Since the mid-20th century, instructional technologies and educational media in social work education have undergone significant development with the goals of improving learning and performance and enhancing access. This growth has been marked by technical advances in hardware and by innovations in media, or so-called soft formats. Current…

Research Findings: This study investigated how the Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education initiative in Illinois (SFI) influenced change in 4 child care programs. Findings indicate that SFI influenced quality improvements through 4 primary pathways: (a) Learning Networks, (b) the quality of training, (c) the engagement of program…

Over the past decade, online courses and entire online degree programs have been made available, serving millions of students in higher education. These online courses largely have been designed and taught using the theoretical concepts and practical strategies of Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN). During 2003-04, approximately two million…

With the rise in the number of types of digital media and the time youth spend on these platforms, researchers theorize that interacting with digital media can provide significant motivation for youth to participate, create, and become active learners. The Consortium on Chicago School Research, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T.…

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is a bold effort to create a network of charter schools designed to transform and improve the educational opportunities available to low/income families. KIPP schools seek to actively engage students and parents in the educational process, expand the time and effort students devote to their studies, reinforce…

This article discusses the (National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) 12 Under 12 project and how it helps the participating schools in closing the academic achievement gap. NSDC embarked on the 12 Under 12 project as a way of prodding schools into moving more quickly than the federal government's requirement that every student meet or exceed…

The major purpose of this descriptive report is to provide an overview of the structure, capacity, and roles of educational service agencies (ESAs) across five states--Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin--in the Great Lakes region, within the context of the broader statewide systems of support for educational improvement and progress.…

The report examines the major activities, input, and results of the Illinois Office of Education's Area Learning Resource Center Project, a program through which state and national resources and services are transmitted to special education programs and personnel at the local level. It is reported that the project accomplished its goals by…

The role of the public library within intertype library networks was studied using published reports and information provided by selected state and regional libraries. Intertype networks cross jurisdictional, and often governmental, boundaries to join academic, special, and public libraries. The history, objectives, methods, and fiscal and…

This collection contains descriptions of model entrepreneurship education programs submitted by 10 states. The first section deals with the Colorado Network of Small Business Programs and the Colorado Entrepreneurship Education Infusion Project. Described next is a model teacher education program in entrepreneurship education that was implemented…

This publication describes the Midwestern Higher Education Commission and its programs, lists its commissioners and reproduces the compact that established it. A description of the commission notes that its member states are Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin; and that it is an instrument of the…

Brief summaries are provided of 17 library projects being conducted in Illinois during 1974. These deal with the following matters: 1) the development of the Illinois State Library; 2) library manpower training; 3) library research; 4) the Illinois State Library Materials Processing Center; 5) the professional development of library personnel; 6)…

The Illinois Rivers Project was developed as an integrated, multidimensional science/technology/society pilot project designed to introduce water quality dimensions into Illinois high schools. The project involved high school science, social science, and English teachers in an integrated study of their local river and community. Science students…