FOCUS, a program aimed at student valuing, self-image, and interpersonal relations, was found by a national Title III validation team to have improved student attitude toward school, increased attendance, and raised academic achievement. (DW)

An alternative educational program, ADVANCE (Alternative Design for Vocational and Necessary Cognitive Education), was developed for emotionally disturbed secondary school students in New Jersey. To develop and modify social behaviors needed to complete academic and vocational training to facilitate a return to the mainstream of secondary…

An examination of the variation among educational programs in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District, San Jose (California), during the fourth year of its educational voucher demonstration project addresses the issue of whether alternative systems can generate significant diversity in public school education. The research questions (How do…

Research methodologies are "word-specific," that is, they assume frames of reference which do not include all of reality. They are like the "sets" in mathematics in which axioms apply only within certain realities. (Parallel lines do converge, for example, on the horizon; the geometric postulate that says they do not holds only for the set of a…

The development of a new instrument, the Statements About Schools Inventory (SAS) is described. The SAS measures the extent to which high schools meet the needs of their students for a safe, stable environment (security scale), for interpersonal relationships (social scale), for success and achievement (esteem scale), and for personal growth (self…

Graduation requirements in the Delphian School are presented for primary, elementary, middle, and secondary levels. The Delphian curriculum is based on eight dynamics (fundamental urges or drives that motivate conduct); requirements are not stated in terms of time in the course room or grades or required courses, but rather in terms of abilities.…

Reports of fourteen program descriptions and evaluations are presented. All but two were produced by the Department of Federal Evaluation Resource Services, a model state evaluation project. The projects varied in purpose; budget; grades served; and number of students, teachers, and administrators participating. Reports vary in detail from one to…

Presenting testimony on S 2460, a bill to amend the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act (PL 93-368), these hearings include the bill itself, the testimony of 10 people (federal government agency officials, tribal council presidents, and other tribal government representatives), and various submitted materials (letters,…

The University of Southern California (USC) Library School offered an experimental self-paced, independent learning program during the 1976-1977 academic year to help those students who desire this type of professional training but are unable to attend classes on a daily or semi-weekly basis in the traditional pattern of scheduling. Program…

Part of a 10 booklet series on talented and gifted education, the booklet discusses educational policy for gifted and talented students, focusing on the state of Oregon. The ways in which board members and administrators collaborate to formulate policy for talented and gifted programs are examined, and typical steps in developing a policy are…

Divided into ten sequential chapters, this book provides a comprehensive consumer guide to home study (correspondence study). Chapters deal with educational alternatives (how to select the best training, pros and cons of home study), what can be learned through home study (yacht designing, gemology, stock market investment, military or job skills…

Schooling for young adolescents (middle grade education) is the weakest link in the chain of public education. Young adolescents pose a unique problem for educators. The central characteristic of this age group is its diversity, resulting from extreme variations in the rates of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. Strong…

The Defining Issues Test (DIT), which utilizes the moral development stage theory of L. Kohlberg, was administered to 41 students from an upper middle class school district in Pennsylvania. The scores of students who elected to attend the alternative high school were compared with the scores of students who elected to attend the district's…