A common problem for Chinese teacher trainers is coping with a passive class with silent trainee learners, when trainees tend to be unresponsive and avoid interactions with the trainer. This is especially true when a trainer seeks interactions in the process of training, such as asking questions to the class as a whole or expecting at least one…

"Working Together and Making A Difference: Virginia Western Community College and Goodwill Industries of the Valleys Partnership Case Study Report" is a report aimed at informing community college and workforce leaders of best practices for launching and expanding partnerships to serve students more effectively. Co-published by AspenWSI…

One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this challenge because the "target groups" become…

Quality is fast becoming a policy priority in states and localities around the country. As a result, formal and informal networks of youth organizations are seeking and developing strategies to help them assess and improve performance. This report takes a close look at efforts underway in three networks and provides a preliminary framework for…

The Government of Alberta Strategic Business Plan addresses significant opportunities and challenges facing Alberta over the next three years and positions Alberta to make the most of its economic, social and natural advantages. It is a plan to strategically manage growth and plan for a sustainable and secure future. Advanced Education and…

Over 5 million students aged 6 to 21 received services under the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)" during the 2000-2001 school year. In partial response to this growing population of diverse learners, the relatively recent and highly controversial "No Child Left Behind (NCLB)" legislation has served as a…

Young people deserve to grow and thrive in good times and bad, in poverty and prosperity, in war and peace. Yet children still suffer from hunger, poverty, and maltreatment, even in a country as rich as the United States. This paper provides a historical background of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the kinds and nature of the…

In 1987, Congress directed each of the regional educational laboratories to develop a "rural initiative." Beginning in 1991, the U.S. Department of Education directed that the laboratories devote 25% of their effort to helping rural schools by fostering innovative rural education programs that promise to improve instruction, and by…

This paper discusses how strengthening connections between the school and its community can help to improve a school's problem solving capacity. The paper is based on data collected by the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project of the Center for New Schools (Chicago, Illinois), from observation of nine school sites which were involved in…

This paper describes experiences of the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (Chicago, Illinois) in helping schools to improve their problem solving capacities through the use of cognitive frameworks (shared meanings that people use to interpret their world). The paper discusses two projects that illustrate how shared frameworks have…

The contributions that business and industry can make to help colleges and universities maintain high standards of teaching, scholarship, and research are considered. Four recent studies that address the deterioration in educational standards are noted, and the problems that confront colleges and universities are identified. It is suggested that…

The impact of the School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program in Maryland schools was studied. The program encouraged application of research on planned change to implement one or more of four instructional models: Active Teaching, Mastery Learning, Student Team Learning, and Teaching Variables of "content" and…

Based on interviews of 68 key administrators, a survey questionnaire given to 345 principals and districtwide administrators, and a shortened questionnaire given to 177 teachers in 68 New Jersey and Pennsylvania school districts in 1981, this study examines how educators seek assistance to strengthen educational programs and promote change.…

Views of academic deans at 15 private Minnesota colleges concerning assessment were surveyed. About half of the colleges experienced some but not great pressure for assessment from their external environment while the remaining had felt essentially no pressure. The deans identified obstacles to assessment, including fears about possible intrusion…

In Spring 1983, 124 second semester freshmen at the University of Maryland at College Park whose first semester grade point averages were below minimum requirements for graduation participated in a diagnostic and prescriptive interview program. Participants met with a counseling center staff person to help students first to identify the causes of…