Highlights this journal issue's focus on teaching diverse learners, discusses teaching a common curriculum to students who learn in different ways, and notes that standardized instruction must give way to differentiated instruction. Dedicates issue to Donald Eichhorn, pioneer in middle school educational approaches. (DLH)

Reports on the personal experience of participating in an alternative high school, a project to reclaim at-risk, talented high school dropouts. Discusses the author's experiences, including fatherhood at a young age, on his way to discovering his artistic talent. Illustrations provided by author. (Author/JDM)

Describes the virtual university as a response to a growing demand for knowledge and skills in unconventional higher education. Discusses technology, cooperation and collaboration, traditional universities and the World Wide Web, content, pedagogy, delivery, digital technologies, and globalization. (Author/LRW)

Presents classical definitions and explanations of distance education selected from pioneers of the field or those who have made seminal contributions to the conceptualization of distance education and related fields. Discusses definitions by Desmond Keegan, Michael G. Moore, Borje Holmberg, and Otto Peters. (AEF)

Study examines the motivation factors of at risk students in an alternative education program. Results indicate that control and challenge were significant predictors of the motivation variables. Findings are discussed in terms of the influence of instructional tasks on student motivation and desire to engage in learning activities. (Author/GCP)

Examines the flexibility and accountability standards of the North Carolina charter school laws compared with the charter school legislation of Arizona and California. North Carolina's charter school legislation seems to have the flexibility charter school advocates would wish, with the necessary accountability requirements. (SLD)

The Educational Service Staff Development association of Central Kansas forms partnerships with area school districts to operate adult learning centers which assist adults who want to obtain a high school diploma. Observations and interviews with students and teachers present a success story about a program that helped reshape lives. (MLF)

Reports on the trend to provide alternative routes to teacher training and certification for individuals who have had careers or baccalaureate degrees in subjects other than education. Focuses on the Military Career Transition Program at Old Dominion University (Virginia). Various models of alternative training programs are noted. (DB)

A former student reminisces about attending the Organic School in Fairhope, Alabama, in the 1950s. Founded in 1903, the school pioneered child-centered education; had multigraded classes; incorporated dance, pottery, weaving, and art into the curriculum; and was guided generally by the philosophy that education is not preparation for life, but…

Less than 5 percent of charter schools have been shut down nationwide. Charter school advocates say closings prove that accountability measures already present in law and in practice are working. Critics counter that closings often reveal that more oversight is needed. Discusses fiscal mismanagement and the need for training. Summarizes…

After being expelled from her mainstream girls' school, Bilikus, whose parents are Turkish and African, spent a year at Daniel House Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), a small alternative high school. At the end of her year there, she took seven GCSEs, which are intensive exams taken at the end of compulsory schooling and a prerequisite for college.…

Today's after-school programs and sports are often year-round activities, and children are pressured to focus on one activity to the exclusion of others. Homework for students who attend highly competitive high schools can take three to five hours per night. Not only schools, but the whole culture is different. People listen to music through…

As public alternative school enrollments are increasing, educators must understand how new students adjust to and make sense of their alternative school experience. This qualitative study, which has also been turned into a video documentary, was designed to provide insight into why the traditional educational paradigm does not work for all, or…

This study investigated how graduates of an urban alternative school understood, interpreted, and compared their experiences in previous schools that they considered ineffective with their experiences at an effective alternative school. This study found that students find those schools effective that create or allow spaces where they can be…

Community involvement in education has been viewed as a--by no means uncontroversial--means for enabling local members to deepen their participation in the decision-making relevant to their schools by playing a constructive role in the process. On the basis of a study carried out in Ghana, the present contribution to this discussion examines…