This paper analyzes a research project that maps implementation efforts of comprehensive and mandated change at the primary school level in The Netherlands. In examining this large-scale national reform program, the report deals with schools whose innovation efforts acquired funding from the central education department in return for their local…

The trustees and administrators of the Oxnard School District, which currently serves approximately 12,000 students, recognized as early as 1970 that additional school sites had to be acquired and new schools constructed to accommodate a very substantial increase in student enrollment. Oxnard is located in one of the nation's fastest growing…

Eight examples of innovative and outstanding earth science programs are described. These programs were selected using state criteria and at least four independent reviewers. While Project Synthesis offered a desired state, these examples of excellence provided views of what is already a reality. The goals of an exemplary science program are…

Fifteen innovative college science programs based on survey results about perceptions of excellence in college science teaching are presented. The goals, program origins, special features of the programs, evaluations, and conclusions are described for each. Discussed are the commonalities among this collection of 15 college science programs and…

Prepared to assist the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges in the development of its "1990-91 Basic Agenda," this paper discusses several major statewide trends with important implications for California's community colleges. The paper offers data on population and enrollment growth, labor market changes requiring…

To test conclusions of previous investigations about the influence of team teaching upon task interdependence among elementary school teachers, University of Oregon researchers took measures in 14 elementary schools in six eastern states before and after installation of a multiunit instructional organization. Based upon research at Stanford…

If young readers (adolescents) are introduced to a range of story structures and less structured texts (or "deviant narratives"), it may encourage the development of more diverse and accommodating schemata and the capacity to make inferences about the link between discourse units. It is, after all, a basic principle of recent narrative…

Conference papers and various related materials are collected in this volume compiled in conjunction with the National Rural Teacher Education Conference. The bulk of the document consists of papers presented on the 12 major topics of the conference: (1) accreditation and endorsement standards versus the needs of rural education; (2) innovative…

The kind of literacy education currently valued in America has been ineffective in teaching more thoughtful literacy skills. A sociocognitive approach to literacy instruction focuses on developing the thinking skills that students will use as they engage in socially purposeful activities. Teachers, tests, and instructional materials in this…

A study explored the status of computer aided instruction (CAI) in writing programs offered by community colleges identified as using CAI. The questionnaire, completed in the winter of 1986 by 198 English instructors, measured accessibility of computers to faculty and students, types of hardware and software, computer locations, computer facility…

It is becoming increasingly apparent that rural communities will have to alter their economic patterns as the United States economy shifts and rural areas cannot compete successfully with cities for emerging industries and future jobs. Instead of catering to the large firms and high-tech companies that are expected to predominate in the future,…

Students drop out of school for a wide variety of reasons. Programs to discourage dropping out must therefore accommodate the actual needs of individual students rather than aim at the assumed needs of the "typical dropout." This document reviews school policies and programs that could affect dropout tendencies positively. Among these…

In 1972-73 Grant Elementary School began the first year-round school in Utah. The program involves changes for teachers and students, and increases both in the number of school days and teachers' salaries. Each teacher has one-fourth more students than the average classroom in the community; each teacher has one-fourth more days (45) in which to…

This monograph reviews a wide range of research literature on the diffusion and adoption of innovations in agricultural production technology in the developing countries, with particular emphasis on the practice of using commercially purchased, inorganic fertilizer as a source of plant nutrients. It is intended that the report's documentation of…

This study documents the innovative utilization of resources in 16 exemplary schools and provides recommendations for staff deployment and school organization. Two introductory chapters place the report in the context of a wider study of which it is part and describe its conceptual framework. The following two chapters review the debate on case…