This proceedings contains 60 conference papers that address critical issues related to rural education, special education, teacher training, school reform, and services for students who are at risk. The conference theme of rural partnerships recognizes the diversity of the ACRES membership and the need for developing and maintaining successful…

This practicum was designed to develop transition skills of students with learning disabilities into the community college through a support services program designed to enhance academic and social competencies. A series of instructional sessions (24 hourly sessions) were held separately with 10 first semester college students and 10 graduating…

This monograph contains 14 papers on all aspects of college and university student and family orientation programs. The papers are: (1) "Orienting Today's Students" by M. Lee Upcraft; (2) "Theoretical Perspectives on Orientation" by Michael Dannells; (3) "Trends and Issues in Orientation Programs" by Gerry Strumpf and…

These Congressional hearings contain testimony pertinent to passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1993, which is a bill designed to create a national framework within which states and localities can develop effective systems for offering U.S. youths access to performance-based education and training programs that will in turn prepare…

This report documents the fifth year of follow-up of mentally retarded school completers in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) area, begun with parents/ guardians of students who completed their special education programs in 1985-86 (N=73) and in 1986-87 (N=60), 1990 (N=102), and in 1991 continued with completers (N=95), when a preliminary follow-up…

The purpose of this study was to survey the affective and cognitive progress of three classes of pre-first grade transitional students. An introduction discusses the issue of social promotion, or the promotion of a student regardless of the student's degree of mastery of the previous level, as opposed to grade retention. In an extensive literature…

This resource guide helps state and local administrators of vocational special needs programs, special needs educators, counselors, researchers, and policymakers serving rural youth and adults to locate resources. Resources cited in this guide are publications; newsletters; journals; special issues of journals; agencies, associations, and…

Information in this guide is based on published research concerning effective strategies in dealing with at-risk youth. It was written for those communities invited to develop proposals under the Annie E. Casey Foundation's New Futures Initiative in an attempt to alleviate problems that compromise American children's futures. Each of three…

This document reports on the Chicago public high school improvement plans for the 1990-91 school year submitted during the summer of 1990 in response to the Chicago Public Schools Reform Act of 1988 (PA85-1418). Following background information on Chicago's public high schools, the purpose of PA85-1418 is explained as well as improvement plan…

This handbook is part of a packet intended to aid educators, families, and adult service providers to facilitate the transition from school to adult life in the community for students with both cognitive disabilities and visual or dual sensory impairments. Emphasis is on transition planning and community based instruction, including vocational…

The Freshman Summer Program and Transfer Summer Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are designed to increase the academic achievement, retention, and graduation of underprepared and underrepresented or low-income students. Phase I of the evaluation assessed the extent to which academic and nonacademic goals and objectives…

The study described in the first part of this two-part document identified the kind of ongoing support that would be most beneficial to all those concerned in the employment of young people with disabilities in England and Wales. Semistructured interviews were conducted with employers, representatives of preparation and placement agencies, and…

Seven papers are presented which illustrate model programs and research on providing vocational services to students with disabilities. "Project WorkAbility: California's Successful Transition Program for Secondary Students" (Deborah Henderson) describes locally controlled transition projects involving interagency collaboration and statewide…

This report presents an evaluation of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, Chapter 2, Subprogram C, Special Projects program for the 1988-89 school year. The purpose of the program was to expand the knowledge and skills of job developers in placing severely handicapped students in appropriate occupational and adult service agency…

The Community College of Baltimore's (CCB's) Ford Foundation Bridge Program was designed to improve and extend transfer opportunities in Baltimore by developing a completely articulated Arts and Sciences transfer program extending from five feeder high schools to four receiving baccalaureate institutions, with CCB serving as the "bridge"…