Describes a study of Dental Hygiene graduates from Michigan's Oakland Community College to determine their satisfaction with their education and interest in pursuing further classes and career opportunities. Finds that although graduates agreed that they were well-prepared overall, they identified several specific skill areas as needing…

Describes recent state initiatives to improve child care for Mississippi children. Efforts include development of a child care director's credential, on-site training through staff at mobile training vans, initiatives to heighten consumer awareness and help parents make informed choices, voter education projects, and free yearly conferences for…

Examined whether preschool quality could be enhanced through competence development in teaching staff simultaneous to organizational changes and financial cutbacks. Tested a model for competence development with an intervention group that took part in a competence development program. Found that the development work led to a higher quality in…

A two-way bilingual program was developed for children in preschool through second grade. Observation identified gaps between the program that was planned and the one implemented; data indicated few differences in academic gains between the bilingual program and the English-only classrooms. Findings pose implications for how teacher-researcher…

This paper uses data from the 1996 and 2001 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to assess the impact of recent policy initiatives intended to increase access to Food Stamps. It finds that reductions in state certification requirements increased Food Stamp participation rates of income-eligible families with children by one to…

With the advent of the Internet, and more specifically the use of email discussion groups or listservs, physical educators have a new resource to assist them in overcoming the challenges to their professional development. One such resource is the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) listserv. NASPE-L is a physical…

In the 2004-05 school year, at a time of nationwide debate regarding the rigor of the high school diploma and the value of school-to-work programs, Chesapeake Public Schools (CPS) conducted an evaluation of the preparation of their students for the job market. The results of the evaluation did not substantiate widespread concern that the high…

An e-Learning team within an insurance corporation established a research partnership with three researchers to inform the renewal and innovation of their e-Learning solution. The research focused on management's perceptions on the future of e-Learning, learners' perceptions of their use of the e-Learning system, and administrators' perceptions of…

How do young people conceptualise "effective" sexuality education? This paper explores 16-year-old to 19-year-old New Zealanders' vision of effective sexuality education as it emerges in answers to a survey question about improving programmes at secondary school. Young people's responses suggest that their view of what makes sexuality…

Eight faculty members from five different campuses across the state of Wisconsin collaboratively taught a seminar course in early childhood special education through distance education technologies. A description of the course development and implementation is provided followed by summaries of the qualitative and quantitative analyses of student…

Program Improvement (PI) and School Assistance and Intervention Teams (SAIT) programs place rigorous, narrowly defined requirements upon monitored schools and districts, with corrective actions typically written as both school-level and district-level interventions. The requirements, known as the Essential Program Components, aim to enable schools…

A significant issue existing within the rural economic development literature revolves around the difficulty with sorting out the controversy of the effects of amenity activities on rural economic growth. This problem is due to the different ways amenity attributes are linked to regional economic performance. Numerous researchers utilize principal…

This brief studies California's introduction of the Early Assessment Program to bridge the gap between K-12 educational standards and postsecondary education requirements, similar to the Common Core State Standards movement.

Media depictions of San Francisco show idyllic images of fog pouring under the Golden Gate Bridge or happy tourists riding cable cars, but rarely the mostly nonwhite neighborhoods of the east side. San Francisco public schools have a bad track record of mimicking this masquerade, with very low numbers of African American and Latina/o students…

Background: Strength training (ST) is an important health behavior for aging women; it helps maintain strength and function and reduces risk for chronic diseases. This study assessed change in physical fitness following participation in a ST program implemented and evaluated by community leaders. Method: The StrongWomen Program is a nationally…