The need for school psychologists across the county has reached critical levels. In addition, faculty positions for those training school psychologists are going unfilled. With such an identified need, training programs play a key role in closing the gap. In order to address this need in Indiana, the authors, with support for the Indiana…

People who deal with at-risk teens say dropping out is not an event; it's a process. Youngsters miss school and get "backed up" in class, so they miss more school because they're bewildered or embarrassed, and fall further behind. In the three years the 75-seat Hampton Performance Learning Center (PLC) has been open, it claims to have…

Online K-12 education made its appearance in the mid-1990s, largely as a resource for bright students who had no access to accelerated classes. It moved next into core high-school courses where districts found themselves with teacher shortages--math, science, foreign languages--and has been growing bumptiously, and in a dozen directions, ever…

Few issues in education are more pressing than the need to prepare students for a productive life after school. The issue is of paramount importance to the nation as well as the individual. Each week seems to bring another dire prediction that the United States and its workers will soon be competing with far better prepared workers from around the…

Nigeria no doubt is at the threshold of transformation in information and communication technology (ICT), a development that should be utilized to meet the demand of time, especially in the education sector. One area in which ICT has made enormous impact is in open and distance learning. Undoubtedly, the demand on the conventional higher education…

States have the ability to regulate cyber charter schools just as they regulate traditional schools, private schools, and homeschooling. The situation becomes trickier in terms of religion. In homeschool settings, parents have the right to deliver religious education to their children. Under "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002), a cyber charter…

With gym time getting squeezed out by standardized tests and extracurriculars, schools are beginning to digitize physical education. This alternative method is first being offered by Minneapolis public schools in spring of 2005. In digital physical education, students can perform physical activities like they would in a traditional PE class but…

Provides an imaginary tour of a typical high school of the 1990's, where we find libraries without books, halls without lockers, stadiums without bleachers, teachers without unions, and an almost nonexistent dropout problem. Most of these "advances" are attributed to high costs and computerization progress. (MLH)

Describes computer conference courses in special and general relativity that use a text-based remote computer conference setting in which students receive assignments, exchange messages with other students and the instructor, participate in discussions, and submit answers to exercises. Discusses possible reasons why these courses have not worked…

The theme in this special section is computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The papers mark the development of computer-supported cooperative work and give a diversity of perspectives in the field, representing a range of interests and concerns. (AEF)

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita displaced thousands of K-12 students and demonstrated that when K-12 schools close unexpectedly and indefinitely, educational chaos results. Events such as deadly flu outbreaks or bioterrorist attacks will have the same impact on education. These possibilities demonstrate the need for state and local officials to begin…

How can we prepare and encourage new teachers to take on the challenge of changing traditional views of literacy education? Teacher educator William Kist shares a first-year teacher's story of incorporating new literacies within an eighth-grade alternative classroom.

Describes the first of three levels, or generations, in the development of online courses. Explores the design and value of generation one (G1) activities, including steps such as prewriting, drafting, editing, and presenting. Discusses the value of G1 courses and provides some examples. Future issues will address G2 and G3 online courses.…

Describes a study on the performance of Internet notes and PowerPoint lecture slides in a physical geology course and compares it with the traditional lecturing method. (Contains 12 references.) (YDS)

A nontraditional degree program for adult students at Southwest Texas State University instituted a bulletin board system (BBS) in support of required courses in both the undergraduate and graduate degree programs to provide information, communication, and mentoring. The BBS was especially useful to students in preparing their portfolios of life…