Research has consistently shown that 3- and 4-year-olds who attend a high-quality preschool are more successful in kindergarten and beyond--both academically and socially. But the majority of preschool programs in the United States are not judged as good, with many rated far below that. Many of our most vulnerable children attend the lowest…

Developing literacy skills at the preschool level is a crucial foundation for continued success in school environments; nevertheless, questions about when and how to teach beginning reading and writing are among the most controversial topics in early childhood education. As part of a series of works examining strategies for school improvement and…

On the premise that access to services addressing children's emotional well-being is essential to improving the quality of care received, this paper presents a framework or plan of action to ensure that those services are accessible in Delaware and meet the needs of all children, their parents, and the child care community that serves them.…

This report chronicles the work and recommendations of a coalition of educational, public, and private organizations known as the Grand Rapids Education Reform Initiative. Based on research showing that education in the public schools of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was in a state of crisis, the initiative set out to improve education throughout the…

Adult and continuing education are undergoing simultaneous processes of institutionalization (adding schools for adults) and deinstitutionalization (broadening the scope of interventions and focusing on learning processes inside and outside schools). Lifelong learning assumes that learning takes place in all spheres of life, including the…

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) established the DoD Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development. Although achieving its mission requires that the chancellor's office influence the education and professional development providers' behavior, its charter grants it very limited formal authority to exercise such…

This project evaluated a program for enhancing student motivation as evidenced by improved academic growth and increased work completion. The targeted population consisted of fifth graders in a small school in a medium-sized rural community in the Midwest. The problem of lack of achievement motivation and lack of student concern about academic…

This monograph addresses the role of gifted education in total school improvement by describing three service delivery components (the Total Talent Portfolio, Curriculum Modification Techniques, and Enrichment Learning and Teaching) and several organizational components of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM). The report describes how the SEM can…

The impact of globalization on vocational education and training (VET) in Australia was examined through a literature review. Special attention was paid to the following topics: the growing export orientation in Australian industry (industrial growth in Australia's economy, growth in Australian exports, "knowledge intensity" in the…

Noting that managed care organizations face numerous challenges as they respond to adolescents' special health care needs, this report provides the managed care industry with practical information about opportunities for strengthening their health care delivery to adolescents. The report is organized around two goals for health plans. The first…

Throughout the post-war period there have been many attempts to reform the UK education system, often with an explicit intention to try and make it more productive. The list of education policy reforms that have been attempted over the last 50 years is quite extensive, and recently the UK (and in particular England and Wales) has introduced many…

The aim of this research project has been to map the range of perceptions of a sample of people concerning business in partnership with education. From the range of perceptions held by the participants in this dissertation, we can conclude that partnering is not a simple matter of two parties agreeing to some workable union between them for mutual…

In an effort to revitalize Bennington College (Vermont), its president recently fired 26 of 79 faculty members, reduced and reorganized academic departments and divisions, replaced tenure with multi-year contracts, and recruited new faculty. Some claim violation of academic freedom. Enrollment has increased, particularly among first-time students,…

A survey of 243 New England colleges and universities found a strong relationship between institution size and the scope of its institutional research function, reporting relationship, and size and qualifications of the research staff. Size of staff and qualifications of the institutional director were significant predictors of involvement in…

Reports on the third year of a research project to document and evaluate an innovative foreign language in elementary schools (FLES) program in Japanese for Grades K-5. Findings indicate that the children progressed considerably in foreign language proficiency and developed positive attitudes toward language learning. (28 references) (Author/CK)