Between 2000 and 2007, six western states conducted individual impact studies using public school youth in grades five, seven, and nine. Common areas of study included: risk behaviors, leadership positions held, helping others, close relationships with adults, self-identity, character, self-confidence, and empowerment. The purpose of the study was…

This commentary focuses on the promises and challenges facing the Social and Character Development (SACD) consortium in evaluating the effectiveness of seven universal SACD programs designed to enhance student behavior and school climate under conditions of real world practice. In this commentary, we highlight that the opportunity costs associated…

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the Division of Violence Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of programs aimed at improving students' behavior. For this evaluation, such programs were termed Social…

The primary purpose of this investigation was to compare two preservice professional teacher education programs at the University of Northern Iowa during the first semester of student enrollment. Comparisions were made in the areas of academic achievement and certain dimensions of personality, using an analysis of variance with pre- and posttest…

The emphasis in the integrated model of character education on the development of the whole person and interaction with the whole environment requires that character education be seen as a dimension of the total curriculum. It means integrating character education into the academic curriculum, recreational activities, administration, and social…

A course designed to enhance the growth of students was recently introduced in the occupational therapy curriculum of the University of Washington. (CB)

The concept of "learning disposition" provides a useful way of examining longer-term outcomes of quality early childhood programs and outlines characteristics of a learning orientation or disposition in early childhood. The learning disposition involves the tendency to want to do something, sensitivity to being alert to the appropriate…

An evaluation of Round One of a pilot study of a system for identifying effective youth organizations around the world is presented in this report. The report begins with a page of general observations about the successes and shortcomings of the pilot study, indicating that in general the study accomplished its objectives but that a need for…

The Character Education Program which was implemented in 52 elementary schools in 1979-80 in the Dade County public school system is evaluated. Objectives of the evaluation were: (1) to determine how much the character-building materials were used and how the teachers valued the materials; (2) to determine attitudes of students toward the use and…

If academic material is to have the same force as social and personal experience at the college level, then educators need to allow more experiences on the academic road. That experiences are becoming more important is evidenced by the emergence of competency-based programs, experimental teaching programs, cluster colleges, and experiential…

This report describes an external evaluation study of two of the components (instructional and community-parental involvement) on an on-going bilingual intervention program for 3- and 4-year-old children. The purpose of the intervention program is to facilitate the learning of English and Spanish simultaneously in an environment designed to…

Noting that the physical and mental growth of children are influenced by many environmental and familial factors, this paper explores improving the well being of children. The first part of the paper discusses child rearing, emphasizing three fundamental themes: creating an environment where children are born healthy and wanted; helping children…

A Clovis, New Mexico, project designed to develop over five years a model English-Spanish bilingual program for limited English proficiency students from nursery school through grade 6 did not fully meet its objectives during the 1979-80 school year, the project's fifth and final year. One hundred forty students enrolled in grades 3-6 in two…

This document is section one of a final report on Head Start Evaluation and Research for 1967-68 by the Child Development Evaluation and Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. This section is composed of two studies: (A) Middle Class Mother-Teachers in an Experimental Preschool Program for Socially Disadvantaged Children (PS 001…

Designed to develop over five years a model bilingual program for nursery school through grade 6, the demonstration program provided early bilingual education intervention to facilitate the simultaneous learning of two languages and thus develop the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills of children with limited English speaking ability from…