Most welfare-to-work programs may be classified as quick employment programs emphasizing individual or group job searches or skill-building programs emphasizing basic education. Although both types of programs offer benefits, they also suffer from significant limitations. To be more effective than their predecessors, current-generation…

This book presents 25 essays and studies that explore the interplay of a variety of factors that provide the fuel for individual and collaborative explorations into the nature of literacy. Essays and studies in the book are "Patterns of Response: Struggling Readers Respond to a Real Book during Transactional Literature Discussion" (JoAnn Rubino…

The Center of Excellence for Rural Special Education at Clemson University (South Carolina) has developed a field-based undergraduate preservice teacher training program. During the fall and spring semesters of their senior year, preservice teachers are matched with a mentor special education teacher for 2 weeks in a rural school district of the…

Although the disappointing results of earlier ex-offender programs convinced many that "nothing works so let's just keep prisoners incarcerated longer," research in the 1980s and 1990s has shown that intensive pre-release employment training and post-release employment programs and support can cut the rate of recidivism. Current initiatives…

This report describes and evaluates the Raven School, a charter school established in 1998 to serve adjudicated youths ages 16 to 18. The school is administered by the Gulf Coast Trades Center, a private nonprofit organization located in the Sam Houston National Forest in rural Texas. In addition to academics and GED preparation, other program…

The claim that work-based experience improves students' academic performance was examined through a study of the academic progress of 25 high school and community college student interns employed in various health care workplaces. Data were collected from the following activities: (1) review of the literature on academic reinforcement and academic…

This issue reports research that addresses the needs and future of business education, work-based initiatives, business educators' use of the Web, and technology skills for entry-level workers. "Editorial Comment: Scholarship of the 21st Century" (Moore) provides an overview of the issue. "Quality Business Teacher Education:…

This report, in a booklet format, presents seven recommendations for increasing the numbers of highly qualified teachers for the middle grades. The recommendations focus on content mastery and professional support for both preservice and inservice teachers. The report also addresses the following topics: (1) what it means to be a highly qualified…

Using the concept of triangles as a schematic conceptualization of service learning is a useful pedagogical tool in helping faculty, students, and community members to see the linkages among the component concepts in service learning approaches. Service learning, which is the linking of academic instruction with community service as guided by…

This paper discusses a study that investigated whether competencies identified by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) could be used to document job skills of students with mild disabilities. Participants in the study were 17 teachers, job coaches, and parents associated with a high school special education department…

Noting that one of the most powerful weapons to prevent crime are programs such as quality educational child care, after-school and summer programs, and child abuse prevention, this brief presents the school and youth violence prevention plan of an organization of Illinois law enforcement officers, state's attorneys, crime survivors, and leaders…

This document explains how community work experience programs (CWEP) and publicly funded jobs (PFJ) can be used to help hard-to-serve welfare recipients meet the work requirements imposed by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The document begins with a brief overview of available options for helping hard-to-serve welfare…

This report examines the association between institutional characteristics and the earnings of recent college graduates five years after graduation. Data from the 1980 High School and Beyond (HS&B) survey were combined with information about courses, grades, credits, and credentials contained in the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study, a…

This report presents estimates of the proportion of teachers who use a wide range of teaching practices, including those frequently recommended in curriculum and teaching standards and those that have traditionally been part of teachers' practice. The report analyzes data from the 1994-95 Teacher Follow-up Survey, which administered a series of…

This document profiles learning environments, educational strategies, and learning activities taking place across Arizona within the scope of school-to-work and vocational-technical education. The 33 institutions profiled include public, charter, and private elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as a vocational-technical center. Funding…