The 1994-95 school year was the first year of the MECA (Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction, Automotive) partnership implementation in the Saginaw (Michigan) Public Schools. MECA's purpose was to nurture the potential of youth while placing them in workplace environments that had not been a traditional part of applied learning in secondary…

The Businesses as On-Site Schools (BOSS) program was established as a dropout prevention effort combined with employability training for at-risk high school students. The setting was a vocational/educational alternative center in Florida. Businesses were contacted, and verbal intent to provide on-the-job training and an onsite mentor was…

Urging educators to abandon the graded system of education, this book advocates the use of a nongraded, continuous approach to education in which students are taught and assessed according to their ability rather than age. The book is divided into 11 chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the history of the graded school movement and argues that conditions…

This report describes Blalock FIRST, a 3-year collaborative research project designed to improve literacy skills of low-income, African American families living in a severely depressed urban housing project. Project implementation, and antecedents to the implementation, are described. Objectives of the project were to: (1) increase achievement in…

These seven papers offer a menu of alternative approaches to apprenticeships and suggests the advantages and disadvantages of each. "Apprenticeship Learning: Principles for Connecting Schools and Work Places" (James Rosenbaum) indicates how fundamental changes in the global economy virtually require improved education of all youth and why teachers…

The Job Enhancement Training (JET) Program was a partnership between Pensacola Junior College (PJC) and Armstrong World Industries (Florida). The partners implemented a workplace literacy training program at the company's Pensacola plant using a five-phase social context curriculum model. The curriculum, based on job analysis, used small-group…

This review of Australia's National Aboriginal Languages Program, undertaken in September-November 1989, involved consultation with individuals in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organizations and communities in several areas. It was found that 56% of 1988-89 funding went to Aboriginal communities and regional language centers, 20% to state schools,…

This proceedings document provides the texts of 23 presentations given at a conference in 1994 which focused on policies, materials, programs, and activities being implemented in Alabama to foster the successful transition of youth with disabilities to adult life. An initial paper compares the definition of transition developed by Andrew Halpern…

The objective of the Women in Technology (WIT) program for the Texas Higher Education Year 1990-1991 was to increase women's employment in nontraditional technical-vocational occupations and enrollment in nontraditional technical-vocational education and training. WIT provided information on nontraditional careers to the community and provided…

These conference papers examine the impact of the school reform movement in the United States on the recruitment and retention of minority teachers. The conference papers provide an insight into how school reform has been implemented around the country and suggest ways to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the reform movement for…

This paper describes the use of "buddy journals" to generate enthusiasm for writing, provide writing practice, and build friendships between two classes of middle school students with learning disabilities and cognitive impairments. The buddy journals were introduced to the students as a way to get to know someone better and perhaps make a friend.…

This report examines the use of community-based support to facilitate curriculum renewal efforts in small rural school districts. Interviews with educators from five school districts in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington describe three approaches to curriculum renewal: community-initiated approaches, state-directed reform efforts, and…

A report on implementation of the Multicultural Reading and Thinking (McRAT) Program in Arkansas from 1989-92 chronicles the program's development, operation, and results. McRAT is a staff development program designed to help teachers infuse higher order thinking processes and multicultural concepts into regular classroom curricula (grades 3 to…

This book addresses broad issues related to flexible learning in higher education and provides specific examples of how one institution of higher education is implementing more flexible patterns of teaching and learning. The Flexible Learning Initiative, established at Loughborough University of Technology in England, provides an environment which…

Policy established by the Manitoba (Canada) provincial government to inform the development and implementation of heritage language programs is outlined. Introductory sections provide background on the history of heritage language instruction, foreign language instruction, and language of instruction in Manitoba public schools. A brief discussion…