In 1988, the Annie E. Casey Foundation began New Futures, an 5-year initiative aimed at preparing disadvantaged urban youth for successful lives as adults. Through grants to five mid-sized cities, the Casey Foundation sought to encourage a fundamental restructuring of the way these communities planned, financed, and delivered educational, health,…

The Colorado workplace program completed an open-ended program evaluation that examined the following: how people involved in workplace learning change, what the shape of that change is, and what impact that change may have. It explored the perspectives of two groups closely involved in the workplace learning process: participants and their…

The 5-year School-to-Work (STW) Opportunities project of the School District of Saginaw, Michigan, was implemented through the Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction, and Automotive (MECA) partnership. Housed at the district's Saginaw Career Complex, it included collaboration among Career Complex staff and local business representatives in the…

This guide is designed for local and state authorities who seek a better understanding of the performance of their vocational education programs. Its basic theme is management diagnostics. The first section provides a brief introduction to three decades of research that has been conducted on wage records submitted by employers under unemployment…

This report attempts to establish a link between research findings and practice in the transition of students with disabilities. A taxonomy is presented that provides a framework for designing educational programs that reflect a transition perspective for students with disabilities. Chapter 1, "Preparing Youths with Disabilities for Future…

In 1992, the Micronesian Language Institute established the PARADISU program, whose purpose was to strengthen and develop the English literacy and school participation skills of, and the school survival and success of children from, Chamorro, Chuukese, and Palauan families living on Guam through direct instruction and other activities. The program…

These four papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Neal Chalofsky at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "Using Critical Incidents in Teaching HRD: A Method for Fostering Critical Reflection and Dialogue" (Hallie Preskill) reports study findings that confirm the value of the activity in its…

This report summarizes the findings of three 5-year federally financed dropout prevention programs for high risk students and their families known as the ABC programs: ALAS (Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success), the Belief Academy, and Check & Connect. The information is based on a comprehensive report called "Staying in…

In 1991, the Worcester (Massachusetts) Public Schools received a grant to provide services to maintain the early benefits attained by Head Start children. One part of the program is advancement of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. A study was undertaken to examine the effects of investing substantial resources in classrooms in four schools…

This report describes the attitudes of parents, the general public, school principals, and teachers across Kentucky about the implementation of school reforms based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). Data were gathered from random telephone surveys in the eight geographic regions of the state for each targeted audience based on…

This report describes results of focus group evaluation of the first year of Georgia's CrossRoads program, an alternative public school program to provide chronically disruptive, committed, and/or non-attending students (grades 6-12) with the social services and individualized instruction they require and to make the public schools more secure by…

This report presents the final evaluation of the MegaSkills School Program pilot adoption at Maupin Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1994-95. The MegaSkills programs are designed to help students develop skills and attitudes related to school success, confidence, motivation, effort, responsibility, initiative, caring, teamwork, common…

The MELD for Young Moms (MYM) program serves adolescent mothers by providing support and information about parenting in groups that are facilitated by women who were once adolescent mothers themselves. This study focused on gathering two types of information about the nationally replicated MYM program: (1) demographics of parent group facilitators…

The Even Start--Padres y Progreso program was a nationally funded program in Houston (Texas) designed to prepare young children to enter school not only by offering early childhood education, but also assisting their families with adult literacy/English as a second language, parenting skills training, and employment skills training. The program…

This study evaluated a pilot project for privatizing or outsourcing remedial education programs in the state of Maryland. The program was conducted by the mathematics department at Howard Community College and Sylvan Learning Systems, a Baltimore-based tutoring company, and covered four periods the summer, spring, and fall semesters of 1995 and…