several…

Two conference papers describing various collaborative arrangements within the educational community among teachers, students and others are presented in this document. The first paper, "Successful Collaborations" (Eugene Cota-Robles), describes the following projects in California that seek to forge collaborations to improve the…

A group of three conference papers, all describing successful methods of preparing students for succeeding at the postsecondary level, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Educational Pathways that Promote Student Success at the Postsecondary Level" (Lester W. Jones), discusses a program established at Xavier University--a…

The aging of New York State's population poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the major institutions of society. The challenge facing educators is to develop a comprehensive strategy to mobilize the capacity of the educational system to address the multiple needs of an aging population in the context of existing social and economic…