In this article Karla Walker describes how her division developed new curriculum to help adults earn their High School Equivalency Diplomas (HSEDs). The division's goals were to: (1) shorten the time students took to complete the program; (2) develop transition to college or employment; (3) allow for poverty-informed decisions within the program;…

This brief summarizes efforts to reform developmental education at Zane State College and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Focused on accelerating student success and progress, the two schools pursued distinctive approaches to reform that aligned with their institutional missions and student populations. Recognizing that the…

Student participation in short-term programs abroad (both credit and noncredit) has grown exponentially in recent years and now represents the primary international experience for a significant percentage of U.S. college and university students. Recognizing this, the Forum Standards Committee saw a need for a more specific set of standards that…

This study describes special education alternative route (AR) teacher preparation programs. The authors developed a national database of programs and collected information on program sponsorship, length and intensity, features, and participant demographics. Most of the 235 programs in the database were in states that had significant shortages of…

This document offers three papers that were commissioned by the Executive Committee of the Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE) for presentation at the organization's April 10, 1987 meeting. The challenge to each author (one representing the Minnesota State University System, one the University of Minnesota system, and…

The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia has developed a 5-year teacher education program to improve and strengthen preservice preparation. Changes in the program are based on beliefs regarding characteristics of effective teacher education programs and the requirements necessary to implement those characteristics. The program…

A description is presented of a new extended teacher education program at Memphis State University. Instituted in 1985, the program has four objectives: (1) to develop and implement an extended (five-year) program covering all areas of teacher preparation, with institutional recommendation for certification coming only after completion of the…

The 22-year-old Whitaker Foundation, the largest private supporter of biomedical engineering, will close in 2006 to avoid becoming a bureaucracy in search of a reason for being. The foundation, with assets of about $442 million, will increase payouts until 1999, then decrease them as it spends its way out of existence. About 95% of grants go to…

A redesigned preservice education curriculum, conceived to strengthen ties between special and regular elementary teachers, featured the extensive use of practicums and student teaching. A questionnaire was developed to secure external evaluation and validation of the program. The specific research objective was concerned with how members of the…

This paper describes the process of recruiting high quality liberal arts graduates into teacher preparation programs at Memphis State University, Tennessee. The two graduate programs, the Master of Arts in Teaching and the Lyndhurst, both require full-time attendance, have lock-step delivery systems and extended internships, and are intensive. In…

Before outlining a proposal for a flexible trimester calendar to replace the traditional semester system at San Bernardino Community College, other alternatives such as the early semester, 4-1-4, and quarter systems are reviewed. The proposed trimester system, developed in accordance with the California Flexible Calendar and School Finance in…

Summarizes the principal steps involved throughout the development of a CD-ROM on the history of Nebraska's media explaining the reasons for producing the software, its contents and features, selection of material, and the actual design process. Provides recommendations that may help other teachers considering a similar project. (CMK)

In the spring of 1981 the School of Education at the University of Kansas announced that students matriculating subsequent to that date would have to meet the requirements of a new teacher education program of 162 hours spread over five academic years. The decision to initiate an extended teacher education program culminated several years of…

Strategies for implementing changes that will improve the effectiveness of teacher education are discussed. These include: (1) redesigning curriculum by incorporating entrance and exit criteria and a performance-based emphasis, allowing for continuous assessment of the effectiveness of the curriculum and ensuring a more individualized and…

Articles on improving preservice teacher education, with particular considerations on proposed five-year programs, are featured in this theme issue. In "Fifth Year Teacher Preparation: A Solution in Search Of a Problem," Alan R. Tom weighs the pros and cons of extending teacher preparation for a fifth year, noting the fact that…