A mini-pilot test was conducted by the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration to develop training on enforcing the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The situation that necessitated the test is presented; mini-pilot test examples are explained; and pros and cons of the mini-pilots are examined. A sidebar contains suggestions…

Describes a 1981-82 pilot project in the use of computers in grades one through eight by six schools in two suburban Washington, DC, school districts. Despite "the many obstacles and barriers to computer literacy," three of the six schools made "amazing progress." (JBM)

Discusses the need to be flexible and restructure foreign language departments and courses to meet student needs. Describes a four-year, second language program with a nonliterary emphasis, designed for nonforeign language majors as one way to do this. (EKN)

Internet Access for Florida's Public Libraries was a pilot project that linked six public libraries to the Internet for twelve months between October 1993 and September 1994. The project sought to collect information and identify issues that would help in devising future plans and policies for network development for libraries. The project…

Examines major goals, pilot projects, and other activities of the International Environmental Education Program. Includes a series of suggestions for supplementing the effort as well as a comprehensive list of publications for readers interested in pursuing any individual aspects of the program. (Author/JM)

Academic Literacy was a year-long course focused on reading strategy development for all ninth graders at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School in the San Francisco Unified School District. Course goals were to help students become engaged, fluent, and competent readers of the variety of texts necessary for them to master to be successful in high…

A pilot program for training cooperating teachers and bettering communication among all participants in the student teaching program is described. (JMF)

Reports on the first phase of a two-year pilot study of a university-level mathematics requirement that accommodates the needs of developmental students. Finds that the 84% pass rate for this new class format is substantially higher than the 43% pass rate for traditional developmental mathematics courses offered during the same semester. (Contains…

This presentation gives a general review of the Modern Languages Project and outlines tasks of the working groups during the conference at which the report is presented. Underlying the project is a conviction that the ability to communicate freely with other human beings is a basic human right; therefore, people must be afforded the opportunity to…

Discusses a pilot project headquartered at an Ottawa (Canada) high school in which 2 Arctic explorers are connected by satellite to 300 elementary and secondary school sites around the world. Highlights include equipment description, fund raising, areas of curriculum development, the question answering system, uses for university researchers, and…

The Library of Congress presents the history of its Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) system. Descriptions of MARC pilot projects and distribution services are followed by a discussion of several conversion projects undertaken by libraries in order to implement MARC. Then MARC's influence on standardization of formats for information interchange,…

The Issues and Values Project was designed as a pilot program to develop and implement a law-related education curriculum for New York City (New York) private and public school 12th grade students. This booklet describes the curriculum project's: (1) purpose, background, objectives, and evaluation; (2) program implementation; and (3) student…

This report describes the first 3 years of three Excellent Beginnings projects from 1991 to 1994 funded by the Plan for Social Excellence, a private nonprofit foundation that creates or supports innovative pilot projects in education. Programs that are flexible and responsible to needs of individuals and communities, rather than system-wide…

This annual report contains resumes of research projects, exemplary and innovative projects, and curriculum development projects. Projects were administered by state departments of education through research coordinating units (RCUs) in fiscal year 1978 and funded under sections 131, 132, and 133 of the Vocational Education Act of 1963 as revised…