While policy debate is often focused on the whole teaching profession, primary and secondary teachers differ in more ways than one. While all countries require teachers to have at least a bachelor degree to enter the profession in primary or lower secondary education, the structure and content of the programmes vary and are less geared towards…

Extension Master Gardener Volunteers (EMGVs) are recruited and trained to answer questions and diagnose gardening problems for the public. Most states have developed an EMGV Manual for use in the initial training. Thirty-two EMGV Training manuals from across the United States were reviewed for form and content. While many of the manuals have…

The purpose of this study was to compare important characteristics of sign language programs in institutions of higher education in the United States in 1994 and 2004. Data were collected regarding (a) program structure, (b) program content and resources, and (c) opinions and recommendations of program administrators. Data show that sign language…

Science teaching and teacher education in the U.S.A. have been of great national interest recently due to a severe shortage of science (and mathematics) teachers who do not hold strong qualifications in their fields of study. Unfortunately we lack a rigorous research base that helps inform solid practices about various models or elements of…

The study investigated networking courses offered in accredited Library and Information Science schools in the United States in 2009. The study analyzed and compared network syllabi according to Course Syllabus Evaluation Rubric to obtain in-depth understanding of basic features and characteristics of networking courses taught. The study embraced…

Medical and nursing schools in the United States have traditionally had a limited emphasis on end-of-life care. The present study is a comparison of these 2 professional programs' current offerings on death education. Data were gathered via a mailed survey from the 122 medical schools in 2005 and the 580 baccalaureate nursing programs in 2006.…

A study assessed the present status of professional preparation programs in sport management at 134 four-year colleges and universities throughout the United States. The study survey attempted to find answers to four questions: (1) Has the number of professional preparation programs in sport management increased during the past three years? (2) Is…

The influence of five programs of the Mt. Druitt Early Childhood Project on the development of preschool children's vocabulary and syntactical skills was assessed in a pretest/posttest design. Programs differed in the amount of structure they imposed on the language experiences of the children and in the content they specified. Different measures…

Prepared as part of the evaluation of the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP), this report compares BAWP to its "critical competitors" (other inservice teacher programs and programs for improving student writing). The BAWP model and ten other program descriptions are presented in identical descriptive formats. Three types of competitors are…

A study compared private and public training programs in the Baltimore (Maryland) metropolitan area. Survey instruments were sent to 105 individuals who had been identified as either directing or coordinating a job training program in the Baltimore area. Seventy-six usable survey instruments were returned (a 72 percent response rate). There was…

Following a discussion of the characteristics of an ideal reading program, this paper presents a comparative analysis of two reading programs--one a teacher-created tradebook program and one a commercially prepared basal reader program--and measures them against the ideal. The paper analyzes the programs in terms of the following characteristics:…

Two curriculum evaluation projects were conducted in response to requests from practitioners interested in determining the quality of commercially developed reading programs. The 1st project, sponsored by 3 school districts in Texas, focused on 5 1st grade reading programs. The 2nd, conducted at the request of junior high, middle-, and high-school…

This study compared five popular instruments for assessing the quality of family child care: the Child Development Associate Competency Standards (CDA); the National Association for Family Day Care Assessment Profile (NAFDC); the Child Care Partnership of Dallas Family Day Care Home Observation Instrument; the Louise Child Care Scale for…

A study examined Work Incentive (WIN) Demonstration programs in four states. The following programs were reviewed: Employment and Training Choices (in Massachusetts), Michigan Opportunity and Skills Training, the Employment Services Program (in Texas), and JOBS (in Oregon). A strict, across-the-board analysis of the programs was difficult because…

A study compared the training activities of 15 community colleges in two California counties with job training programs offered by private industry (companies and industry-related organizations) in the same two counties. Twenty-four companies (of 94 identified) offering training programs in the areas of electronics/electrical technology and…