This guidebook is intended to help state literacy leaders evaluate their states' progress in implementing five key strategies for establishing an integrated literacy system. Chapters are devoted to each of the following strategies: determine the dimensions of the literacy problem, set priorities and performance expectations, create quality…

The Pennsylvania Action Research Network project was initiated in 1995-1996 to provide Pennsylvania literacy educators with the following: a better method for taking published research findings and testing and adapting them in their own classrooms; a way to study their own research ideas on a daily-action basis; and a systematic way to share and…

The 10 chapters in this book provide an overview of 5 years of work by member schools and colleges in the Urban Schools Network, which provides technical assistance to schools in 31 urban areas. "Overview of the Urban Schools Network" (Lola Jackson) is a history, defining purposes, participants, and priorities. "Integrating Academic…

Five reports present findings of research into professional development (PD) issues in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia. "Lessons Learnt: An Analysis of Findings of Recent Evaluation Reports on PD in VET" (Kate Perkins) provides an overview of issues, insights, and ideas emerging from past PD experience that may be…

In August 1990, a statewide inservice training project for two-year college home economics instructors was initiated by the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges. The project's three main objectives were to: (1) identify inservice priority needs through a review of existing data from previous home economics projects; (2) plan,…

In 1988, a study was conducted to examine student assessment and related remedial/developmental programs in Michigan's 29 community colleges. Administrators or instructors with direct responsibility for developmental education programs were surveyed regarding the existence of an institutional definition of and mission statement for remedial…

During 1977-78, North Central Technical College (NCTC) initiated a comprehensive planning system incorporating diagnostic analyses of both the professional development needs of individual faculty members and the long-term needs of the institution as a whole. The faculty needs analysis was facilitated through an Instructional Development and…

An evaluation program designed to assess the impact of the Office of Staff and Institutional Development (OSID) at Leeward Community College of the University of Hawaii is described. The OSID organizes and conducts a program that focuses on organizational development, professional/personal development, and learning skills development. OSID program…

While more research needs to be done in the area of adolescent literacy, there is growing agreement about some of the characteristics successful literacy intervention programs share. The purpose of this brief is to provide information to help policymakers, educators, parents, and others concerned with adolescent literacy make informed decisions…

In fall 1992, 87 percent of coordinators of funded local tech prep consortia (n=897) completed the third national evaluation survey. Findings indicated the following: formation of new consortia slowed; they grew larger and included a substantial and increasing share of school districts; middle school and postsecondary membership expanded;…

This document reports on a fall 1994 working conference on linking education, health, social services, and other supports that children and families need, with the school as the hub. The conference involved six working groups. Four working groups were age-related, discussing early childhood, elementary, adolescent, and youth-in-transition…

This publication for principals about after-school programs provides practical assistance with guidelines for administration, resources for information, collaboration, and funding, along with evaluation checklists. Drawing increasing government attention, after-school programs are overwhelmingly popular with the public as a means to reduce…

These two newsletters from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) contain the following articles: (1) "NRC/GT: Professional Development--Not an Event" (E. Jean Gubbins), discusses NRC/GT research-based principles related to professional development and the importance of ongoing professional development; (2)…

This document provides the Side-by-Side Comparison, a tool to assist early care and development programs receiving funds from both Head Start and the California Department of Education to prepare for state and federal program monitoring reviews and to conduct self-evaluations. The instrument is designed to be used for the California coordinated…

These Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) state action plans were initially developed in 1998 for the central regional states, which include Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. They detail the states' specific technical assistance needs, as well as the services to be provided by Mid-Continent…