Barriers to learning and teaching interfere with students' ability to participate effectively and benefit fully from classroom instruction and other educational activities. For school improvement efforts to succeed in ways that truly improve student achievement and student test scores, systemic changes must be made in how schools provide learning…

This document provides guidelines for the inclusion of English Language Learners (ELLs) in K-12 assessments. Twenty questions and answers are provided, along with a list of references. The following are appended: (1) Placement Tools for English Language Learners; (2) Definitions; (3) Typical Bilingual Program Designs; (4) Typical ESL Program…

This study was designed to fill the "implementation measurement" gap. A methodology to quantitatively measure the level of Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) implementation that can be used across a variety of CSR models was developed, and then applied to measure actual implementation of four different CSR models in a large number of schools. The…

Using case studies from seven rural and regional areas, this report looks at the impact of schools and vocational education and training (VET) on community capacity. It finds that communities have developed different models to organise school-VET partnerships and that rural areas are more likely to adopt a whole-of-community model, while regional…

Diverse patterns of organization exist across the English post-16 education and training (ET) system. Direct consequences of national policy drivers and the shift to a single mechanism for all publicly funded non-higher education (HE) post-16 provision are strong imperatives toward collaboration between providers, planned provision across an area,…

A number of factors and trends contribute to an increase in older adults in the workforce including demographics, financial concerns, changing concepts of retirement, longer and healthier life spans, and demand for the knowledge and skills possessed by the current generation of older workers. Careers are now considered to be more fluid, nonlinear…

Noting that adolescents' academic achievement depends, to a large degree, on adolescents' motivation, this chapter takes an achievement goal theory perspective to show how the manner in which adolescents adopt differing achievement goal orientations provides a framework for understanding the processes that contribute to their adoption of adaptive…

These two newsletter issues of the National Transition Alliance (NTA) for Youth with Disabilities present articles concerning the transition of youth with disabilities from school-to-work (STW) and related informational items. The first issue contains the following articles: "Bringing a Complicated System into Harmony" (focus on the…

A study examined the types of role models who influence career choice in young women planning traditional (education) careers in math- and science-related fields or nontraditional (engineering) careers. The hypothesis was that nontraditional women would be more likely to cite the influence of male role models or influences on career selection than…

Demand for cross-sectoral education and training provision is increasing. These new forms of participation are more likely to require flexible delivery, part-time study, short courses, intersectoral movement, and customized student pathways. Education and training are strongly associated with productivity in the new economy, but participation in…

This paper proposes a model for a neighborhood program to help enough low-income individuals improve their employment and financial standing so that the impacts are meaningful at a neighborhood scale. Section I describes the project. Section II explains why neighborhood-focused employment programs are an important part of the solution for…

Current teacher educators are being challenged to find opportunities for their preservice teachers to develop both competence in, and confidence for, integrating technology into their curricula. Given the difficulty involved in trying to arrange successful classroom technology experiences for preservice teachers, this study was designed to examine…

Tuition Assistance (TA) is a military-sponsored program that reimburses military members for 75% of the tuition costs of college classes while on active duty in the hope of making military service more attractive to young people and encouraging them to remain in the military. TA's effectiveness was examined by using two models--a bivariate probit…

This paper describes the initiation of curricular change in the undergraduate nursing program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, in light of significant changes in the health care delivery system. In 1995, the program's Administrative Council adopted a Facilitated Deliberative Inquiry consensus model to manage a review of the curriculum and…

University of the Third Age (U3A) programs in Australia and New Zealand were examined through data collected from 126 U3A groups in Australia and 20 in New Zealand. The 24,870 responses and 2,002 responses obtained in Australia and New Zealand, respectively, represented 76% and 77% of U3A group members in the two countries. Data were collected…