This report presents an evaluation of the Alternative Teacher Education Program (ATEP) at Kent State University, which was developed to recruit and retain academically gifted students into teacher education. Three categories of questions form the basis for the evaluation: (1) How effective was the collaborative planning and monitoring process…

Agricultural education has grown and flourished in the past because it took students with farm backgrounds and helped them become better managers and producers, thus improving agriculture in general. Now that fewer students are coming from farms into agricultural education, agricultural education has lost its protected status and become just…

A study was conducted to collect and examine information on the nature and extent of business and postsecondary occupational program linkages. Data were gathered through a telephone survey of 76 administrators of postsecondary institutions that had both high and low linkages to private industry, and of 661 employers, half of whom were currently…

Two major categories of issues constitute the agenda for improving the quality of teaching. The first encompasses "empowerment" issues such as occupational status of teachers, their working conditions, income, incentive, and autonomy. The second addresses "enablement," the knowledge, skills or abilities, and judgment…

In discussing the problem of a current and future shortage of well-qualified minority teachers, it is pointed out that this shortage is only one manifestation of the enormous systemic failure of urban schools; minority children and youth are receiving an inferior education in inadequate elementary and secondary schools. New reform efforts aimed at…

Directors of forensics at research universities are subject to a conflict between attaining pedagogically justified goals for forensic activities and the realities incumbent upon the mission of a research university. The ideal, pedagogical view of forensics maintains that a forensics program should offer a broad range of activities, should be…

Three crucial factors which have inhibited past school improvement efforts are analyzed in this paper. These factors include: (1) promising more than can be delivered; (2) failing to effectively deal with the reality of limited resources; and (3) failing to recognize and initiate opportunities for collaboration and resource sharing. The paper…

Interest in encouraging linkages between economic development efforts of various federal agencies with the job development and training activities of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) led, in 1979, to the development of an interagency effort, the Employment Initiatives Program, and the signing of six interagency agreements with…

Relationships need to be built between the military training system and vocational education. Vocational education, or specialized skill training as the military terms it, provides the skills and knowledge needed in specific military occupations. It has two parts--initial training and progression training. A process called Instructional Systems…

A 23-item questionnaire was sent to secretaries of education committees in state legislatures and departments of education of all 50 states to obtain data on (1) the basis of intrastate and interstate credit transfer, (2) how migrant students' academic program can be planned to provide continuity, (3) how credit transfers are made, (4) how many…

Starting with the premise that improved collaboration of elementary and secondary school systems with universities and colleges is essential not only to the improvement of education but to its survival, this document summarizes a series of papers on issues pertinent to school-university collaboration in such areas as basic research and evaluation,…

An Iowa high school's experience with producing a biennial statewide foreign language fair is described. The objectives have been to have students enjoy using their second languages, especially with people to whom they have never spoken before, and to enliven the winter months. Every language teacher and student, as well as others on the staff,…

Much of the evidence and research available on the use of e-portfolios focuses on faculty and institutional perspectives and/or consists mainly of anecdotes about how useful the e-portfolio has been to learners. While it is generally agreed that e­-portfolios have great potential to engage students and promote deep learning, the research that has…

Ways are examined in which teacher centers can aid in the integration of educational theory and practice. It is observed that through cooperative effort, the roles of the university and school personnel involved in teacher center work are slowly modified over time. Activities examined for integrating effects are: governance, staff renewal, the…