This research monograph is based on papers from a technical review meeting of the same name, held April 26-27, 1994. It provides information about the special nature or context of rural communities that might impact patterns of drug and alcohol consumption and delivery of prevention and treatment services; health, social, and economic consequences…

This is a report on the institutional effectiveness assessment of Santa Barbara Community College (SBCC) (California) for the 2000-01 fiscal year. The report focuses on five main topics: student access, student success, human resources, fiscal resources, and physical resources. Report highlights include: (1) SBCC has shown an increase in student…

This report details the impact of the changing health environment on children's health and access to health care in New York state. The report links key measures of child health with recent policy changes, such as expansions in health insurance coverage, Medicaid managed care, and welfare reform. Data from 1997 are used as a baseline measure for…

In January 1995, John Marshall High School (Los Angeles, California) implemented a 3-year bilingual special alternative instructional program, Redesign of Educational Services Providing Enhanced Computer Technology (Project RESPECT). The federally funded program was to prepare limited-English-proficient (LEP) high school students for higher…

This paper reports on a needs assessment, conducted in two elementary schools in Quebec, that examined the use that teachers are making of the computer facilities, as well as their skill and confidence levels in this area. The first section provides a general description of the project, details the sources of information, and discusses the reasons…

This proceedings, containing 69 paper and poster presentations, focuses on innovation and hope with a glance to the future. The conference was planned to include theoretical discussions, current research findings, and promising practices based on sound evidence. Current issues in special education include the use of technology, integrating theory…

The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) represented three white applicants who brought the two lawsuits, "Gratz, et al., v Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75231 (E.D.Mich.)" and "Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75928 (E.D. Mich.)," against the University of Michigan. These lawsuits challenge as unlawful the University of…

This study examined preservice teachers' responses to a survey that assessed their tolerance of difference in race, gender, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, and sexual preference. It also investigated their perspectives concerning welfare recipients and non-English speaking people. During the fall 1998 semester, 117…

Created through Woodrow Wilson's Responsive Ph.D. initiative, "Diversity and the Ph.D." looks at a range of mechanisms through which foundations, government agencies, and nonprofits have sought to recruit and retain more minority students in U.S. doctoral programs. Drawing on interviews with the leaders of 13 such programs, the report also points…

Countless studies over the past decade and more all point to a single, undeniable conclusion: educating girls is imperative to the development of nations. Increasingly, data suggest that educating girls is not only beneficial to developing countries but that it has a greater impact than educating boys. Better educated women have smaller,…

The nation's dropout problem has been making national headlines with more and more frequency and more and more urgency. Although certainly not a new problem, the failure to earn a high school diploma is receiving heightened attention because the causes and effects of dropping out have changed significantly. No longer is a dropout simply a young…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences--or stakes--for student performance. The theory of action implied by this…

The purpose of this report is to bring together and to summarize statistical information published in other chapters of the Biennial Survey of Education, and to present some new material that does not belong exclusively to any other statistical report. Data on public elementary and secondary schools are furnished by State departments of education.…

Attrition is a consistent feature of higher education--only about half the students who start college will ever receive a degree. The attrition rates of African-American students is even higher than that of their white counterparts. Attrition in general, and especially that of high risk students, is of great concern to university administrators…

This study examined the talk of 20 university level learners of Mandarin as a Second Language in three instructional modes: teacher-led (TL), unstructured group work (UGW), and structured group work using a cooperative learning technique (SGW), in this case, Jigsaw. Statistical analyses showed that more learner talk (in terms of turns and c-units)…