The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Code of Conduct: Air Force Academy Adopts Changes in Response to 2003 Sexual Assault Scandal (Kathy Witkowsky); (2) Political Football: Partisan Politics Could Determine…

"Online Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice" provides a resource for researchers and practitioners in the area of online collaborative learning (also known as CSCL, computer-supported collaborative learning), particularly those working within a tertiary education environment. It includes articles of relevance to those interested in both…

The National Association for Gifted Children series "Essential Readings in Gifted Education," edited by Sally M. Reis, is a comprehensive collection of the leading research, theories, and findings that span more than 25 years. Each volume tackles the major issues, chronicles chief trends, and imparts effective models and solutions for gifted…

Intended for adult education administrators and instructors, the purpose of this handbook is to provide practical information on the legal rights and responsibilities of adult education programs and of students with disabilites related to providing and obtaining accommodations. The Handbook contains specific information about disabilities,…

In fall 1997, the Washington Scholarship Fund expanded its privately funded school voucher program in Washington, D.C., and in 1998, over 1,000 students were offered scholarships by lottery. This evaluation examined the impact of the first 2 years of the program on students who completed baseline testing and were in grades 1-7 in spring 1998. It…

In this volume, experienced distance educators provide insights into new trends in computer-based teaching and learning in postsecondary education. The book is divided into four parts: (1) Issues and Trends; (2) Instructional Design Principles for Distance Learning; (3) Alternative Delivery Systems for Distance Learning; and (4) Administrative…

The Chapter 1 reading, writing, and mathematics instruction programs of the Des Moines (Iowa) public schools were evaluated for the 1993-94 school year. These programs provided supplemental instruction for about 2,968 students in 1993-94 through six components: (1) schoolwide projects; (2) the Reading Recovery Program; (3) the Reading/Writing Lab…

This report is a summary of study visits plus workshops that took place in Bhutan, Nepal, and India in 1998 within the framework of UNESCO's Asia-Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL). Three educators each from China, Lao PDR, and Vietnam and educators from the host countries participated. The project aimed to promote literacy and…

From 1990 to 2000, a qualitative study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was conducted in four small rural school districts in Kentucky. KERA reflects key components of what would later be termed "systemic reform": a unifying set of goals that all students must attain, a coherent system of instructional…

This action research project sought to increase motivation in fifth-grade social studies students. Observations and measures of student attitudes and achievement indicated a lack of student interest in learning activities. Two categories of intervention were implemented: (1) instruction in the use of learning strategies, including graphic…

The National Reporting System project was designed to establish an outcome-based accountability system for the state-administered, federally funded adult education program. In the pilot test, volunteer states and their local programs compared the feasibility and costs of these three data collection models: (1) local programs collect all the…

In 2001, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) conducted a geography assessment of the nation's fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. This report presents the results of that assessment. Results in 2001 are compared to results of 1994's NAEP geography assessment, which was the preceding NAEP geography assessment and the…

A pilot program in New South Wales (Australia) aimed to engage Aboriginal students in the education process by making school more interesting and relevant to them specifically. The project used career education and Aboriginal perspectives to achieve these objectives. The development of aspirations within students was central, and it was hoped that…

The aims of CREATIS (Creating the Information Society) were to provide the West Lothian (Scotland) community with the highest quality information technology (IT) learning opportunities, a high capacity communications infrastructure and a hardware base that would: connect West Lothian's schools, libraries and community education centers to the West…

This paper examines the diverse group of students in the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at the New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. This program identifies, recruits, prepares, and assists academically talented, first-generation, low-income, and traditionally underrepresented…