An educational specialist employed as a learning consultant to schools in a seashore resort community planned and implemented a practicum study intended to address problems in the prekindergarten screening process of the community's primary school. Practicum goals were to: (1) identify children who would benefit from prekindergarten intervention;…

This practicum was designed to improve Child Protective Services in a western state to sexually reactive children under the age of 10 by targeting four areas of the service delivery system: screening, assessment, treatment, and foster care. A panel of agency staff from all service areas researched, designed, proposed, and implemented changes…

The state of South Carolina enacted the Educational Improvement Act of 1984 which mandated the identification of young students gifted in the visual and performing arts. This practicum sought to effectively identify South Carolina children in grades 1-3 who were gifted and talented in art, music, drama, and dance. The program used an…

Child Find is the name of a public school outreach effort to identify 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children in need of supportive services. This practicum addressed the need to extend Child Find activities in an urban setting. The goals of the practicum were to (1) expand the Child Find effort using an existing program, (2) develop a videotape about…

In view of federal and state legislation requiring community colleges to meet the individual needs of physically or developmentally handicapped students, a three-part study was conducted at the College of Alameda to examine the feasibility of instituting a policy that would mandate assessment tests for all incoming students as a means of…

A director of elementary education at a Chapter 1 school in a Southern, urban community designed and implemented a practicum study intended to expose disadvantaged kindergartners to stories and books. The primary goal was to stimulate the children's interest in books and desire to read. A second aim was to expand the scope of the practicum to…

The major goals of this practicum were (1) to initiate a preschool screening program to identify children with special needs in the Lower Township School District, Cape May, New Jersey; (2) to refer these children to appropriate remedial services prior to their entrance into kindergarten; and (3) to provide opportunities for parents to attend…

This practicum attempted to increase the number of minority elementary students in prekindergarten through grade 5 found eligible for placement in a gifted program by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the screening instruments and by providing inservice training to increase the understanding of gifted characteristics and program…

A day care director of a center sponsored by a metropolitan medical center designed and implemented a practicum study to address the lack of a system for identifying and assessing high-risk children. The practicum was also intended to develop a program which would respond to teachers' concerns for children with special needs and obtain positive…

The admissions process at Fayetteville Technical Institute (FTI) currently relies on high school class rank, prior academic performance, and an admissions interview for placement. Faculty concern about students' writing ability prompted a review of the placement test program, which resulted in a recommendation to include a measure of grammatical…

A study was conducted at the Community College of Allegheny County, in Pennsylvania, to compared the level of preparedness in an intermediate algebra course for students who placed directly into the course and those who had tested into and completed a basic algebra course. Placement test scores, algebra course grades, and repeat status were…

This practicum was designed to increase the number of elementary school students eligible for placement in a gifted program by improving the prescreening process. Major goals were to: (1) improve teachers' ability to identify giftedness in children; (2) improve the referral rate for gifted screening; and (3) increase the identification and…

This practicum was designed to improve the process used to identify kindergarten and first-grade children who are at risk for academic failure and may need to be referred for a comprehensive special education evaluation. Prior to the practicum, the screening process consisted of a curriculum-based readiness measure which failed to identify…

This practicum attempted to increase parental understanding and acceptance of the process for referral, screening, testing, and selecting children for a gifted program in a northern Florida community; to improve the self-concept of children who were not found to be eligible; and to decrease the time spent by school personnel in resolving problems…

This practicum was designed to improve screening procedures for identifying students with high potential, to develop and field test screening instruments, and to increase the number of students with high potential from minority populations referred for further testing. Three screening instruments were developed for use in searching for students…