Discusses the role of libraries in the development of distance education in India since 1962, focusing on the acquisition, management, and provision of information services to adult learners. The needs of distance learners, and problems faced by open universities trying to fulfill those needs, are examined. Resource sharing and networking may help…

A study investigated the ethnocultural composition of the peer networks of 896 suburban high school students. Results indicated that gender mix, setting mix, and frequency of contact significantly differed across homogenous, integrated, and heterogeneous peer structures, demonstrating the mitigating impact of environmental factors on the interplay…

Discusses children's access to information through the media and parents' responsibility to protect them, noting what parents should know and how they can learn more. One sidebar examines parenting in the information age. Another sidebar describes how three states are helping parents use critical viewing to take charge of their televisions. (SM)

Describes a pilot curriculum at the Peddie School, an independent preparatory school in rural New Jersey, designed to achieve cost-effective school reform through technology. Elements include student use of laptop computers, cooperative learning, block scheduling, off-campus studies, and interdisciplinary units. The school's information network is…

Examined the outcomes of a 2-year, technology-supported, problem-based learning project which built teacher knowledge through sustained, dialogue-driven collaboration. The qualitative research, involving 28 grade 5-8 teachers, identified key organizational structures for making the most of computer-mediated communication for inservice teacher…

A principal who exchanged jobs with a university professor explores changing principal roles, using a case-study approach. Principals' working world is characterized by overwhelming responsibilities, information perplexity, and emotional anxiety. Principals would appreciate intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, support networks, university-school…

In order to improve post-discharge outcomes for children, it has been proposed that residential treatment centers place a greater emphasis on engaging families and building on strengths of the youths in treatment. This review presents the theoretical and empirical support for several promising strategies for engaging families, such as behavioral…

During the last decade, the focus of innovation and research in the field of computers and education has shifted from stand-alone to networked computers. The rapidly growing educational use of networked computers raises questions about which approaches to research can tell us most about improving educational impact. A key aim of this paper is to…

This article represents differing perspectives on the creation and establishment of the Rhode Island Arts Learning Network (ALN). At the heart of this discussion is whether or not the Rhode Island task force in charge of this process took advantage of what noted public policy analyst John Kingdon refers to as a "policy window" where…

Over the last 15 years, the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has facilitated a revolution in how we use language. Online environments have facilitated creative and variable spelling using code hybridization and stylistic use of mechanical conventions such as punctuation and capitalization, lexical coinages, new…

Athabasca University--Canada's Open University (AU) made the commitment to put all of its courses online as part of its Strategic University Plan. In pursuit of this goal, AU participated in the eduSource project, a pan-Canadian effort to build the infrastructure for an interoperable network of learning object repositories. AU acted as a leader in…

Under the broad banner of education, training, and collaboration across systems, this paper examines, through analysis of seven individual projects, issues and insights associated with three central themes: (1) the link between ECD programs and children's school readiness; (2) the promotion of parenting enrichment programs as a childcare quality…

In many reports, scholars describe parent involvement in schools by focusing on the influence parents have on their children's learning or on the educators' perspective of parent involvement (e.g., Norton, 2003). This article looks at the issue through a different lens. It focuses on the nature of parents and community engagement in schools that…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision defined public education for African Americans in the United States. In this article I discuss the tradition of African American parental involvement in the pre-"Brown" era, challenges to parental involvement in a post-"Brown" era, and a parental involvement initiative in an…

As the 50th anniversary of the landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" decision arrives, a notably gesellschaftliche (individualist, freedom-oriented, rationalist) paradigm in the education policy agenda prevails. That is to say, in the wake of a series of Supreme Court decisions and the proliferation of publicly funded, ethnocentric charter…