This book explores how spirituality intersects with the lives of adult educators and trainers. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) spirituality's role within the context of adult education and training and defining spirituality (the original spiritual purpose of adult education, as illustrated in the history of the Chautauqua,…

The feasibility of integrated health human resources planning (IHHRP) was examined. The analysis focused on the following topics: ways of integrating labor market indicators into service planning; whether planning is sufficiently responsive and flexible to retain relevance and validity in rapidly changing health systems; different models and…

This paper describes the national, state, and local contexts in which California (CA) is implementing School-to-Career (STC). Section I presents an historical view of School-to-Work (STW), describing national goals of the STW Opportunities Act 1994 (STWOA), and also discusses CA's STC efforts. Section II provides contextual information about STW…

This paper explores the fatherhood experiences of young Chicanos from the perspective of a social insider, from the same ethnic background and neighborhood. This vantage point places the issue of teenage fatherhood for Chicanos within the context of contemporary urban culture as well as within the structural challenges that many minority and poor…

Empirical research on adult learning conducted by Jack Mezirow in the 1970s was revolutionary and groundbreaking and contributed to the creation of a critical theory of adult learning. His influence has remained at the forefront of adult education theory for over two decades. It is timely to consider whether other empirical research has…

A project that focused on how the field of adult numeracy education had been shaped in Australia over the last 20 years sought answers to these research questions: (1) What does the past tell about adult literacy and numeracy policy, provision, and research? (2) Are Australians numerate? (3) What sort of numeracy activities do Australians engage…

The School District Data Book (SDDB) is an information resource from the National Center of Education Statistics that contains social, economic, and administrative data for each of the 15,274 public school districts (local education agencies, or LEAs) in the United States. This paper addresses the information and capabilities of the SDDB that can…

This is the third publication in the European Training Foundation's (ETF's) series of manuals designed to support development of vocational education and training (VET) standards. This volume looks at ways in which VET standards are linked to labor market demands and how relevant VET standards are to the needs of employment in a market economy.…

The scenarios project set out to develop a tool to improve understanding of vocational education and training (VET) systems in the linked contexts of economic and technological change; changes in society, work, and the labor market; and changing training/skills environment. Other key attempts at the European level to generate European scenarios…

Progress in education depends very much on keeping up with the various trends that emerge around the world. In-service teacher training (INSET) is a formal means through which teachers are constantly updated with the new findings in the field. There are also self-directed development activities that complement formal training. The need for this…

High school is becoming the next frontier for after-school advocates. The conceptual and practical leaps from programming for elementary and middle school students to high school students are significant, with huge marketing challenges. Arguing persuasively for investments in this population requires revisiting almost every strategic decision,…

The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Virginia conducted a 4-year qualitative case study in three very different school sites to explore how teachers contribute to the academic success of high potential, low economic students of color. Typically, the ethnicity, race, and/or economic status of these…

"Understanding the Early Years" (UEY) is a national research initiative. It provides communities with information to enable them to make informed decisions about the best policies and most appropriate programs for families with young children. It seeks to provide information about the influence of community factors on children's early…

The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) is a permanent, independent agency of the United States government, whose task is to advise the President and Congress on the implementation of national policy with respect to libraries and information science. To achieve its goals of appraising library and information…

A study investigated to what extent adult native speakers of Mandarin Chinese learning English as a second language could pronounce the five front vowels of American English, how difficult this was, and which vowels were most difficult. Subjects were 16 Chinese university students and spouses and 16 American students. All subjects were recorded…