Explored the environment for literacy in day-care centers, its relationship with traditional measures of day-care quality, and its influence on children's cognitive and language development. Observations in 30 community-based day-care classrooms revealed relatively impoverished literacy environments. Found that both day-care quality and…

Analyzes the development and implementation of a teen hotline that utilizes skilled student volunteers. A comprehensive and meaningful training program combined with a high level of acceptance among the general youth population resulted in a valuable service for both the client callers and the student volunteers. (RJM)

Article reviews the major school-based approaches implemented during the last two decades to reduce sexual risk-taking behaviors, examining their evidence for success and providing recommendations for effective programs and program evaluations. The article focuses on programs that educators believed would reduce unprotected sex. (SM)

Discusses collaboration in teacher education in Maryland, describing the development of four projects addressing national issues in teacher education and involving school system, college, and state education department personnel. The projects have functioned at least two years and are successful because of common purpose, autonomy, incentives,…

"Early Partners" and "Partners for Learning" is a 2-part curriculum to support parent-child interactions in the first 36 months of a premature, low birthweight child's life. Analysis showed that the rate of delivering the curriculum in the child development center and the home added significantly to the prediction of 36-month…

Reports on 18 months of action research that examined the effectiveness of using the history of science to promote British students' understanding of the nature of science. Both quantitative and interview data offer substantial evidence of a strategic movement away from serendipitous empiricism and toward an appreciation of the interactive nature…

This paper describes the rationale and main elements of Reading Recovery, an individualized reading enhancement program which attempts to reduce the numbers of children with ongoing learning problems arising from early reading difficulties. Criticisms concerning the nature, research support, and implementation of the program are noted. More…

Describes the procedures and results of a two-year project to improve the learning skills of first-year college students, focusing on aspects of students' daily lives and on effective study actions, strategies, and attitudes. Student achievement was higher than a comparative cohort, and differences were maintained into the second year. (DMM)

Describes La Guardia Community College's interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of critical thinking, focusing on the program's impact on literacy, reasoning, problem solving, and critical attitudes. Presents guidelines for integrating critical thinking. Discusses the importance of professional development to encourage curricular changes,…

Describes a multimethod assessment of psychology student outcomes at the University of Northern Colorado. Nineteen goals and objectives for psychology majors were identified. Describes changes in the psychology program prompted by the assessment results. (CFR)

This article describes a demonstration project that utilized 28 community early childhood programs as intervention placements for 30 preschool-age children with disabilities. Results suggested significant developmental gains for all children. Service delivery characteristics identified as necessary for the effective implementation of intervention…

Reviews the mandate and mission of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) and describes its successful initiatives supporting library issues and community library programs. Excerpts from a letter written by Marilyn L. Miller, president of the American Library Association, in support of NCLIS are included. (EA)

Advocates grounding a tutor training program in research-based theoretical models, such as student development and metacognitive theories. Recommends that tutor training cover student development philosophy, effective communication skills, campus resources, instructional support materials, learning theory/learning styles, metacognitive approaches…

The Future Problem Solving Program develops students' problem-solving and thinking skills as student teams undertake a step-by-step process which involves assessing the teams' existing knowledge of the topic, determining the knowledge they need, gathering information, organizing their knowledge, and using the knowledge to solve specific problems.…

Essentially an application of installment purchase concepts to higher education, the Zero Cash Plan allows students without cash from family resources for room, board, and tuition to attend Cazenovia College (New York) by deferring parent contributions until after graduation. The program has evolved to meet changing student and institution needs.…