Six articles by Lynn Olson, published in various issues of "Education Week" starting in January 1993 and ending May 1995, describe a Maryland project to improve elementary education in the State: (1) "Winning NASDC (New American Schools Development Corporation) Project Takes Flight" (the basic skills children need to succeed in…

Three papers on the outlook for second language teaching and learning introduce the conference on second language curriculum and evaluation. "My Story of Language Teaching" (Andrew Wright) describes a variety of personal and professional experiences in the course of 50 years of language teaching, each highlighting emerging social values…

Conference papers on bilingualism and children are presented, including: "The Nurture and Nature of Bilingual Acquisition" (Laurel Kamada, Liu Xing-Ying, Willeta Silva, Mary Goebel Noguchi); "Early English Acquisition in the EFL Situation" (Soo-Woong Ahn); "Age Factors and Language Proficiency in Child SLA" (Kazuko Yumoto); and "Development of…

The ability to communicate in a foreign language requires more than linguistic accuracy. To understand and be understood by others requires the ability to recognize cultural differences. For example, polite behavior in one language may not be the social equivalent in another language. In order to acquire cultural competence, students have to…

Leading educational reformers have recently contended that students in U.S. secondary schools rarely are challenged to use their minds in any meaningful way. Faced with the remarkable absence of classroom thoughtfulness in U.S. schools, educational reformers have suggested that major organizational changes are necessary to improve the emphasis on…

The book, designed for teachers of both beginning-level and transitional students of English as a Second Language (ESL), outlines the Guided Language Experience Process (GLEP) model for planning ESL instructional units using the whole language approach. The first section summarizes research that has influenced this model and its implications for…

A national survey investigated the extent and design of programs in which content instruction is combined with instruction in English as a Second Language (content-ESL). Findings are summarized here. Is was found that about 15 percent of all public schools, and all states, have such programs, with heaviest concentration in the south and southwest…

This report analyzes the following 10 curricula for training programs for family child care providers: (1) Child Care, a family day home care provider program developed by Texas A&M's Agricultural Extension Service; (2) the Family Day Care Education Series, a coordinated resource manual and independent study course, the Active Learning Series,…

A study developed and validated a set of curriculum guidelines for the communication technology area of teacher preparation programs in technology education. The initial curriculum guidelines were established through personal interviews with three groups of professionals: five technology education teacher preparation professionals, five…

This paper presents a description and formative evaluation of National (Multi-Tech) Cluster III, Nova University's third technology-intensive doctoral program in Child and Youth Studies (CYS) in which formal instruction occurs in clusters, or groups of professionals in different geographic locations who are connected via electronic communications…

A study was done to provide research-based rationale and criteria to support the reading and study of multiethnic literature with the goal of persuading educators to prescribe these books. Information on multiethnic children's literature was obtained by reading, reviewing, and discussing over 200 of these books published mainly within the last 2…

This paper describes a middle-level reform effort implemented at Redwood Middle School in Napa, California. The school has been identified as an exemplary middle school that effectively combines affective and cognitive experiences for its students. In this monograph, the principal describes how the school's teachers developed a culture that…

This research project developed two strategic plans for distance education in social work. The project involved use of a developmental problem-solving methodology, creation of a conceptual framework thorough a literature search, visits to sites that use distance education, consultations with experts, and attendance at local and national…

The Bellevue (Washington) public schools' Spanish immersion program is described and program-related information is provided for parents. The description outlines general program goals and the basic educational assumptions underlying them, briefly chronicles the history of immersion education and of the Bellevue program, enumerates curriculum…

This study explored the impact of teaching improvement programs on university faculty participants in Mexico, as well as the factors that have affected the success of these programs. A total of 80 professors from the University of Sonora in Hermosillo, Mexico, completed a questionnaire on current teaching practices. The group included 40 former…