After years of reform and accompanying frustration, public schools of choice have become one of today's most popular school reform strategies. More than 20 states have either passed choice legislation or are considering such action. At the present, plans based on parental influence represent the majority of district choice plans, including magnet…

Using a newly developed 6-week course, a study examined the effect of children's literature on the reading attitude and fluency of secondary remedial students. Subjects were 10 tenth- through twelfth-grade students enrolled in a central Washington State alternative high school for students who dropped out of regular high school but who still…

Public school choice is an area of educational reform that has received attention from state and federal policymakers. Common applications of choice programs include alternative schools; open enrollment/intradistrict choice; and statewide/interdistrict choice. The following areas in public school choice are covered in this report: perceived…

Students in the City-As-School (CAS) program, an alternative high school in New York City, spend 95 percent of their school time at field-based learning sites, such as business, civic, and cultural organizations. A majority of the participants are dropouts, or were high risk students before entering the program. In 1985, CAS was awarded a grant to…

Reflecting the author's thoughts on trends in the teaching of language arts during the 1970s, 12 articles and talks in this collection deal with the following topics: (1) behavioral objectives; (2) the student-centered language curriculum; (3) teaching literacy; yoga for public school teachers; (5) instructional television for language learning;…

For those who consider themselves teachers, "cultural literacy" is an issue worth pondering. In "Education for Critical Consciousness," Paulo Freire deplores the "banking concept" of education, in which a teacher "pours" knowledge into "passive receptacles," because Freire believes that texts have…

This report provides an overview of the operation of two innovative New York City dropout prevention programs, the Attendance Improvement and Dropout Prevention Program (AIDP) and the Dropout Prevention Program (DPP). First, basic program components, required and site-specific, are described briefly. Each program site must provide these…

Ways that technology is being integrated into the instructional and administrative operation of U.S. colleges are considered, along with the application of one of the technologies, microwave, to adult learning opportunities. Changing demographics relating to adult learners over the next 10 to 15 years are identified. Eight projects applying…

In this research, some alternative high schools were evaluated in terms of both students' perceptions of classroom environment and teachers' perceptions of school environment. A sample of 742 students in 62 classes in alternative and conventional schools responded to the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory's seven scales…

The religious studies course described in this paper is offered at Bennett College, a predominantly Black college for women. It utilizes an extensive book list and library reserves rather than a textbook, and emphasizes individualized research carried on concurrently with classroom presentations. Specific components of the course are listed and/or…

Over the last 20 years, changes in the American culture and the perceptions of women's roles have altered the impact of work on rural women. These changes have altered new needs for vocational preparation and job structures. The "new feminism" has caught rural women in a double bind. They are participants in a modern society saturated with the new…

Background information on the use of telecourses across the nation and, specifically, in Arkansas is provided in this report along with recommendations for policies and procedures relative to the use of telecourses by Arkansas colleges and universities. After tracing national trends in the acceptance of telecourses, an overview is provided of what…

Increasing numbers of children are meeting state compulsory education requirements at home rather than at school. Although home instruction was once the mainstay of frontier American education, some educators now regard the practice as suspect. This paper hopes to reconcile opposing views by examining home schooling, including numbers of children,…

To reduce disciplinary cases without using suspension or alienating teachers and parents is a challenging task for principals. Forcing teachers to tolerate unruly student behavior is no solution. When both teachers and principals experience failure in eliciting desirable student attitudes and behavior, some relief measures are appropriate. This…

The New York City Public Schools' Institutionalized Facilities Program, which provides after-school supplementary instruction in pre-vocational skills and activities of daily living for students residing for short or long terms in institutions for the neglected and delinquent, was evaluated for the 1986-87 school year. The purpose of this program…