After an analysis of 1990 Philippines National Statistics Office data showed a high incidence of illiteracy among women in the fishing villages, a project, Community Learning Approach (CLA), was developed to raise the literacy level. It was designed as an alternative delivery system of educating women in 24 villages for functional literacy and…

This paper contrasts two perspectives for evaluating educational programs: (1) a growth curve model of personal development in the sociocultural context; and (2) a narrowing staircase model of educational success. According to the first perspective, development occurs along personal, social, and cognitive dimensions, and arises from the…

The shift from traditional classroom education to computer-mediated distance learning poses enormous challenges to instructors and learners. The concept of the classroom where students meet to interact with other learners and the instructor no longer exists. Learners lack a natural social outlet to engage with other learners thus leading to…

This report presents findings from the second national survey of distance education undertaken by the National Center for Education Statistics. The survey covers the 12-month 1997-98 academic year and includes data for higher education institutions as well as all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions. Highlights of the report include the…

Community colleges have been pioneers in the use of analog and digital telecommunications technologies, including the Internet, to deliver education and training to students on campus, in the community, and at greater distances. Members of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) believe that the strength of the nation's economy, as…

These four issues include the following articles: "Cheke Holo Orthography: Local Tradition Clashes with a Linguist's Concerns" (Freddy Boswell); "Avoiding Tone Marks: A Remnant of English Education?" (Mike Cahill); "Nontraditional Education among the Iranun, a Malaysian Ethnic Minority" (Karla Smith); "Learning…

When homeschooling parents discuss public schools, they often draw on their own notions of citizenship, and each parent's view of public schools is also likely influenced by his or her larger view of government's proper role in society. This article reports on a 3-year study designed to seek a better understanding of these issues. The study…

This report analyzes the outcomes of the Running Start Program, part of Washington State's 1990 "Learning by Choice Law," which was designed to expand educational options for high school students. The program allowed high school juniors and seniors to take college-level classes at the state's community and technical colleges and earn…

This report presents an analysis of the school choice movement throughout the United States, and a state-by-state analysis that provides snapshots of each state's progress toward school choice and charter schools. The Children's Scholarship Fund found that 1.25 million low-income parents would take advantage of scholarships that would allow their…

This study is the fifth assessment in an 18-year longitudinal study begun in 1986 to follow a group of Montessori students who attended the Franciscan Montessori Earth School in Portland, Oregon. Participating were 45 students with an average age of 18 years, about half of whom were in high school and half in college. Students completed an online…

During the mid-1930s, the main line of the Newfoundland (Canada) Railway stretched 547 miles from St. John's to Port aux Basques, and railway workers and their families lived along the line in small isolated settlements. The provincial department of education, the Newfoundland Railway, and the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company devised an…

This case study was designed to investigate the effect on an instructor's simultaneously teaching the same course in both a distance and a traditional educational format. The study involved one male instructor-participant at a mid-sized regional university who, in one term, taught the same course in both distance and traditional format. Data were…

This is a study of the high dropout rate in distance education courses. Early studies of this phenomenon presumed that the majority of distance education students were nontraditional students. However, this study suggests that many traditional students now participate in distance education courses, and the author examined the problem within the…

A project was conducted to create a gender-equitable classroom that increased the engagement of all students in the industrial technology class. The targeted students were the eighth graders in a suburban middle school in a growing metropolitan area. The problem of female students' falling self-esteem, loss of confidence, rigid adherence to gender…

Keeping high school students in school and helping them gain competence and confidence in skills so that they can be successful in the world of work and/or college is an enormous challenge. The results of one study clearly demonstrated a direct correlation between one's self-esteem and academic competence. The more competent one feels, the better…