While substantial evidence exists that classroom immersion in a second language teaches students about cultural diversity, raises cultural self-awareness, and improves communicative competence in the target language, most of the research has been performed at the elementary and secondary school levels. Implications for developing rationales and…

Professional development for teachers is often described as a journey. This paper, using the findings from a small-scale study interrogating professional development in ICT, offers the alternate metaphor of an interwoven Celtic knot to explain this phenomenon. It will show how the four key elements identified as being critical to creating the most…

Year-long team projects with external clients provide a well recognized opportunity for students to gain industry experience, whilst being supported and guided by staff to minimize risks. Each group should be supervised to ensure that they have enough direction and confidence to approach a new problem of significant size, without being daunted. A…

This volume contains 12 papers on models of different learning styles, instruments to evaluate learning styles, and techniques for assessing individual learning characteristics as well as the future of learning style research and its implications for enhancing learning in higher education institutions. The papers are: "Learning Enhancement in…

Noting that an effective partnership between school and home can be one of the most powerful ways of helping children learn, this book provides guidelines for developing a whole school approach to working with parents to governors, parents, teachers, and other staff. Offering a wide range of good practice and practical ideas for developing an…

Research conducted during the Youth Research and Technical Assistance project established that the process of designing effective job training/employment programs for at-risk youth can be framed in terms of the following broad themes: focusing on youth as youth by developing program designs that are appropriate for their age and level of…

This study describes a school-university collaboration involving a number of professional development schools in Israel and examines the efficacy of such collaborations. A government agency requested that a university researcher plan and implement collaborative programs. The program determined to include a heterogeneous group of schools, selected…

This paper examines the effectiveness of social services provided to Mexican immigrants in rural California. In addition, the paper offers recommendations for service delivery models and for rethinking the objectives of immigrant social policy. At the most basic level, current social program planning and associated analyses of policy options fail…

This paper describes a proposed model for providing educational services to students with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). The model was developed by special education administrators in response to significant increases in the number of students diagnosed with PDD. Services that are necessary to support a classroom for…

This paper provides a sketch of a preservice teacher education field experience in schools serving ethnically and racially diverse populations. Since the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is situated in a rural setting with a predominantly white population, accessing schools serving ethnically and racially diverse populations poses significant…

This paper discusses the challenges of effectively matching the needs of youth populations with program services. An introduction reviews some broad issues that shape the discussion, namely whether youth is a period integrated into the course of life or a separatist culture. A second section proposes an ecological approach to youth services, which…

This publication presents the New Jersey State plan for the education of children of homeless families under the guidelines of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. An introduction reviews current demographics of the homeless population, particularly children and youth, and highlights planned state responses. A second section…

The National Education Goals were adopted by the nation's governors in 1990. The March 1994 enactment of the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act" made the National Education Goals federal policy and the guiding principles for a fundamental restructuring of the public education system. These goals have created a climate of education reform…

A 30-month study was designed to provide a comprehensive examination of training for teachers and volunteer instructors in adult basic education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL). Phase I provided a systematic examination of the delivery and content of training. Three primary research activities were collection of extant data on staff…

The delivery and content of training for teachers and volunteer instructors in adult basic education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) were documented in a study. Two sources of information were the research literature and extant data from states on training activities. Findings indicated that training for adult education teachers and…