This handbook is the second volume in a publication supported by the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) to explore reading instruction for students experiencing high mobility as a result of high poverty. The initial document, "Reading on the Go! Students Who Are Highly Mobile and Reading Instruction," reviewed the characteristics of…

This book is a guide is for school practitioners who want to know more about planning and conducting focus groups as an aid to decision-making. It emphasizes practical and cost-effective ways to ensure accurate results. After defining the focus group, chapter 1 offers ways focus groups can be used in schools and reasons for using them. Chapter 2…

This book describes a structure for understanding and managing the process and options for gathering and analyzing data on needs. The three-phase model that forms the basis for the structure grew from both theory and practical experience in many settings. The focus is on assessing the needs of organizations rather than individuals. It is stressed…

Colleges and universities have come under increasing pressure from various constituencies to demonstrate their effectiveness in measurable terms and to justify their existence in an era of declining resources. A critical element in meeting these demands is a systematic and comprehensive approach to assessment, which demonstrates the effectiveness…

This guide provides practical information for teachers and others working with students who have learning difficulties (such as learning or language disabilities) and for whom English is a second language. Emphasis is on productive instructional strategies and approaches. The book is based on results of focus groups comprised of practicing…

Public libraries are often a vastly underused resource for businesses and business people. This book shows librarians how to aggressively pursue businesses until they turn naturally to libraries for their information needs. The book provides a step-by-step process which teaches librarians how to identify the information needs of businesses,…

This book helps educators produce assessments of their schools' drug and violence prevention programs. It contains over 30 separate resources that can be adapted to specific evaluations (e.g., sample youth and adult participant feedback sheets, sample classroom observation sheets and teacher implementation logs, sample en-route participant…

This book presents a wide array of sophisticated problem-solving tools and shows how to use them in a humanizing way that involves all stakeholders in the process. Chapter 1 develops the rationale for educational stakeholders to consider quality tools. Chapter 2 highlights three quality group-process tools--brainstorming, the nominal group…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

This book is designed to provide guidance on effective practices that are related to better outcomes for young children with disabilities, their families, and the personnel who serve them. Practices were identified through focus groups of stakeholders: practitioners, personnel trainers, researchers, administrators, and family members. These…