This paper presents a Knowledge Sharing project at the Aarhus School of Business (Denmark). As a result of a close cooperation between the Faculty of Modern Languages and the Library of the Aarhus School of Business, a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) is being established. The LRC serves as an exploratorium for the development and testing of new…

Current educational reforms can be described as top-down, heavy-handed, and test driven. But they are not based on research about how children learn best or how they become enthusiastic, competent, and independent thinkers for life. Such accepted practices as grading, grouping by age, and teaching to pass standardized tests are completely at odds…

Service learning is valuable in connecting students with the world outside the classroom, resulting in a more just society for the future. However, many so-called service learning projects develop no clear link between service and learning, and lose their potential for turning students into agents of social change. Using the National Association…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of Project RIME (Reading Instructional Methods of Efficacy), a 3-year project to develop, field test, and disseminate a model of professional development for early elementary and special education teachers focusing on methods for teaching early reading and spelling to children at risk for…

The Free to Grow pilot project, developed by the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and its Head Start project, operated between 1994 and 1999. Following a 2-year planning and development stage, 5 project sites went on to complete the 3-year implementation phase in California, Colorado, Kentucky, New York, and Puerto Rico; the…

This final report discusses the activities and outcomes of a project that developed, field-tested, and disseminated eight 3-hour training modules to be used by preservice and inservice faculty in preparing early interventionists to work with young children with disabilities. The modules were designed to teach a special model of early intervention,…

The state of Washington implemented the Readiness to Learn program as part of the state's Family Policy Initiative. The primary goal of the program is to serve as a formal link between education and human services by authorizing grants to local school-linked, community-based consortia to develop and implement strategies that ensure children arrive…

This issue brief was developed as part of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices' framework for standards-based systemic reform. The brief focuses on one of the six major policy areas identified by the Consortium, professional development. It first discusses the concept of teachers as lifelong learners, then explores professional…

This paper presents a model for a co-mentoring support group among graduate students and faculty, using as a case study the development of a faculty-student support group in a college of education at a university. This support group began in 1995 and consisted of 11 participants who met formally for one year and have continued to meet informally…

This guide is designed to provide teachers in King County, Washington, with a single resource for much of the information needed to help students with disabilities transition from school to adult life and to make informed employment decisions. It begins by providing an overview of federal and state regulations that affect students with…

This study investigated designer background characteristics and contextual variables that were hypothesized to influence the incorporation of motivational components in the design of instructional materials, as well as the factors that may affect the perceived level of a project's success. A hypothesized model was developed that depicted…

The implementation of basic research on children's scientific thinking into science curricula continues to be a slow process. This chapter summarizes research on cognitive development that has helped to establish the goals for much of early science education and examines its implications. The chapter begins by describing scientific thinking and…

Children of active parents tend to be more active. This Digest describes the various socialization factors that influence a child's interest and involvement in physical activity. While role modeling exerts some effect, recent research suggests that the nature of parental influence may be much more complex. A useful theoretical model to explain…

Based on research conducted in 1996 and 1999, this paper discusses theoretical issues and provides an overview of the purposes for which school libraries are creating and maintaining home pages or World Wide Web sites. In 1996, a content analysis was performed of Web sites of 50 school libraries in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden,…

This paper presents a case study of distance education at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Australia. Begun in 1977, distance education at USQ moved from the correspondence model to the multimedia model, to the telelearning model, and finally to the current flexible learning model characterized by on-line delivery via the…