The Cooperative Elementary School (CES) model involves the use of cooperative learning across a variety of content areas and full-scale mainstreaming of academically handicapped students. Teachers use peer coaching and plan in a cooperative manner. The model emphasizes teacher involvement in site-based management and parent involvement in the…

A study focused on the development and pilot testing of a student satisfaction instrument, the results of which may be used to identify weaknesses and strengths of nontraditional degree programs. The literature review demonstrated little empirical evidence that could support positive or negative conclusions regarding student satisfaction within…

This extensive kit provides guidance materials for use with elementary school students. The first five sections of the kit include structural and programmatic component descriptions; directions on implementing the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program Model; discussion on involving administrators and teachers; and information on evaluating the…

This extensive kit provides guidance materials for use with secondary school students. The first five sections of the kit include structural and programmatic component descriptions; directions on implementing the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program Model; discussion on involving administrators and teachers; and information on evaluating the…

A study examined the effectiveness of a staff development program in the Yale (Michigan) public schools, intended to provide professional development to all elementary and secondary language arts teachers about the instruction of writing process and the evaluation of student work. Evaluation of the professional development model included teacher…

The Families Involved in Schools and Community (FISC) Project was a federally funded project to develop and demonstrate the use of a model Individualized Family Service Plan process for young children with challenging needs and their families. The model emphasizes an individualized family systems perspective, informal nonintrusive assessment and…

This paper illustrates how planning, with the aid (or complicity) of institutional research, can be a revolutionary activity that facilitates change within an organization and brings the organization to a more accurate understanding of itself. It describes the use of strategic planning at Minot State University (North Dakota) to change a culture…

While various paradigms exist for planning in two-year colleges, from master planning to quality circles, three major elements invariably appear in planning activities: strategic or formal planning, operational planning, and effectiveness measures. Strategic planning attempts to systematically assess an institution's relationship with its external…

Maria Montessori's child-centered teaching method came to the United States in 1913 and became linked with an approach to progressive education and child rearing which many Americans considered permissive. During the post-World War II years, advocates of Montessori's method combined this permissive mode with elements of an authoritarian mode to…

Educational refinement is defined as attempts to improve education through incremental improvements in the existing structure, while educational reform refers to change in the structure itself. A strong move is underway to reform education in the United States. It is argued that the development of assessments in support of educational reform…

Four Ontario universities with extensive distance education programs were surveyed to obtain information on the nature and extent of the interaction that exists among tutors, students, and peers in undergraduate distance education programs. A total of 84 tutors and 447 students completed the questionnaires, which elicited information on the…

In an effort to improve the quality of teaching at Oklahoma Junior College (OJC), the college's administration mandated peer coaching as part of a peer evaluation process. Peer coaching, a means of keeping valuable experience from being lost to the college due to death, retirement, or other separation, encourages instructors to learn about the art…

An evaluation described Tech Prep prototypes as they were implemented in five different Indiana sites and assessed their effectiveness. Evaluation procedures included: (1) collection and analysis of data from students involved in Tech Prep for the first time in 1990-91 and students involved for the second year; (2) analysis of prototype project…

Selected examples using the statistical packages Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), and BMDP are presented to facilitate their use and encourage appropriate uses in: (1) a hierarchical design; (2) a confounded factorial design; and (3) variance component estimation procedures. To illustrate…

The adequacy of several approaches to estimation of proficiency distributions for the Trial State Assessment (TSA) in eighth grade mathematics of the National Assessment of Educational Progress was examined. These approaches are more restrictive than the estimation procedures originally used, with the same kind of plausible-values approach that…