In response to a shortage of special education teachers in Montana, a pilot emergency endorsement program (Office of Public Instruction Special Education Endorsement Project) was initiated in 1987. During 1988-97, the program enrolled 110 students, all of whom were simultaneously employed as teachers. Of these, 71 completed the program and…

A study examined community, workplace, and social issues faced by professionals in education, health, human services, and law enforcement in eight rural British Columbia (Canada) communities. Surveys and interviews with 36 professionals revealed a dissonance between views of rural issues in the literature and views of local practitioners. The…

James Cook University, Queensland, Australia (JCU) and Malaspina University College, British Columbia (MUC) have developed a partnership model for the delivery of JCU's Masters degree in education in rural studies. The course was delivered via distance education from MUC. Program evaluation was conducted via questionnaires returned by 25 students…

A study examined rural school administrators' perceptions of their jobs and how academic achievement and school climate were affected at rural schools that shared principals, compared to rural schools that had their own principal. Sixteen rural school administrators from across the nation were interviewed about their perceptions of their jobs, and…

A survey of 105 rural school superintendents in Colorado investigated areas significant to success in and satisfaction with the superintendency in rural school districts. These areas included school district background, perceptions of the rural superintendency, future plans of respondents, governance issues, board-superintendent relations,…

This document is a comprehensive report of the student evaluations completed at Horry-Georgetown Technical College (SC) during the spring 1999 semester. As noted in the document, each degree and certificate program is subject to periodic review, which encompasses student surveys. For this survey, students were asked to respond to Likert-type…

This exit survey of students at Yavapai College (Arizona) is given to all students who are verifying with the Registrar that they have met the requirements for an Associate Degree or a Certificate of Achievement. This report summarizes the results from the survey of December 2001 and May 2002 students. The Exiting Student Survey was completed by…

Yavapai College, Arizona, conducted a telephone survey of current college students in December 2002. The survey provides data for future marketing efforts, as well as providing information to be used as part of an ongoing assessment of student opinions and needs. An independent telemarketing firm called students from a random list of 1,400 credit…

In fall 1997, Westchester Community College (WCC) in New York conducted a survey of 970 students who graduated in summer or fall of 1996 or spring of 1997 to determine their educational and work-related outcomes. The study provides information about these graduates in three ways. First, it profiles their demographic, educational, and work-related…

The possibility of promoting community development as well-being through a community learning ethos was examined to determine whether learning can be used to develop a framework for conceptualizing community well-being in order to contribute to Australia's regional sustainability. The examination focused on the following: the relationship between…

This report discusses a project that adapted new automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to provide real-time speech-to-text transcription as a support service for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH). In this system, as the teacher speaks, a hearing intermediary, or captionist, dictates into the speech recognition system in a…

This book is divided into five major sections that focus on the various perspectives, needs, and concerns of employees in the workplace. Chapters include: (1) Work: Meaning, Mattering, and Job Satisfaction (K. M. Connolly); (2) Spirituality in the Workplace: An Overview (E. J. Looby and D. S. Sandhu); (3) Developing the Whole Employee: Some…

Public libraries are an important asset in virtually any size community, but especially in small towns where many social institutions are in decline or have left. Libraries increase the quality of life, help attract new residents, and support the quality of life that is essential to attracting businesses. Results from surveys of library users,…

This document contains four symposium papers on adult learning in the workplace. "The Relationship between Workplace Learning and Employee Satisfaction in Small Businesses" (Robert W. Rowden, Shamsuddin Ahmad) reports the results of a study of the nature and extent of HRD, level of job satisfaction among workers, and correlation between…

Current educational reforms can be described as top-down, heavy-handed, and test driven. But they are not based on research about how children learn best or how they become enthusiastic, competent, and independent thinkers for life. Such accepted practices as grading, grouping by age, and teaching to pass standardized tests are completely at odds…