Based on a survey conducted in 1992 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a study examined the types of writing students performed in school, the quality of their classroom writing, and the relationship between their classroom writing and their performance on the NAEP writing assessment. A nationally representative subgroup of…

This paper examines how creative thinking techniques can be used to help rural educators provide effective transition programs and services to secondary students. Factors affecting transition in rural areas include a small, homogenous economic base; travel time and distance between job sites; lack of services and trained staff; the community role…

One method of training principals and teachers to lead substantive change initiatives lies in partnership activities between schools and the local university. The Collaborative School Improvement Program (C-SIP) is a successful school-university partnership that focuses upon collaborative relationships between Eastern Michigan University and area…

This guide is the fourth in a series of guidelines designed to be a framework for positive action at the school site and in the classroom through the High Schools That Work (HSTW) program, an effort to raise the achievement of career-bound students. It details the process of accomplishing the HSTW's goals through an ongoing staff development…

A two-dimensional, compensatory item response model and a unidimensional model were fitted to the reading and mathematics items in the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised for a sample of 1,000 adults aged 20-39 years. Multidimensional information theory predicts that if the unidimensional abilities can be represented as vectors in…

The training of researchers in the educational technology field has continued in the traditional vein of the experimental paradigm. This document describes a workshop presented to balance that training and to prepare students to undertake research in a non-traditional way. The workshop aimed to acquaint students with non-causal naturalistic…

This book describes several curriculum models currently used in the field of adult education in an effort to assist adult educators who develop curricula as a routine part of their jobs. The book is divided into 14 chapters that are grouped into 7 sections. Each section covers a type of educational program, and each chapter describes a specific…

This report is based on a review of literature, statistical data, and a range of community-based programs for juvenile offenders, studied during the past 5 years by the National Governors' Association. The report provides an overview of innovative approaches to program design and coordination of services for delinquent youth. It describes several…

Results of applying different aptitude-achievement discrepancy models for test scores were compared for 150 second, 150 third, 150 fourth, and 130 fifth graders in several school systems in the Southeast who had been referred for psychoeducational testing for learning disabilities to determine whether different groups of students were identified…

This volume on vocational assessment is written from an educational and psychological perspective and includes descriptions of program models appropriate for implementation within school settings. The book focuses on cooperation among a variety of school-based professionals; incorporates the roles of community-based professionals and parents; and…

Providing a theoretical background behind the institutional effectiveness efforts at Jefferson State Community College (JSCC), in Birmingham, Alabama, this document describes an institutional effectiveness model devised by James O. Nichols and its application at JSCC. The Nichols Institutional Effectiveness (NIE) paradigm is a practical guide to…

This paper discusses the characteristics of nontraditional student populations, reviews programs of interest, identifies problems and concerns of these students, and provides a model for orientation sessions targeting nontraditional populations. Following a brief introduction, section II discusses the characteristics, retention, and academic…

The National Council for Occupational Education (NCOE) and the Community College Humanities Association established the Shared Vision Task Force to examine the potential contributions of the humanities to occupational degree programs. In an effort to implement Task Force findings, NCOE selected the following five institutions to plan and implement…

Students in higher education are faced with rapidly changing societal conditions. As the nature and structure of the workplace and the family have changed, the specific knowledge and skills people need for the future have become less predictable. Teachers can address these changing conditions by applying cognitive theory to learning and…

Research conducted by the National Research Center on Student Learning (NRCSL) is reviewed as it moves toward a new understanding of learning and instruction. Research by the NRCSL into the kind of learning demanded by modern life has been shaped by the understanding, based on earlier research, that knowledge is actively constructed in the mind of…