This guide provides a description of a mastery learning reading program based on a language approach to teaching reading. All suggested activities stress the use of skills to obtain meaning from reading as the main goal of instruction. Sections include a discussion of the elements of this mastery learning instructional program that notes the need…

Lessons learned about the development of teaching improvement programs are presented in this sourcebook. Drawn from workshops, conferences, social consultations, audiovisual presentations, and brochures, this collection is intended as a resource tool and is directed at improving the educational process of colleges and universities. Chapters…

Problems, issues, and options related to the design and implementation phase of an academic program review process are considered. Directed toward administrators and other nonexpert participants in program review, the analysis is intended to assist in the decision of what kind of review is needed, how it might be carried out, and how results might…

Profiles three program awards for exemplary rural special education practices. Describes an Arizona program that allows teachers to pursue advanced training without quitting their jobs, an Idaho program of work experience and transitional services for special education students, and a Virginia program for normalization of students labeled…

Profiles three programs recognized for exemplary rural special education programs. Describes a program for severely handicapped birth-through-three children in an isolated mountainous Tennessee community, a multidisciplinary special education team that provides an itinerant resource room for an Alaska school district of 22,000 square miles, and…

A collaborative parent-community-school (PCS) model facilitates the involvement of disadvantaged and minority parents, community leaders, and community organizations in educational improvement activities, with a focus on at-risk children and youth in high-risk communities. PCS has a more comprehensive agenda than parent participation, and…

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health created the School of the Future (SoF) project to enable selected Texas schools to coordinate and implement school-based social and health services on their campuses and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method of service delivery by evaluating the project. This report documents the evolution of the SoF…

The Sterling Municipal Library (Baytown, Texas) has conducted an adult literacy project since 1986. The project provides uses Literacy Volunteers of America methodology to teach basic reading as well as English as a second language to all adults with low literacy skills who request the services. No fees are charged for the services. A special…

This document is the report of a policy forum on interim alternative educational settings for students with disabilities involved in disciplinary actions. The report summarizes outcomes of discussions on the following topics: (1) purpose and goals of the interim alternative educational setting; (2) components of interim alternative educational…

All businesses are grappling with knowledge networks--finding the right employees at the right time with the right knowledge and skills. The National Alliance of Business, MIT, and others have been working on an intriguing way to look at labor supply and demand issues called knowledge supply chain management. UPS (United Parcel Service) manages…

A project provided training and guidance to Northampton Community College (NCC) staff in implementing the "new" adult learner skill competencies. Two workshops were held to serve 29 staff in Monroe, Wayne, and Pike counties in Pennsylvania. Among the topics covered were defining and introducing portfolios to adult learners, individualizing…

This report describes the Jobs-Plus approach, an attempt to transform low-work, high-welfare public housing developments into high-work, low-welfare communities. It highlights the rationale of the approach, the way the demonstration has been set up to test the approach in the field, and what has been accomplished so far by the seven cities chosen…

The article describes the development and implementation of an administrative internship program for selected teachers based upon their interest in and perceived potential for development in an administrative/leadership directions in the largest school system in Alabama. The system cooperated with the State Department of Education and the…

Three staff development evaluation techniques are presented as alternatives to satisfaction questionnaires. The techniques--stages of concern, levels of use, and component assessment-- underscore the ideas that: (1) New teaching skills will be used in the classroom; (2) Finding out about classroom practices requires individual interaction with…

Observes the preponderance of heavily marketed drug prevention programs (Project DARE, QUEST Skills for Life) over the more effective psychosocial-based programs. Reviews the literature on determinants of diffusion and recent research on strategies to increase diffusion of these programs. Considers implications for policy and future research. (MJP)