Case studies of the British Training Credits (TC) initiative show that the notion of a market for training driven by young people as customers is largely mythical, due to such factors as recession, importance of local networks in finding employment, and marginal involvement of small businesses. (SK)

Describes the background of library outsourcing, and discusses the quality of cataloging and physical processing services provided by Blackwell North America and B. H. Blackwell Ltd. during a one-year pilot project at Stanford University (California). At the end of the project, an error rate of less than 1% was achieved in outsourced work.…

Concerned about the serious underrepresentation of culturally different students in gifted programs, the Palm Beach County (Florida) Schools developed a pilot project that established a system for identifying minority students with potential and for designing a course of study to meet their educational needs. The program featured enrichment,…

Summarizes results of a pilot study to determine how eight moral values stated by former Education Secretary William Bennett are learned by students in classrooms. According to students, teachers must follow the rules themselves to teach character education effectively. Respect is best taught through a hidden curriculum of modeling and quality…

Administrators, counselors, and teachers from 41 Mississippi schools (n=123) supported a pilot agriscience curriculum. Science teachers expressed strong support for granting science credit for agriscience. The curriculum was perceived as primarily for students planning agricultural careers. (SK)

A program using professional-development support teams in lieu of a traditional formal evaluation system has certified staff members in Santa Cruz, California, schools feeling more positive about a formerly meaningless, demoralizing process. Key program elements include choice, support, stimulation, trust, and respect for peers' judgment. Teacher…

Provides a conceptual background for specific behavioral-therapy approach to family stress management in dealing with the sequelae of acute myocardial infarction for all family members with the goal of reducing morbidity for all family members as they cope with ongoing survivorship issues. Describes the program and discusses its pilot…

Studied the reactions of teachers to the pilot implementation of a new standards-based teacher evaluation system based on the "Framework for Teaching" of Danielson (1996). Most of the approximately 80 teachers accepted the standards and the need for the system, but many felt that the system added too much to their workload and did not…

Reviews models of information behavior and introduces a model based on the goal-directed behavior of problem solving. A key part of the information seeking and searching process, 'uncertainty reduction,' is being explored in a project supported by the British Library Research and Innovation Center. Preliminary results from the pilot phase of the…

Teachers in Denver recently approved a historic revision to the teachers' contract, in which compensation is linked, in part, to student success in the classroom. If voters fund the proposed contract in fall 2005, it could mark a new era in which teachers and communities formally accept a range of indicators that can be used to determine the…

An evaluation of two pilot projects of inclusion of students from special schools for moderate and severe learning difficulties in mainstream primary and secondary schools in south-west England stimulated the development of a methodology and tools to measure levels and quality of inclusive activity. The unresolved theoretical debate about what…

Since the mid 1990s, reading instruction has changed and so has the School Development Program's (SDP) Essentials of Literacy (EOL) process. Beginning as a teaching suggestion at one New Haven, Connecticut school, Lincoln Bassett, EOL became a pilot project at Davis Street School in New Haven for the 1996-1997 school year and continues to be an…

Inclusion is a central issue for educational psychologists (EPs) today, yet they have often been portrayed as gatekeepers to special provision. One approach for EPs to promote more inclusive practices in schools is through the Index for Inclusion as a vehicle for consultation. This paper reports a study of EPs acting as "critical friends" to…

Monroe Community College (MCC), a two-year institution in the State University of New York (SUNY) system, attempted to launch an assessment initiative in 1990 but was only marginally successful. The effort concluded in 1991 with the development of student learning objectives for several academic programs. The early assessment organization featured…

The Moscow University of Economics (MESI) was the first university in Russia to become involved in distance education. MESI proposed that an experiment be conducted in Russia in the field of distance education to evaluate its potential. This article discusses the answers that were obtained to a number of the questions that were posed. The…