This guide is designed to serve as a resource for vocational education administrators and educators involved in planning and evaluating vocational programs on the state or local level. The first chapter deals with the history and benefits of cooperation between vocational education and the private sector. Addressed in the remaining chapters of the…

Case studies were used to explore parents' role in first-grade reading success of nine at-risk, low-income, Hispanic students in a small, predominantly Hispanic school district in Southern California. Refuting the theory that low achievement results from differences between home and school norms and values, the study found that all 15 parents…

Supported employment offers opportunities for severely disabled adults to carry out paid work at regular work sites within their communities and provides a path to normalization. Supported employment differs from traditional programs in that the positions are integrated into the community, skills are taught on the job, and support is need-based…

An overview is provided of a 5-year project conducted by the Early Intervention Research Institute (EIRI) which focused on the effects and costs of early intervention for young handicapped children. The bulk of the document consists of research reports of 14 investigations: (1) meta-analysis of the early intervention efficacy literature; (2)…

Although the existence of small Catholic elementary schools (enrollment: 300 or less) is precarious, these institutions enable students to succeed academically beyond national norms, due to the special learning environment that they provide. The recent Small Schools Survey of Catholic elementary schools indicated that classes in small Catholic…

A study examined the participation of handicapped individuals in apprenticeship programs. Data for this state-of-the-art review were gathered from an extensive review of the existing literature, interviews, mail and telephone surveys, site visitations, and structured meetings. It was found that the number of handicapped persons participating in…

The Significant Bilingual Instructional Features (SBIF) study identified, described, and verified features of bilingual instruction of a wide variety of limited English proficient (LEP) students. It collected data on instructional organization, time allocation, classroom language use, active teaching behaviors, academic learning time, student…

This study investigated home-school communication patterns between special reading teachers and parents of the children they served, with attention to teachers' and parents' views of each other as literacy supporters of children. The paper discusses the acquisition of literacy by children, formally at school and informally at home, as well as…

This paper highlights specific issues surrounding implementation of Titles I and II of Public Law 99-457, and illuminates how federal rules and regulations and the states' positions on the law should reflect the needs of rural and remote communities. The issues include: legislative planning and appropriations to meet the needs of rural handicapped…

The purpose of the conference summarized here was to provide a multidisciplinary examination of the critical service needs of youth who are profoundly/multiply handicapped with deaf-blindness and who are old enough to be leaving the education system, and to recommend strategies for providing high quality comprehensive transition services for the…

The 1980-1981 project sought to extend the dropout prediction methods used previously by using a broader sample and to examine the effectiveness of counseling in dropout prevention. Over 1,200 migrant students in 35 Texas Coastal Bend school districts completed a survey regarding school attitudes, family problems, school participation, financial…

Designed to serve newly arrived, immigrant pupils in the Cleveland Public Schools, the English-as-a-Second-Language project aims to help participants acquire enough English proficiency for adequate functioning. The project uses a pull-out model in which, for about 30 minutes daily, small groups of students are given additional reading, language,…

In 1982-83, the 18 school districts and 1 tribe receiving Johnson O'Malley funds for American Indian education in Washington attempted to increase reading and mathematics proficiency, improve Native American high school graduation rates, and promote cultural awareness activities in schools with high Native American enrollments. By limiting their…

Two papers and four discussion highlights of a conference examining the impact of President Reagan's New Federalism on citizenship responsibilities are presented. The first of two background papers considers the historical context of citizenship and the New Federalism. Separate sections of the paper outline the notion of "the common…

The major goal of Project SPEED (at Fort Hamilton High School, Brooklyn, New York) was dropout prevention. In its first year of operation, 1982-83, the project provided English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction, bilingual instruction in basic skills required for graduation, and guidance services to approximately 300 limited English proficient…