Benchmarks are designed to demystify educational goals and illuminate the nature of good performance for teachers, students, and parents. Since 1987, the Toronto Board of Education has developed over 100 language and mathematics benchmarks at grades 3, 6, and 8, combining observation with holistic evaluation. Instruction, learning, and evaluation…

This article presents guidelines for parents to ease the child's transition to a new school. Suggestions are given for preparing the child for the move, preparing the school for the change, and facilitating adjustment to new environments. (SM)

Explains characteristics and behaviors of Native American parents who react to child protection services with extreme aggressiveness, passivity, or avoidance. Discusses appropriate behaviors for social workers to use with such parents. (BG)

Describes the interorganizational collaboration that contributed to the development and satellite-mediated delivery of university courses to a highly dispersed, rural population. The project confirms that collaboration, within the context of adopting innovative procedures, is fraught with potential pitfalls. There are practical strategies that can…

Discussion of off-campus library services focuses on a literature review of surveys on reference services to off-campus users that investigated the philosophy of service, student demographics, the reference environment, materials provision, theory versus practice, reference assessment and guidelines, local library partnerships, and future trends.…

Discusses the necessity for providing access to microcomputers in elementary education and recommends 48 software titles that would be appropriate for public or school libraries. Considerations for librarians establishing a microcomputer software collection are discussed, and suggestions for choosing preschool programs as well as programs in…

This position statement of the Association of Teacher Educators and the National Association for the Education of Young Children offers teacher educators and policymakers guidelines for ensuring that all children from birth through eight years of age and their families have access to qualified early childhood teachers. (BB)

Sets forth a set of general educational facility specifications based on four sources of information: (1) initiatives of the Texas A & M Interface Task Force; (2) views of schools held by children; (3) educational trends; and (4) general educational facility planning principles. (six references) (MLF)

Outlines five facilities considerations that school principals need to address prior to the installation of an integrated learning system (ILS): (1) placement, i.e., labs or classrooms; (2) wiring; (3) environment, including furniture and noise; (4) security, including fire, theft, vandalism, and misuse; and (5) usability, including afterschool…

Gives guidelines to help teacher produce instructional messages that match students' abilities to understand. The behaviors presented facilitate greater acquisition of teacher talk by focusing student attention, reducing the complexity of the message, leading students to key points that maintain student attention, and aiding in future recall. (SLD)

Stresses the need for understanding the barriers to effective library use resulting from the diversity of users and the overwhelming amount of information available. Guidelines are suggested for use by academic librarians in evaluating facilities, services, and staff to assess their effectiveness in welcoming users and validating their information…

Describes differences between the level of English taught in Japanese high school English textbooks and that of English examinations for entrance into Japanese universities from the viewpoints of the size of the vocabulary and readability scores. (Author/VWL)

Examines current trends in educational telematics and presents frameworks, models, and guidelines for the design and evaluation of courses for remote learning delivery. Topics include technology-supported learning; the design of communication systems; student-centered learning; distributed methodologies; technology in curriculum development;…

Describes the creation and implementation of voluntary standards and benchmarks for the teaching and learning of economics at the precollege level. The standards, established by the National Council on Economic Education in 1997, outline fundamental economic concepts to be taught at each grade level. Includes copies of the standards. (MJP)

Describes the publication of the American Library Association's new school library media program guidelines and standards, "Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning." Discussion includes the library mission; the constant state of evolution of the library and information services profession; and the importance of standards.…