Since the mid 1980s, several groups including the Carnegie Forum, the Holmes Group, and the Center for Educational Renewal have conducted investigations and published reports and proposals on improving the quality of teacher education programs. This paper analyzes the various proposals and contends that current or recommended teacher education…

This booklet, which was developed for use by Florida middle school students, contains basic information about career opportunities, educational and other requirements for various occupations, and educational and career planning. The first section, which is designed for students to share with their parents, discusses the importance of parent…

This study assessed the relative value of Bandura's (1977, 1982, 1986) self-efficacy theory and Rotter's (1966) locus of control model in predicting the career maturity of college students. A sample of 113 undergraduates (83 women and 30 men) completed a demographics questionnaire and measures of career decision-making (CDM) self-efficacy (Taylor…

The Urban Education Project developed by Research for Better Schools, Inc., has focused on meeting the needs of urban students in a changing and demanding society by creating the Urban Education Framework, which presents a new vision of the urban learner as culturally diverse, capable, motivated, and resilient. This vision suggests that urban…

The evaluation process provides valuable information so that practitioners may share and benchmark their efforts to improve and enhance the quality of the educational reform initiative called tech prep. Evaluation should be part of every phase of a tech prep initiative, from needs assessment to completion. A tech prep program is typically at one…

This paper presents findings from a study that explored students' perceptions of cooperative learning strategies used in educational administration classes. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether students perceived the strategies to be more effective than traditional methods in increasing their knowledge and retention and in improving…

The librarian is presented with a foundation for decision making as it relates to the physical processing of nonprint materials, and with a demonstration of how these decisions move from theoretical to practical physical processing issues. Such issues include packaging and repackaging; treating accompanying materials; labeling; preparing…

A democracy must tolerate many points of view without becoming divided. Therefore, public educators and the communities they serve are challenged to help students understand political and religious issues without proselytizing. This handbook provides guidelines for beginning the journey toward common ground, for moving from a climate of antagonism…

This curriculum guide for middle school environmental education focuses on energy, economics, and the environment (EEE), and the interrelatedness of these three areas of study. The booklet is designed to provide teachers and students with a conceptual framework for analyzing complicated issues that involve the economic implications of energy and…

The current trend toward collaboration is having an impact on the fields of adult basic education and adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and literacy education. This digest looks at collaboration for adult ESL programs and for family bilingual and ESL literacy programs. It discusses the distinctions among cooperation, coordination, and…

This set of learning modules was developed during a project to deliver workplace literacy instruction to individuals employed in the more than 50 businesses related to the activities the activities of the Port of Baltimore. It is intended to help employees in port businesses develop team building and problem-solving skills. The following topics…

Approximately 600 teachers in 32 public elementary schools and secondary schools from 1 urban southeastern school district participated in a study conducted to identify prototypes of school climate concerning decisional participation cultures. A 19-item decisional participation measure was used, and the median score of the teachers at each school…

This paper provides a cross-program view of the results of three successful school improvement programs that regional educational laboratories developed and implemented. The programs and their developers are: (1) A+chieving Excellence from the Mid-Continental Regional Educational Laboratory; (2) Onward to Excellence (OTE) from the Northwest…

This newsletter issue focuses on the theme of fostering collaboration between parents and professionals in meeting the mental health needs of children. Structured group interviews (focus groups) were held with both parents and professionals who have been members of decision making boards and committees. Interview excerpts illustrate findings that…

This paper describes the use of an automated performance support system, the Mental Retardation-Expert (MR-E), in the training of 16 student clinicians to think "functionally" about undesirable behaviors of persons with mental retardation or developmental disabilities (MR/DD). The MR-E models human expertise in behavioral diagnosis and…