Patterns of drug use among teenagers indicate they are highly influenced by peers. To examine the influence of Say It Straight, an alcohol/drug abuse prevention program aimed at teaching adolescents to deal with peer pressure, sixth, seventh and eighth graders (N=509) created and role played situations in which they wanted to say "no" to…

The proceedings from a 1983 conference on severely handicapped and autistic persons are presented. Eight papers focus on research findings and on issues such as alternatives to punishment, employment opportunities, and curriculum content. The following papers are presented: "Employment Outlook for Severely Handicapped and Autistic" (P. Wehman);…

An introduction and a case study are provided from a seminar concerned with the extension of transition-from-school-to-work initiatives to secondary schooling. The introduction discusses the purposes of drawing together the case studies--to indicate how Australian government policy concerned with school-to-work transition was implemented at the…

A study was conducted at Shelby State Community College (SSCC) in Tennessee to determine the extent, causes, and solutions to the problem of student retention. The study involved: (1) a comparative analysis of headcounts to assess the extent of the dropout problem, which indicated that enrollments declined sharply from 5,289 in 1983 to 3,399 in…

This paper identifies a number of factors that staff developers should consider in planning an effective program. A staff development program is considered to be effective if teachers adapt the material or content learned into their classrooms and retain the implementation over time, if teachers and administrators express satisfaction with the…

A music educator designed for elementary school students who were musically unskilled a curriculum that was based on the methods of Kodaly and Orff, the philosophy of Warrener, and traditional music education concepts. A heterogeneous group of 606 second- through sixth-grade students in 4 schools participated in implementation of the curriculum.…

In September 1985, the Canadian government introduced the Canadian Jobs Strategy. Two features distinguish the jobs strategy program from Canada's old job development programs and programs for purchasing job training from colleges. These features are: (1) focusing of federal support for labor market adjustment on those individuals who are most in…

The emphasis on and the importance of evaluation have been addressed by program planners for the past 60 years. Evaluation strategies have broadened from the Tylerian approach, which focuses on specific objectives, to more investigation using indicators as measures of program success. Evaluation is important during the development of a program and…

This case study examined the implementation of the California Mentor Teacher Program (CMTP) in a large urban school district. The CMTP is an effort to retain skillful teachers and to improve teaching by promoting direct, rigorous, and consequential activities and relationships between mentors and beginning teachers. The participants in the study…

The director of a proprietary child care center implemented a practicum designed to train child caregivers in child development and developmentally appropriate practices. The practicum consisted of three evening workshops and used supplementary reading materials, discussion groups, classroom observations, and individual conferences. After…

One of the difficulties counselor supervisors face is the lack of specific training in learning to deal with difficult supervisees. To address practical as well as theoretical concerns, two related sets of videotapes were prepared. The first set was designed to provide a stimulus for discussions of common supervisory problems. A role player…

This discussion traces the legislative, fiscal, and programmatic history of Project Follow Through and analyzes the many problems and controversies that have surrounded it. It is argued that problems have been largely a result of the attempt to combine research and development (R & D) and social action service programs. Lessons learned as a…

A centralized, university-wide approach to collecting alumni information was established. The centralized approach provided information with greater potential for utilization, permitted comparisons among university units, and generated information on trends in alumni outcomes from year to year. All alumni in a given class are surveyed in order to…

This paper describes a case study evaluation of the first year of an inservice staff development program in Galax City Schools, Virginia. The program was designed to teach teachers how to deliver subject matter associated with "The Teaching of Thinking Skills Program," sponsored by a Chapter II Competitive Block Grant. The program had…

During the 1985-86 school year, 16 North Carolina school units began a four-year pilot program that used a variety of incentives, evaluation strategies, and staff development activities to improve teachers' skills, and, indirectly, the achievement of students. After three years of the Career Development Program (CDP), the California Achievement…