The Jackson State University Critical Thinking and Outcome Measures Program, whose academic focus is curriculum reform, is described in this report. The program guides students in developing the skills to think critically, to reason clearly, to express their thoughts cogently, to value open and thoughtful dialogue, and to be receptive to the free…

Described in this report is the Saturday Afternoon Free respite care program for moderately to severely handicapped children operated under the auspices of the Idaho State University (ISU) College of Education. In service for 4 years, it has been evaluated by parents and student participants as excellent. It was developed in response to the need…

Project ARETE and the English Festival, two programs sponsored by the English Department of Youngstown State University, are described in this report. The programs bring together university and public school teachers of all grade levels to reward students for reading and writing outside the classroom, assess student writing, renew classroom…

The Colorado State University Foreign Language Weekend Camps (also called the "Poor Man's Study Abroad") are described in this report. Developed to provide an international component and a mini foreign experience for the university's students, the camps are designed to accomplish several purposes including: to offer both foreign and…

The League of Schools in southeast Idaho described in this report is a staff development consortium consisting of 15 local school districts, the College of Education, and the College of Liberal Arts at Idaho State University. Initiated in the belief that the ongoing training needs of classroom teachers could best be addressed by a coalition of…

An instructors' manual describing the "Write-Now" approach to teaching writing to adult students preparing for the General Educational Development (GED) test together with a final report describing the project that developed the manual is presented. Topics covered in the 16 chapters of the manual include the following: what we believe…

A systematic approach to the improvement of courses, programs and curricula in higher education is presented in the following chapters: (1) "Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Course and Curriculum Improvement"; (2) "Making the Decision to Create or Redesign a Course or Program"; (3) "Selecting a Design Team and Establishing Goals and…

This discussion of effective communication for leaders in the field of librarianship begins by providing a historical overview which highlights the librarian's influential role from the earliest days of recorded language; the evolution and modification of words in individual languages from crude forms to their electronic storage and transmission;…

Educational indicators are statistical input/output measures providing information on the health of the educational system. This report for the consideration of the Council of Chief State School Officers characterizes the current state of educational indicators as in "shambles." It proposes a three phase framework for developing a sensitive and…

There is evidence that more boys than girls have experience in activities related to science and mathematics outside of school and that there are a number of kinds of interventions that can sustain girls' interest and participation in science and mathematics. What is missing is a theoretical explanation for the phenomenon that more boys than girls…

Designed to assist science educators in improving inservice teacher education, this yearbook contains resources and ideas addressing the application of recent research into a format suitable for practitioners. The eight chapters comprising the document deal with: (1) meeting the needs of science teachers for continuing education; (2) guidelines…

The purpose of this study was to derive an operational definition of local control and to devise a model, the Local Control Index, for classifying degrees of local control by using the education codes of eight states--Arizona, California, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Local Control Index consists of four…

Part I (General Strategies, Lessons and Issues) of this two-part analysis of the microcomputerization process describes strategies schools have followed in their microcomputerization efforts and the lessons and issues that have emerged. Part I covers the following: strategies for introducing microcomputers into the curriculum (the saturation,…

The objective of this paper is to explain the need for and defend the sufficiency of the child's-play method of teaching the place value notation concept to preschool and elementary school children. Discussion first illustrates error patterns of school children in the use and interpretation of place value notation, arguing that the errors reflect…

At a time when many public school teachers and administrators are limiting instructional goals to the lower level objectives found on standardized tests, there is a need for classroom activities derived from higher purposes. Conceptual analysis, which relates abstract concepts to the lives of students, meets this need. While focusing primarily on…