Reviews trends affecting higher education (e.g., population shifts, career-oriented learning emphases, and educational costs and competition). Offers study findings about 14 specialized health-related, humanistic, and business/technical colleges and institutions in the North Carolina region. Considers institutional strengths and concerns regarding…

A study of the achievement of medical students taking a reduced medical school course load for one or more years showed that an extended program may be useful for students pursuing personal or extracurricular interests and for some with academic problems but not for students with major emotional disturbances. (MSE)

Recent changes and emphases in Finnish higher education, research themes, and favored forms of research cooperation are outlined. Exchange of research information and contacts in the areas of instructional methods, educational technology, educational policy and administration, nontraditional education, and higher education and the labor market are…

A study was conducted of ten open education schools to discover what happens in open classrooms and to learn about the theory behind the practice of open education. (MM)

A small, private, residential school provides adolescents with academic education and the learning experience gained from living and working in a cooperative environment. (JD)

Describes how one school is blending the traditional and the modern under the direction of an all-Indian board of education. (IRT)

This white paper examines the roles that various levels of government play through legislation, policy, and other initiatives that support quality alternative education programs to reconnect youth to education and the workplace. It raises issues for policymakers at all levels to consider in facilitating the development of expanded alternative…

In this final report of a 3-year evaluation, researchers explored the developing infrastructure in New York City charter schools and identified areas in which school stakeholders--private partners, boards of trustees, school leaders, parents, and teachers--needed support to help charter schools succeed. The study was based on monthly visits to…

The purpose of this study was to determine how principals spend their time and to test a new structure using business management trained staff to increase principal time spent on academic achievement and gap closure. Twenty-one elementary school principals were randomly selected for a week-long time-task analysis. Data collectors shadowed the…

The goal of this report is to examine the progress of the Washington Learning Anytime Partnership (LAAP). In 1999, a 1.8 million dollar grant was given to Washington's community and technical colleges to increase and improve the courses offered through the Internet including the development of a "one-step system" to enable students to view and…

Many educational institutions have recently started to move some of their course materials online, and then used the terms "flexible delivery" or "flexible learning" both in their everyday discussions and in their promotional literature. However, the use of asynchronous learning technologies does not of itself make for true flexibility in…

The focus of most analysts involved in education reform seems to be whether charter schools are successful. This paper identifies 53 research-based studies that draw mainly objective conclusions based on evaluation of data. Literally, hundreds of policy papers, study articles, and analyses have been written on the charter-school phenomenon, an…

The paper reports action research on Web-based courses conducted from 1999 to 2001. The expression "hybrid courses" is used in this paper to refer to the courses in which an instructor and students meet half or less than half of the regular scheduled meeting time, and such courses are the courses involved in this research. Participants of the…

This project started as a pilot study that examined and evaluated a single course that was delivered during the 1999-2000 academic year in a traditional lecture-based section, as well as in a telecourse section and a Web-based section. The hypothesis of the study was that there was no significant difference between the three courses in terms of…

A study was conducted to compare electronic and traditional versions of a graduate-level research class. There were 73 participants in the electronic classes and 35 in the traditional classes, with a majority membership of white females enrolled in graduate education programs. Multiple choice pretests and posttests were administered to all groups.…