Review of published studies involving the effects of the Adaptive Learning Environment Model on special education students indicate insufficient detail for adequate evaluation of the program's impact on exceptional children. Methodological weaknesses include multiple reporting of the same data, the lack of control subjects, and inconsistencies in…

Describes components of Anytown, a group model designed to promote direct, intergroup contact and to increase racial tolerance among high school students. Examines dynamics of Anytown program: how activities are intended to affect participants' thinking and relationships with others and how direct contact is used to promote favorable human rights…

Presents a 10-point model for providing quality training within child protection organizations. Suggests that training can be a precision instrument to create change because its objectives, content, and methods are controllable, ongoing, and pervasive. Notes that by assuming responsibility and using time and energy to find solutions, the…

Preschool children (n=194) with special needs enrolled in the Model Preschool Program for Children with Down Syndrome and Other Developmental Delays exhibited significantly higher rates of development during intervention than when the children entered the program. Effects were mixed for the 92 children with Down syndrome, with higher rates of…

Uses experiences of a mentoring program to argue that mentoring programs represent a viable strategy for delinquency prevention and reduction, even for youth who have been adjudicated for serious offenses. The importance of careful design and concern for the special needs of the population to be monitored is discussed. (SLD)

Provides an overview of the task-centered model of social work practice. Reviews findings that support the model's effectiveness, as well as studies that identified several correlates of positive outcomes, such as client commitment to do the task. Claims that new research will focus on the model's application to new problems. (RJM)

This interview between Mark Laird, statewide employment specialist with Missouri Rehabilitation Services for the Blind, and Gil Johnson, director of American Foundation for the Blind West, describes an innovative rehabilitation model that forges relationships with businesses and has doubled the number of consumers with visual impairments who find…

Investigates the cost efficiency of British universities, based on a flexible multiproduct cost-function model. UK universities are characterized by increasing returns to scale. Returns to scale in research are increasing for the top and middle university groups and constant for the bottom group. Increasing returns hold for undergraduate teaching…

To improve students' critical-thinking skills, an interdisciplinary team of educators collaborated with a specialist. The result: a new model for infusing thinking-skills instruction. This paper describes the change process, the CRTA model's evolution, derivation of its acronym, and early qualitative results. (Contains 31 references.) (MLH)

Evaluated 30 Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) projects in Ontario, Canada. CAPC is a Canadian federal government initiative that funds community groups in activities supporting child development and strengthening families. Identified categories of program activities and project outcomes, and found that most projects have adopted…

Peter Senge's (1990) theory of organizational change includes teams that perceive the whole of the organization; grow professionally; navigate short- and long-term organizational experiences through exposed mental models; share a vision; and hear each voice in an ongoing communal learning process. The Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching…

Creating the "comprehensive musician" has been discussed by music educators for many years. While its definition varies, essentially comprehensive musicianship is a means of engaging students in musical learning with a goal of creating greater independence. This can be accomplished by creating a rehearsal setting in which performance and…

This article describes the responses to an on-line survey that was sent to 21 universities and colleges funded during 1999-2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) to develop and implement faculty and administrator professional development activities. The projects were asked to respond to a series of…

Although there has been a rapid increase in funding and attention to after-school programs, there is little understanding of how after-school programs impact children's developmental trajectories. The heterogeneity of American children makes it very unlikely that all children need after-school programming or that there is but one brand of…

Teaching for the development of students' thinking is not a straightforward matter. It requires pedagogical skills, which are different from those of normal good quality teaching for conceptual development. It follows that providing professional development (PD) for teachers of thinking is a "hard case"--we can learn much of general value to…