A training needs assessment instrument was developed by a school district (Lubbock, Texas) with 59 campuses that each plan and provide site-based staff development. The instrument was designed to obtain information regarding self-perceptions of educators' efficiency level in various professional teaching competencies/skills, and their…

Since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has gone into effect, many libraries are evaluating and improving their library services for people with disabilities. There are nearly 110,000 children in Missouri who receive some type of special education assistance because of physical, mental or emotional impairments. Through an anonymous…

With professional educators becoming the target of litigation in increasing proportions and most state legislatures preparing 15-20 new laws per year dealing with educational issues, it is essential that teachers become advised of the impact of law on their classrooms and their activities. This study surveyed a sample of 480 Louisiana teachers on…

A practicum was designed to determine board-wide standards for assessing student achievement in reading and writing in kindergarten through grade 8 by creating analyzed exemplars of student work. Reading and writing indicators were developed to be used as the basis for analyzing the reading and writing exemplars. Teachers collected writing…

A practicum was developed and implemented to address developmental and intellectual delays in primary students in a Georgia elementary school. The program's need resulted from the identification of 18 to 21 percent of the kindergarten and first-grade level students as developmentally delayed or academically unprepared for their grade placement.…

The English Department at Portland State University (Oregon) sponsored a roundtable discussion (revolving around classroom practice, perspectives, pedagogies, and methodologies) of public school, community college, and university English teachers in the winter of 1991 and expanded the dialogue into a focus group during the summer. A survey…

A literacy/basic skills training project, revised to allow for the realities of the economic recession in New England, successfully trained 590 employees and 364 unemployed men and women. Revised positive outcomes included employment in companies outside the eight original companies in the project, enrollment in higher-level education and skills…

The Library Rural Literacy Outreach Program targeted to ten rural communities in the Fresno County, California, Free Library district is reported. The sites were chosen based on inquiries from volunteers in those communities and support for the program by the branch library staff. Goals of the program were to provide literacy services to adult…

This SPEC Kit and Flyer focus on performance evaluation of library directors. The survey, included in the SPEC Kit, was sent to all 121 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) directors; 76 directors (63%) responded. The survey asked about factual attributes of director review processes, including frequency of review cycles, participants, and…

This booklet serves as an advisory reference to available software programs that address specific objectives for students in grades 1-8 in all three Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) curriculum areas--language arts, mathematics, and science. A description of the basic skills objectives precedes each curriculum section. Information provided…

Interviews were conducted with 20 out of 40 primary teachers who, 3 or 4 years earlier, had participated in inservice workshops on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), a research-based approach that emphasizes using children's mathematical knowledge to teach mathematics and who had consented to do the interviews. Although all but one teacher were…

In July 1992, American College Testing convened a 5-day meeting to set achievement levels in writing for grades 4, 8, and 12 to be recommended for use in reporting the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Sixty-six panelists (teachers, non-teacher educators, and non-educators) attended the meeting and participated in the…

This study examines the implementation and subsequent results of cooperative programs between schools and public libraries. The purpose of the survey was to identify cooperative activities which have taken place between Ohio's public libraries and schools and bring to light factors which have led to the success or failure of those cooperative…

A study sought to determine whether or not parents felt that education in nonviolent living skills was important to their choice of a preschool for their child. Questionnaires were distributed to parents at four preschools and to parents of children attending a test site preschool with a peace studies program. A teacher focus group was also…

A statewide needs assessment surveyed felt training needs of administrators, instructors, and advisors of adult literacy programs in Florida. Data were collected in the following ways: questionnaires sent to recipients of Adult Supplemental Grants and advisory-council chairpersons; indepth interviews; a literature review and document analysis; and…