This document is intended to help communities plan and implement initiatives modeled after Making Academics Count, a campaign that was launched in 1997 by the Business Coalition for Education Reform (BCER) to encourage employers to ask job applicants for their school records and thereby help motivate students to achieve at higher levels. The guide…

This guidebook summarizes learning on the role of intermediaries and how to build organizations that perform intermediary functions effectively and efficiently. An introduction defines intermediaries, in the context of youth-serving systems, as staffed organizations that connect schools and other youth-preparation organizations with workplaces and…

In December 2000, the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) was awarded a five-year research and development (R&D) contract to develop and refine a systemic model to improve student achievement in reading or mathematics in low-performing districts and schools. At the onset of the project, 20 districts in Arkansas, Louisiana, New…

Response-to-intervention (RtI) models utilize a proactive, prevention approach that requires the implementation of a sophisticated, multi-tiered problem-solving process in the regular education environment. Effective and sustainable implementation of these models will necessitate a mechanism to support professional development, treatment fidelity,…

Purpose: While the importance of measuring customer satisfaction levels is well established, less research exists on how organizations operationalize such knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to describe an action research (AR) case study resulting in a workshop model to operationalize the concept of value. The model facilitates organizational…

Over the past decade, many colleges and universities have invested heavily in information technology in the belief that it would enhance learning and enrich the student experience. Several recent high-profile reports and articles, however, argue that most investments in technology have not paid off. Part of the reason for this pattern of failed…

Early Head Start services are typically offered through home- or center-based delivery models. A formative evaluation of an example of each service delivery model was conducted. The purpose was to examine the issues involved in the implementation of these two service delivery models relative to the content of services, intensity of services,…

Webster University (Missouri), an independent, liberal arts university, developed a teacher preparation program on both the graduate and undergraduate levels in inclusive education aimed at preservice and practicing teachers and covering early childhood to secondary education. Several models emerged in the teacher preparation program. The unified…

This book contains essays about a specific and local reform, the Oxford Internship Scheme, which was developed and implemented by a partnership between Oxford University (England) and the local education authority in Oxfordshire. The internship program represents a commitment to the school-based training of teachers and, in some ways, is analogous…

Manual I describes the VIDEOSHARE Project, a demonstration project employing systematic, video-based technology in preschool special education classrooms to supplement traditional measures of academic and developmental progress. The VIDEOSHARE model focuses on using video to: (1) enhance family-school partnerships; (2) increase child study team…

This study reports on nine family literacy projects that focus on families whose primary language is not English. The first six projects fall under the Kenan service model, which sees that children receive more or as many services as adults and is organized around children's needs. These include the Canoncito Family Support/Early Childhood…

This training manual, the first volume in a four-volume series of curriculum guides for use in training Peace Corps agricultural development workers, is an orientation for trainers. The first chapter covers the philosophy and approach of the agricultural development training series as well as preparation for training and staff development.…

The practical steps outlined in this manual are based on the experience of establishing Marquette (Michigan) Alternative Senior High (MASH), organized in 1978 to serve rural youth who had dropped out or were not benefiting significantly from the regular high school programs. Chapters are organized in chronological progression and each refers to…

Intended as a sourcebook for administrators of rural Iowa schools, this report outlines the development and implementation of a school-to-work transition program for rural youth. Part 1 discusses the need and rationale for a program to facilitate the school-to-work transition. Included among the topics addressed in this discussion are an overview…

A model junior high school art curriculum for use in Manitoba (Canada) schools is outlined. The first section provides an overview of the whole program, discussing rationale, goals, student objectives, the adolescent stage of visual development, the special student, the design of the guide, program implementation, and a scope and sequence. Methods…