The National Education Association's Mastery-in-Learning Project (MILP) seeks to empower students and teachers to become agents of democratic reform within the schools. It provides teachers and students with the necessary time, resources, skills, and motivation to restructure their schools into self-renewing centers of inquiry. Twenty-seven MILP…

These notes offer an overview of the elements that must be considered in designing an effective teacher education program. Each of the following is discussed: (1) the characteristics of an effective career teacher; (2) professional knowledge capabilities and skills often identified as topics that should be included in the teacher education…

The choice of methods is part of the overall evaluation design process. The process consists of the following steps: (1) analyzing the problem context; (2) asking a few general questions; (3) selecting the methods (strategies) to use; and (4) selecting the specific techniques (tactics) to use. To operate successfully the evaluator needs to know…

This beginning teacher program is a combination of a support and training program for first-year teachers in 12 school districts in Kansas. Participation is required and the program features regular meetings with the building principal, a year-long, performance-based skill training program, and a set of performance tasks which ask the beginning…

This paper outlines a 9-week program for the acquisition of basic psychotherapeutic knowledge, attitudes, and skills for pre-practicum graduate students in professional psychology. Basic to the design of the described program are assumptions that participants have previously acquired, and demonstrated, proficiency in interactional skills which are…

The North Carolina Quality Assurance Program extended the preparation of teachers to a period of six years and changed the certification procedures for educational personnel. Four years of formal study are required at the preservice level in an approved program. The program leading to the initial certificate includes completion of the bachelor's…

This pamphlet offers information on high school dropouts and the role of vocational education in dropout prevention. References are provided for each section. Characteristics of dropouts, reasons for dropping out, and 12 factors that contribute to retention in high school are listed. Indicators from research are cited that show that vocational…

A group of 72 professionals from the field of gerontology attended a consultation designed to articulate the learning and professional development needs of those who work with elderly persons. During the consultation, a series of three small group discussions were held. These discussions indicated that continuing education courses and professional…

The purpose of the computerized Reading Program Management System is to assist reading specialists of the District Heights Elementary School (Maryland) to perform four specific reading program tasks: placement, grouping, monitoring, and materials supply. The system uses a general purpose, commercial data management software package called DB…

Interest or motivation, intelligence and experience, and psychosocial access are inextricably bound together in successful educational programs, and none can explain or predict performance by itself. In the realm of interest and motivation, it has been found that youth want to learn how to be effective, like to do the things their parents value,…

The Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) project is a joint Armed Services coordinated effort to develop and evaluate a system for automated, adaptive administration of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The CAT is a system for administering personnel tests that differs from conventional test administration in two major…

The English department faculty training program at Purdue University-Calumet, Indiana, designed a program that would provide their entire staff with the skills necessary to use computer-assisted instruction and word processing to teach all levels of writing. Phase one of the program was a semester-long class designed for regular faculty, beginner…

Small, sometimes multi-cultural, rural schools need specialized preservice teacher education programs to prepare teachers. After outlining the classroom, school, and sociocultural characteristics affecting a teacher's success and survival in a rural community, this paper discusses the apparent lack of rural content in teacher preparation programs…

A study of non-Hispanic attitudes about bilingual education had two goals: (1) to apply symbolic politics theory to bilingual education and (2) to test the theory's assumption that the symbolic meaning of an attitude object determines which symbolic predisposition it evokes. A national sample of 1,170 non-Hispanics were surveyed via telephone…

One of a series of implementation documents prepared in conjunction with the revised minimum standards adopted in 1983 by the Ohio State Board of Education, this document suggests ways to develop economic education programs in Ohio high schools and identifies issues certain to be encountered in developing such a program. Each of the five sections…