Describes a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program used to teach DOS commands. Pretest and posttest results for 65 graduate students using the program are reported, and it is concluded that the CAI program significantly aided the students. Sample screen displays for the program and several questions from the pre/posttest are included. (nine…

In California, the regional partnership structure is being used to support implementation of recommendations for middle level school reform. The partnership's loose structure allows flexibility in financial contribution and opportunities to solicit paying partners from the local community. A support network or forum allows individuals and schools…

The Education Development Center of Newton, Massachusetts, recently pilot tested Make It Happen, an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based learning approach designed to integrate technology into the middle school curriculum while actively engaging students in their own instruction. The I-Search process reflects students' personal concerns and promotes…

Describes a management-development program aimed at developing managerial skills and responsibilities across the whole staff of a Welsh secondary school. Explains the reasons for possible antipathy to this inservice training topic. The project used teachers' current managerial tasks so that teachers, in conjunction with self-study materials, could…

Although current middle-level philosophy recommends a carefully planned transition between schools, many elementary school students continue to leave cohesive, self-contained classrooms for quasi-departmentalized middle schools with continuously changing class membership. A two-phase pilot study showed that (male) students in a constant-membership…

South Carolina's Teacher Cadet Program, an "experiencing education" class offered to proficient high school students, is helping attract top students to teaching and is renewing teachers without exhausting them. The course enables students and teachers to engage in profound discussions about growing up and stimulates critical analysis of…

Discusses the needs of the new majority of students, i.e., part-time students over 25 with job and/or family responsibilities. A pilot project at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, called the Interactive Learning Community, that lends computers with modems to students to supplement in-class activities is described. (five…

This rejoinder to Grant Wiggins on performance assessment suggests that true educational reform will undoubtedly be evidenced by something more substantial than pocket folders bulging with student work. Labeling performance tests "authentic" does not ensure their validity, reliability, or incorruptibility. Such tests are neither replacements nor…

The Texas Scholars Program, a joint business/education venture, is a low-cost program that motivates the "forgotten majority" (lower ranked students) to complete a rigorous academic curriculum preparing them for the labor market or postsecondary education. Since 1989, Eastman Chemical Company business leaders have been…

Deploring standardized testing deficiencies, the author obtained state funding to adapt England's Primary Language Record assessment to U.S. classrooms and piloted the literacy portion throughout California. Now 20 schools and districts across 8 states employ the Learning Record Assessment, accompanied by parental-involvement and…

Argues that middle managers are key to developing successful departments and schools. Discusses results from a pilot project on role changes that shadowed eight department heads in Catholic secondary schools in Birmingham and Manchester, England. Although department heads spent most time on core activities (teaching, coaching, and managing their…

A review of the literature reporting effects on parents of universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) focuses on debates surrounding false positive identification, the evidence base for maternal/parental anxiety, consent, and family cultural/sociodemographic influences on the effective implementation of the UNHS programs, especially the pilot…

This pilot program used videoconferencing technology to create a collaborative cultural exchange between fourth graders in San Francisco and Taiwan in which students from both cities saw an art exhibit and participated in a dialog addressing the content of the exhibit, as well as their own cultural backgrounds. (Author/LRW)

In Qualified Vocational Instruction, one-third of instructional time consists of advanced application of theory in the workplace. Evaluation of a Swedish pilot project suggests that it is successful, but possible future paths (integration, separation, continuation, or liquidation) depend on political choices about the public/private role. (SK)

Describes mentoring as a support mechanism for trainees undertaking new in-service professional qualifications for the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (UK). Presents the selection procedure for mentors, the process of matching them with trainees, the regional network for induction training and support, and the documentation…