This article describes development and delivery of Pennsylvania's Literary Braille Refresher Course, intended to both refresh literary Braille skills and teach instructional strategies to the 20 teachers enrolled. The article covers the course's goals and objectives, participants, structure, evaluation, and analysis of results. The course's…

Several policy and practice issues impede successful implementation of the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. Montgomery County, Maryland devised a blended model of intervention to achieve the dual mandates of county Child Welfare Services and alcohol and drug services. The approach made use of graduated levels of intensity in…

Describes the growth of Early Head Start (EHS) programs, focusing on one EHS partnership with child care providers in Delaware to serve infants, toddlers, and their families. Includes discussion of partnership strategies that promote quality programming, ways the early care and education coordinator supports child development, strategies for…

Medical family therapy grew out of the experiences of family therapists working with other professionals to provide comprehensive, integrated healthcare for patients. This is the story of one such patient and provides an account of the experience through quotes from videotaped sessions and electronic mail communications that occurred throughout…

This study examined the degree to which local systems of care in Vermont shared responsibility for children and adolescents and four service delivery outcomes over a 4-year period. Results indicated that greater caseload integration is associated with less referral for residential treatment and higher rates of incarceration. (Contains references.)…

Despite UK government initiatives intended to address social exclusion, those with poor access to social and economic resources continue to experience unresponsive services. In these circumstances, small inter-agency projects may offer accessible alternatives. This article explores the implementation of inter-agency work at a local level, focusing…

This paper explores the 'joined-up thinking' and attempts at 'joined-up working' that policy architects recommend for the successful operationalization of the New Deal for 18-24 year olds. In particular, it examines the difficulties arising around the full-time education and training option. The research project reports upon the 'implementation…

In this article, the author presents effective leaders of rural school districts who find assistance that overcomes the barriers of scarce human and financial resources for their students, faculty and community. One of them is Robert Falk, superintendent of the 768-student Otto-Eldred School District in Duke Center, Pennsylvania, who taps…

An early version of this article, discussing curricular interventions in mathematics, was written for the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which funds WWC, instructed WWC not to publish it. An expanded version, written at WWC's invitation for a special issue of an independent electronic journal and a book…

This paper reviews how cascading levels of contextual influences, starting with family factors and extending to neighborhood and school factors, can affect children's behavioral and emotional development. The ability of contextual factors to trigger or to attenuate children's underlying temperament and biological risk factors is emphasized.…

A new report aims to promote awareness at the state level of the importance of Community Based Organizations (CBO) high schools, highlighting the promising lessons these schools hold for improving the educational outcomes of youth at risk of school failure or dropping out. This document briefly analyzes the report, "CBO High Schools: Their…

The HIV-AIDS epidemic is one of the most challenging and significant health crises facing the world today. In order to cope with its complexities, the United Nations and World Health Organization have increasingly relied upon the resources offered by networks of HIV-AIDS nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The research reported here uses…

International organizations dealing with higher education should pay more attention to the rise of autonomous world regional processes and explore synergies. This article gives an overview of new macro-regional processes around the world. The European case is the most salient, but developments in America and East Asia are also noticeable. In the…

On June 30, the Bush administration imposed new regulations sharply curtailing already-limited travel to Cuba. A New York Times article published on June 24 characterized the regulations as "part of a broader plan that President Bush announced last month to be tougher on President Fidel Castro and speed a transition to democracy in Cuba.…

Student affairs professionals are neglected clientele to whom community college librarians need to extend their services. Counselors and librarians share mutual values and experiences in their roles as learning facilitators. Although disinclined to embrace technology, most counselors now recognize its import and are receptive to integrating it…