An ongoing four-year ethnographic study of two cohorts of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners enrolled in mainstream Canadian primary school classrooms is described. The two cohorts are: (1) a group of six children observed from the beginning of kindergarten through the end of grade 2, and (2) five children observed from early kindergarten…

Traditionally, libraries have had a role of providing equitable access for those who might not otherwise have access, and this role continues today in implementing access to electronic resources. However, there are special problems in applying this mission to prison libraries. A short history of automation in prison libraries is followed by a…

This paper reports on an Old Dominion University (Virginia) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Langley Research Center project, NCSTRL+, a unified, canonical digital library (DL) for educational, scientific, and technical information (STI). NCSTRL+ is based on the Networked Computer Science Technical Report Library (NCSTRL),…

Early Childhood Research and Practice (ECRP), a peer-reviewed, Internet-only journal sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE), covers topics related to the development, care, and education of children from birth to approximately age 8. ECRP emphasizes articles reporting on practice-related…

The problems that middle school special education students experience in the academic area of social studies were addressed in this practicum. The students could not grasp the ideas, received poor grades, and exhibited a very poor attitude about the relevance of social studies as an academic concern. The special education social studies classes…

This planning guide and collection of resources is designed to help higher education faculty become more aware of current research and thinking on adult learning and to participate actively in institutional changes that make campuses, particularly in the California State University system, better able to meet the needs of adult students. Each of…

Ten research papers are presented that were commissioned by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs for the 1990 research symposium on issues related to Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) students. Responses from 20 practitioners who served as discussants at the symposium are included in the proceedings. Topics range from…

This collection of conference presentations contains 48 papers and 122 abstracts (for which there are no formal papers). The papers and abstracts are presented in two separate sections, but both are categorized by special interest groups: (1) Academic Computing (SIGAC, 1 paper, 9 abstracts); (2) Computer-Based Training (SIGCBT, 8 papers, 12…

In 1991, a study was conducted of semester-to-semester persistence patterns at Rancho Santiago College (RSC). The study involved tracking the attendance patterns of all RSC students entering as new students in fall 1983 and each subsequent fall until 1990; and comparing the persistence rates of matriculated and non-matriculated students in the…

During spring 1991, a study was conducted at San Diego City College (SDCC) in California to explore the various factors which motivate students to drop out, propose remediation strategies based on the research findings, and suggest further studies to identify and analyze problem areas more explicitly. To examine students' reasons for dropping out,…

This paper analyzes the views about teaching mathematics held by eight preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a mathematics course that emphasized small group discussion and an exploratory approach to mathematics. Analysis of the students' diaries, interviews, and group discussions reveal a body of traditional views about teaching mathematics…

This study assessed the utility of using both the American College Testing (ACT) Program composite score and high school grade point average (GPA) as predictors of students' success in college, as measured by the GPA at the end of the students' first semester in college. Data were obtained from 420 first-time entering freshmen at a medium-sized…

Three important human capital questions must be addressed by U.S. policy makers: What are the effects of employer-sponsored training? Do employers invest enough in employee training? and How will accelerating technological change affect the need for employer-sponsored training and for complementary investments in education? Four policy…

This report synthesizes knowledge and instructional practices appropriate for effective instruction in classrooms comprised of students from three or more linguistic backgrounds. It specifically targets beginning teachers in Arizona, California, and Nevada schools where numbers of ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse students have…

An evaluation was made of the training needs of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Italy and the potential of open, distance, flexible, and multimedia learning to meet those needs. The methodology included contacts with training providers, governmental institutions, and SMEs and circulation of…