This article describes the Ounce of Prevention Fund's journey to institutionalize doula services in the state of Illinois. The Ounce's doulas help strengthen the new relationship between mother and child by working with the mother to help her better understand and anticipate the progression of the third trimester of pregnancy, the child-birthing…

Presenting electronic resources to users through a federated search engine introduces unique opportunities and challenges to libraries. This article reports on the decision-making tools and processes used for selecting collections of electronic resources by a project team at the University of Arizona (UA) Libraries for the Association of Research…

This report focuses on the implementation of applied baccalaureate degrees at two-year colleges and includes a sample agreement from an alliance of five State University of New York (SUNY) Colleges of Technology. The report provides the following information: (1) a discussion of the objectives of implementing baccalaureate degrees at two-year…

This publication reports on an evaluation commissioned by the Greater Glasgow (Scotland) Health Board of a school sexual health education program. The program emphasized providing accurate and relevant sexual health information; promoting pupils' ownership of their own sexual health issues; developing pupils' informed decision-making abilities…

The Learning City Program (LCP), based on research at the National Center on Education in the Inner Cities, was developed to promote the radical improvement of learning in city schools by linking schools with other learning environments, including homes, libraries, museums, the workplace, institutions of higher learning, and other public and…

The principles and practices of successful parent centers in urban schools are presented so that parents and staff can use them when developing a center. The successful center begins with adoption of a model or philosophy to guide parents and staff. An interactive learning model is suggested as the most workable one, and its principles are…

Countries of Central and Eastern Europe already developing model standards in the framework of restructuring their education systems have been chosen to develop model standards for other countries. To compare the standards being developed in these countries, a system of indicators must be developed. The most important indicators are as follows:…

As an institution having undergone many changes over the past 13 years in the Maricopa Community College District, Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) in Arizona has developed and implemented its strategic planning process, institutional effectiveness and student outcomes assessment model, and resource allocation (budget) process over the…

This publication describes alternative teacher certification programs in Texas that train interns who are generally mature, mid-career individuals. The document is organized into seven sections: (1) "Alternative Certification in Texas" discusses the history and background of the programs including legislation, the first alternative…

This digest contains the following two articles on mentoring: "Mentoring in Educational Settings: Unresolved Issues and Unanswered Questions" (Olga M. Welch); and "Learning from the Field: Mentoring Projects in Field-based Settings" (Heidi Lynch). The first article describes mentoring in general and mentoring in the schools, examines some studies…

The Personal Futures Planning Project created a person-centered planning model for developing and implementing individually designed transition services for 30 secondary-age youths with deaf-blindness in Kentucky. Project activities included: providing training and consultation in personal futures planning, providing consultation in planning and…

This final report describes a project in Vermont which developed, implemented, evaluated, and disseminated a program development model for establishing new, and for improving existing, comprehensive early childhood special education services to young (birth to 5 years) children with disabilities and their families in rural settings. The model…

A recent model for the design of staff development programs for educators includes 5 stages--readiness, planning, training, implementation, and maintenance--each of which is defined by a set of 4 to 11 practices. To test this model and the relative merits of its 38 practices and its underlying assumptions, a national questionnaire survey of over…

Introduction: Genre analysis is an approach to study communication patterns and thus it can be applied to the specific context of meetings. This research investigates the use of genre analysis in the design of electronic meeting systems. Background: The primary goal of genre analysis is to understand how virtual communities use digital…

This guide is based on the principles and methods used at Rise, Incorporated, a sheltered workshop providing successful industry-integrated programs for handicapped persons. It is intended to serve as a model both for existing service providers who are interested in retooling their program in the direction of industrial work services and other…