The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) had a unique status among federally funded research and development center in education. Its funding was authorized by the federal legislation for career and technical and administered by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, not the Institute for Education Sciences.…

A national literacy effort built on participatory principles will require study of existing learner-centered theory and practice, resource development, research and development, training and networking, and careful planning. Literacy educators and learners must support each other to create a constituency for the participatory alternative. (Editor)

Four major forces will provide the major influences on all adult learning in the next decade, and they affect conferences and meetings as well. The author discusses these four forces: friendly competition, appeals to the emotions, demands for quality, and increased research and development. (CT)

This article introduces each of 10 peer-reviewed articles on severe behavior disorders, noting that collectively these articles on severe behavior disorders address a number of issues and challenges, suggest a variety of programmatic strategies, and propose directions for future research and practice for students with emotional and behavioral…

This article begins by reviewing major educational dissemination programs and studies. A proposed vocational education research and development dissemination program based on the dissemination principles gleaned from these experiences is then described. (CT)

Includes "Creating Conducive Environments for Learning and Entrepreneurship" (Gibb); "Understanding Notions of Enterprise in the Higher Education Sector" (Hartshorn); "Towards HEI (Higher Education Institution)-based New Venture Generation" (Virtanen, Laukkanen); "Entrepreneurial Universities" (Formica);…

This paper raises political and ethical issues related to the 1990 establishment and continuing operation of the Women's Research Centre in Nepean (Australia). Impinging trends in higher education, local factors, and problems and successes of the first year are reviewed. A summary of seven research projects currently being conducted at the center…

Facilities and schemes for training and retraining vocational education teachers are needed in developed and developing countries, but such training must be cost-effective. Some characteristics of cost-effective schemes include the following: adaptability, coordination between various providers, good planning, and adequate financial support.…

Approaches to developing teaching assistant programs are discussed, based on the organizational change literature. Five models are identified: rational planning, social interaction, human problem solving, political models, and a research and development approach. Political processes often can be blended with social interaction and problem-solving…

This pair of rejoinders to Rainforth (EC 609 966) by the original authors stresses that commitment to an educational philosophy (such as the inclusion philosophy) should not override the educational needs of individual students with mental retardation. The lack of empirical support for many such educational philosophies is also noted. (DB)

Research indicates that token rewards of students have negative consequences. Using this as an example, school board members who are asked to support proposals for new programs should refuse to consider programs not grounded in substantive research and to expect staff members to develop a program-planning process that includes indepth research…

The report examines key questions surrounding cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction for disabled learners as a concept and in practice. The first three sections provide background information about cognitive and metacognitive strategies by defining terms, by discussing their relevance to special education populations, and by summarizing…

This introductory article in a special issue on mentoring as a means to prevent school failure looks at the beginnings of mentoring in the United States, recent growth of mentoring programs, similarities and differences in mentoring programs, sources of funding for mentoring programs, what works and what does not, and the future of mentoring…

This book contains four papers commissioned by the National Center on Employment Policy to review programs conducted by the Office of Policy, Evaluation, and Research in the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration. The Council's policy statement entitled "Appraising Employment and Training Research" appears first. In…

This researcher discusses what he has learned about the field of program evaluation and makes three observations: (1) Testing does not define key objectives in evaluation. (2) Politics influences what clients want to know. (3) Case studies are necessary for epistemological reasons. (LMO)