This instructional guide and set of three companion workbooks are intended for use in an arithmetic course based on the Tic Tac Toe method of addition and multiplication, which is an alternative means of learning to add and multiply that was developed for students whose learning disabilities (including difficulty in distinguishing left from right…

In 1991, Minnesota enacted ground-breaking legislation that authorized school districts to sponsor a limited number of charter schools. Implementation of the program was politically contentious, and the issue remains highly charged. This document presents findings of a study that examined the charter schools that were proposed and operating in…

This research project was designed to help the faculty at a southwestern, urban elementary school better understand what parents thought about the school's alternative assessment methods and narrative reporting to communicate with parents. Assessment methods were defined as the ways teachers learn about students' understandings, and communication…

Multiage grouping and related instructional practices are being implemented with increasing frequency in classrooms across the nation. If implementation is carefully and knowledgeably planned, these innovations offer promising alternatives to traditional graded educational practices. This digest briefly describes issues to be considered before…

A practicum, in an alternative high school work setting, was designed to deal with the problem of a deficiency in the writing ability students needed to express themselves skillfully and adequately. The goal was to increase writing involvement and writing ability. The objectives included the organization of a writing program, the improvement of…

This paper identifies issues currently arising in efforts to coordinate public policy concerning competing sectors of postsecondary education in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries (OECD). It is presented as a result of the OECD's advisement that these industrialized countries need to further strengthen education…

This article describes the educational philosophy and practice at Summerhill School, England, an alternative school for elementary school-age through secondary school-age children established in 1921. The school's guiding principle is that education must respect the nature of childhood. Following a brief description of the school's founding by A.…

This paper describes a design for a public school academy, the Louisiana Leadership Academy, which provides a total immersion environment primarily for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. Success is contingent upon choice and community support. Objectives are to: (1) build self-discipline and self-respect; (2) raise up leaders who will transform…

Moore's Creek Open Elementary school, located in a quiet African-American neighborhood in a sun-belt city, has operated as a progressive school of choice since 1973, despite the low survival rate of public alternative schools. This study identifies forces that have affected curriculum and instruction at Moore's Creek over the past quarter century.…

This information capsule presents the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) status of Associate in Arts degree seekers at Miami-Dade Community College for fall terms 1995 and 1996. Tables present CLAST results by subtest for a cross section of A.A. degree seekers college-wide. For comparative purposes, fall term 1995 statistics (prior to the…

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has formally recognized distributed learning as a strategic direction to increase access to educational opportunities for students within its service area and beyond. The University has chosen to employ asynchronous learning networks (ALN) as a primary approach to address the challenges of a rapidly-growing…

This document was published by Alpha, a research program specializing in alternative, experimental approaches to adult basic education. It is an attempt to widen the field and examine the relationship between the micro and macro levels, between the diversity of different practices and the major policy orientations that foster or limit this…

This paper discusses the use of technology by families who home school. Issues addressed include the extent of home schooling in the United States, the use of computers by home school families; how the home-schooling parent learns to teach; how the parent helps children learn, including a discussion of unit studies; whether fathers as well as…

This brief suggests that Universities of the Third Age (U3As) provide learning opportunities for older adults. Worldwide, they typically take one of two forms. Based on the first U3A founded in 1973, the French model is university based and offers mostly formal courses. Arising in Cambridge in 1981, the British model emphasizes informal,…

Feature articles contained in the four issues of volume 6 of this periodical for families who practice home schooling concern the response of the United States Senate to political pressure from home schoolers; a "declaration of war" on religious freedom by conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court; the likelihood that the Congress will pass a…