Head Start has long focused on assessing and improving program quality to ensure that the children served receive the best possible preparation for school and life. Most research has been focused inside the classroom--the classroom environment, teacher qualifications, and teacher interactions. Of course, the classroom is important because that is…

One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this challenge because the "target groups" become…

The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) Network, under contract with the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), has created a framework that can be used to plan, implement, and evaluate professional development for practitioners working with adult English language learners at the state, regional, and program levels. The…

Reviewing the importance of a general advisory council, this article presents the major ingredients of a successful advisory committee and actions that can be taken to increase the effectiveness of the council or to help teachers having advisory council problems. (LRA)

Effective strategic planning has clearly become a skill that is essential to the survival of managers in public and private sector agencies alike. While sometimes thought of as being an overly quantitative and excessively time-consuming activity, strategic planning does not need to be characterized in these terms. In its simplest and most…

This article presents a five-step, structured format to be used in preparing employers for conducting interviews with disabled applicants. Described in this article is a straightforward, convenient tool that can also be used by rehabilitation personnel when providing awareness training and employer education. (Author)

The Program Standards Evaluation System was developed in response to evaluation requirements in the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The system includes procedures for using standards data to monitor and evaluate vocational rehabilitation (VR) service outcomes and outputs as well as standards on key procedural issues. This report contains the outlines of…

The Program Standards Evaluation System was developed in response to evaluation requirements in the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The system includes procedures for using standards data to monitor and evaluate vocational rehabilitation (VR) service outcomes and outputs as well as standards on key procedural issues. This report, which is Appendix A of…

Recent research suggests that principals can improve the content and delivery of staff development programs by selecting practical topics, involving teachers in topic selection and presentation, keeping teachers' experience levels in mind, emphasizing ongoing staff development processes, avoiding lecture-based programs, and encouraging personal…

Describes an effort by agricultural educators in Mississippi to improve the status of vocational education through securing favorable legislation. Suggests seven guidelines for gaining state legislative action. (LRA)

This document serves as a guide for establishing new supervised occupational experience (SOE) programs in agriculture and/or updating/improving existing SOE programs. It is designed for use by administrators, guidance counselors, agricultural teachers, advisory committee members, and others who have an interest in or responsibility for the school…

This guide was developed to help career guidance counselors and administrators improve their programs by adapting the best practices from exemplars and other models and by using standards suggested by national groups. The guide includes the guidance and counseling framework that the National Center for Research in Vocational Education uses for…

This publication provides guidelines and support to aid corrections administrators in improving the quality and quantity of vocational education programs offered at their institutions for female inmates. Chapter 1 introduces a comprehensive approach to programs that calls for systematic use of four steps. Chapter 2 describes the four steps:…

The goals of this practicum were to organize a state network and to increase communication among early childhood educators in 2-year colleges in Pennsylvania; to increase public awareness as the teachers defined their mission, evaluated their programs, and articulated program goals; and to formulate guidelines specifying minimum content for early…

The author suggests that the failure of traditional prevention programs may be one of the reasons for the rising consumption rate of alcohol in Canada. He makes several suggestions for improving alcohol education programs. (SJL)