The various ways that standards and standards-based education are being addressed around the United States are described. The education community can trace the start of the modern standards movement to the publication of "A Nation at Risk" in 1983 (National Commission on Excellence). The first education summit in 1987 then became a…

To provide more information about school-community initiatives, a mapping project was developed to show the broad outlines of the movement to bring about change through school-community efforts and to show some of the movement's more specialized details. Focusing on initiatives at the kindergarten through grade 12 level, the mapping project…

A program was conducted to implement a "regular high school" adult diploma program built on a school-to-work philosophy and operated through a two-county, multidistrict lifelong learning consortium in Pennsylvania. The project also provided a rural, cooperative program model ready for replication in other areas in order to provide…

This paper develops a new conception of organizational knowledge management as "knowledge ecology." The Socrates electronic learning environment is described as an example of a knowledge ecosystem for education and training. The Socrates program was developed as a knowledge management system, viewing classrooms as organizations for…

Using Guilford County (North Carolina) School District's implementation of North Carolina ABCs legislation as a backdrop, this paper discusses the unintended consequences that school-improvement plans create for administration. The ABCs legislation ties a large-scale testing program to a requirement that each school develop a community-supported…

This paper discusses the results of a survey that investigated how 69 school districts associated with the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented were implementing cluster grouping to meet the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of gifted students. Results from the survey indicate: (1) the majority of school districts did not…

In order to provide specific planning assistance, this paper describes three major components of a learning resources program: (1) the library or traditional print materials component; (2) the learning center component, which is an innovative learning environment offering individualized and conventional classroom instruction and/or non-traditional…

In order to facilitate the collective bargaining process for distance learning compensation at Mid-Plains Community College Area in Nebraska (MPCCA), a phone survey was conducted in 1998. All in-state, public 2-year community colleges were contacted regarding their compensation practices in this area. In addition, a sampling of public 2-year…

This case study describes a collaborative effort among 10 campuses of the State University of New York (SUNY) to establish a shared distance learning network in western New York state. Participating campuses, led by SUNY Brockport, made a proposal to the SUNY system Office of Educational Technology to form WESTNET, a distance learning network that…

Fontbonne College's academic dean and vice president for academic affairs appointed a task force in August 1997 to investigate, over the course of one year, ways in which the library's development could be centered in teaching and learning. More specifically, the task force was to determine how library and information services could be rooted in…

Planning for the Multitype Library Cooperative (MLC) is critical if it is to best assist the library community. Multitype Library Cooperatives are unique organizations in the library community that serve as the "libraries" library, providing various special services. This book is a companion volume and handbook to "Strategic Planning for Library…

"Talking about Touching" for preschool and kindergarten is a curriculum that focuses on teaching children basic skills that will help them keep safe from dangerous or abusive situations. The content and method of instruction in the curriculum were developed using current research on child abuse prevention and social learning theory.…

The district-level implementation of a systemic educational change in teacher evaluation mandated at the state level was studied at the elementary and middle school level in a small rural school system. The historical background of teacher evaluation processes from early American schooling to the 1909s was studied. The pilot case study then…

This report assesses federal efforts to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) during its first four years as law. The report begins by describing the politics and the players in the passage and implementation of the ADA and then discusses how technical assistance precedes enforcement of ADA. Complaints filed under the ADA and the…

Five activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented primary-level children. The first booklet, "Sound," contains four activity pages to accompany teaching of the concept that sound is transmitted through air to the ear. The "Groups 1" booklet provides nine…