One of the most important elements of the community college is the open enrollment policy, providing students who may have performed poorly in high school with a fresh start. Serving academically underprepared students is an important objective of community colleges, but the practice is not without pitfalls. Negative outcomes of the open…

This study analyzed the results of a questionnaire distributed to all students enrolled at the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science (Ohio) at its main campus in Kent and its extension in Columbus during the spring semester of 1996. The purpose of the survey was to identify the school's strengths and weaknesses by…

Effective schools research, as elaborated by R. R. Edmonds and others, gives a picture of what successful urban schools look like and helps identify the characteristics that led to success. This paper offers the proposition that looking at a school as a caring community provides a way to show effective schools by providing a framework to make…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the impact of year-round education on academic achievement in a large Utah school district. Student-achievement data for years 1990-95 were compared by type of school schedule. A case-study component examined the impact of school schedules used by two elementary schools--one adhered to a…

In response to core indicators of effectiveness developed by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the Colorado Community College and Occupational Education System (CCCOES) initiated a system-wide project to develop core indicators specific to the state's colleges. The project was intended to reflect the immediate needs for the…

As state governments and the public demand greater accountability from community and technical colleges, increasing focus is placed on the concept of assessing student academic achievement. To be effective, assessment processes should provide institutions with information that helps develop specific plans for improving operations. While processes…

This brief describes some of the innovative programs and features at Hopwood Junior High School, the only intermediate school on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. The Opportunity Learning Center (OLC), an "in school" suspension program, provides students with a closely supervised learning environment,…

This chapter discusses the educational needs of Mexican immigrant children and effective practices that meet those needs. During 1984-92, the number of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in public schools grew 70 percent to 2.3 million; three fourths of LEP students spoke Spanish; and 40 percent of these were born in Mexico. Increased…

In recent times, sociological constructs have been used to examine school culture, viewing schools as learning communities rather than formal organizations. This paper describes use of the School Cultural Elements Questionnaire (SCEQ) to investigate the culture of schools in Western Australia. The SCEQ was first administered to 422 teachers in 8…

Developed to help ensure that the unique characteristics of community college occupational education are reflected in the current national movement toward institutional accountability, this monograph describes a model accountability system for community colleges. Following introductory materials, the focus of institutional effectiveness is…

This paper discusses the importance of expansion of the quantity of schooling and enhancement of the quality of schooling, both of which can be seen as directed towards the same goal, the improvement of educational outcomes for the population. Because both quantitative and qualitative investment projects in the education sector compete for the…

Dropping out of school is an event in a long series of life stresses. This paper gives the results of an in-depth ethnographic study of 11 at-risk females at a high school in the greater New York metropolitan area. The primary themes that emerged from the students were centered around their desire to have adults communicate with them in a…

This document describes studies and other evidence supporting year-round education (YRE) in elementary and secondary schools. Included are six newspaper and journal clippings describing the benefits of YRE schools. The document also quotes from test and survey results that indicate that students who are enrolled in YRE programs learn and retain…

In December 1990, a project was begun at Mt. San Antonio College (MSAC) in Walnut, California, to develop a model accountability system based on the belief that educational quality is measured by individual achievement over time. This proposal for the Accountability Model (AM) presents information on project methodology and organization in four…

This study examined barriers facing rural schools in serving students at-risk and the perceptions of teachers, parents, and administrators related to the difficulty in changing these barriers. Seventeen rural school districts representing 5 counties in southern Ohio participated in the study. The survey collected 846 completed responses from…