The book aims to provide an archival forum for researchers, academics, practitioners, and industry professionals interested and/or engaged in the reform of the ways of teaching and learning through advancing current learning environments towards smart learning environments. It facilitates opportunities for discussions and constructive dialogue…

For a pilot program to succeed, administrators should take the following steps: state the program objectives; keep lines of communication open with school staff; broaden available resources; be clear about expected time demands; see that staff members know the availability and how to handle funds; and take time to review, assess, reflect, and…

Whatever the past achievements of our schools, very few today bring about student learning even remotely up to the minimum requirements of a nation such as the United States; small improvements in the educational system will be of little consequence in light of the huge deficits and the country's increasing needs. Most of the large, complex plans…

The Dade County, Florida, school system selected 32 schools to participate in a pilot program for shared decision making. Evaluators found similar problems and solutions in a variety of school settings and classified them into 9 categories. (MLF)

Positive Action, an American curriculum intended to facilitate teachers' use of positive affective and democratic elements in educational practices, was used in two Moscow schools over a 1.5 year period. A review of problems associated with the "deindividualization" of past Soviet educational practices points out the need for programs…

The California Assessment Collaborative (CAC) was designed as a three-year effort to identify, validate, and disseminate alternatives to standardized testing throughout the state. This report highlights the results from the first year and comments on the work of 22 diverse pilot projects that serve as examples of site-based development of…

This publication provides research-based discussion in 20 chapters of possible extension of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to honor high performing colleges. Chapters are organized into two volumes, the first exploring a broad range of issues from a scholarly point of view and the second emphasizing the practical application of a…

These three newsletter issues describe what pilot sites sponsored by the State Vocational Education Consortium are doing to improve the academic competencies for general and vocational students. The first issue summarizes the activities occurring in pilot sites, including establishing higher expectations for general and vocational students,…

This document reports on a pilot project called "The Consortium of Schools for the Future," designed to anticipate and make necessary adaptations for the future of public education. A section describing the project precedes a discussion of the disparity between advantaged and disadvantaged students--particularly along racial and ethnic…

The effectiveness of Phare vocational education and training (VET) reform programs conducted in 13 Eastern and Central European countries in 1993-1998 and lessons learned from the programs were examined through a review of information from the following sources: a cross-country analysis on curricular reform; a review of technical evaluation…

This report contains descriptions of 34 best practices of North Carolina high school/community college Tech Prep (TP) consortia from a 2000 review. All consortia were allowed to choose their best effort or accomplishment completed or in operation at the end of 1999-2000. Among the practices described were: a comprehensive career development…