Students, faculty, administration, and community members of three Iowa rural school districts were interviewed to identify educational issues in their communities. The results of the Iowa investigation are compared with the results of the Claremont Graduate School investigation published in "Voices from the inside: A report on schooling from…

In 2002, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) published the author's "Ten Educational Trends Shaping School Planning and Design" [ED467701], which received considerable attention and has been downloaded from the NCEF website by thousands of users. Here is an update by the author, with the ten trends expanded to twelve. This…

A nationwide survey was conducted to solicit input from a random sample of junior and senior high school students (N=250) and teachers (N=258) regarding violence in the schools. This report presents a summary of survey results under five headings. The first, perceived seriousness of violence, indicated that one in three teachers and one in four…

The information age has introduced new methods of delivering educational materials to students. One method is two-way interactive television (ITV). As more schools utilize ITV, for distance education and other educational purposes, certain administrative, legal, and ethical issues need to be addressed. This paper focuses on human and ethical…

Making students responsible for their own learning in biology is a national issue. The goal of this Master's project was to increase students' responsibility for their own learning in order to increase academic output and decrease the incidence of inappropriate behavior. The targeted population consisted of sophomore high school students in a…

This working paper analyzes higher education faculty characteristics in Mexico and the United States. The first section describes and compares Mexican and U.S. faculty characteristics and conditions, including total number of faculty, student-teacher ratios, full- versus part-time status, rank, tenure, average salaries, gender and ethnicity, and…

Vocational course taking declined between 1982 and 1992, with especially large enrollment decreases occurring in general labor market preparation and consumer/homemaking education. Only a small proportion of 1992 high school graduates specialized in vocational education (VE). Among occupationally specific VE programs, business, and trade and…

Preparing America's children to start school ready to learn will depend in large part on the availability, quality, and affordability of early education and care. Research conducted since the 1970s indicates that, despite increases, the supply of formal early education and care programs is not adequate to meet the needs of all families. Many…

This paper on the feasibility of using teaching practices as indicators of student learning was developed as part of an ongoing project to develop a process for the assessment of college student learning in the context of National Education Goal 5, Objective 5, which aims to increase the proportion of college graduates with "advanced ability…

School within a School (SWS) is a locally funded program in the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools of instruction in basic skills, career guidance, and counseling support for at-risk 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders in comprehensive middle schools and high schools. In 1991-92, 323 high school students and 67 middle school students participated. As…

The paper summarizes some educational research findings regarding effective schooling practices. Only those findings which have particular impact on educational program planners in the field of migrant education are discussed. These findings pertain to the following issues: class size, group size, ability grouping, parent participation in…

This paper extends research by Richard Murnane by analyzing the effects of specific teacher contract provisions on New York teacher turnover from 1972-76 and in the process assesses the validity of two theories explaining teacher mobility. The combination of the theory of human capital with the theory of internal labor markets analyzes teacher…

To determine facts and opinions concerning the status of music in all Ohio schools (public and private), questionnaires were sent to the 4,389 K-12 teachers listed in the 1981 Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Directory and survey instruments were mailed to superintendents of each of Ohio's 614 school districts. Approximately 47.5% of the…

This report provides selected statistics concerning Nevada's 17 school districts and is designed to be reviewed by citizens interested in the condition of their schools. The educational data contained in this report are for the school year ending June 1989. Financial, student (i.e., enrollment trends), achievement (i.e., trends on the Nevada High…

Planning for conversion to a year-round school in James Monroe School, Madera, California, began in 1984 as educators and community faced the fact that continued enrollment increases had reached a critical point. This report describes program development and implementation; an appendix with program worksheets comprises over one-half of the…