In Spain, many aspects of educational reform began with the social movements arising in the 1960s. By the end of the 1970s, as the first democratic local elections were held, psychologists, educators, and social workers began to work toward schools that would compensate for the social and individual disadvantages of many students. These efforts…

The United States Education Information Network (USEIN) is conceived by the National Library of Education (NLE) as a network or consortium of organizations interested in collaborating to improve the coordination of domestic U.S. education information. The Kick-Off Conference, summarized here, was intended to solicit ideas concerning the structure,…

Americans increasingly distrust their educational institutions and the people who work in them. This paper is about the salience of social trust in urban schools and its implication for school reform. The paper describes outcomes of a 5-year project that explored Chicago's (Illinois) attempt to use expanded local participation as a lever for…

The DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Library Power Initiative has been instrumental in precipitating reform efforts in school libraries. National Library Power programs have strengthened the role of the school library media specialist and the school library program. The initiative emphasizes that library media specialists integrate information…

This report represents a summary of the results of the evaluation of the Connecting Libraries and Schools Project (CLASP) conducted from February 1993 through October 1994. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the degree to which CLASP was successful in reaching its three project goals: (1) to establish library use among students at the…

This publication presents materials synthesized from a consultative seminar jointly sponsored by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the National Training Organisations (NTO) National Council, and the Further Education Development Agency (FEDA) in Britain. The seminar's aims were: to examine the business case for investing in…

Small, rural schools may have a limited range of services available onsite for students with intensive special needs. This report describes the philosophical approaches and situational strategies for these students, implemented successfully by staff at two small rural schools in Maine. Small rural schools have the most difficulty in programming…

The Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) at Mississippi State University fosters innovative approaches to sustainable rural development and builds collaborative networks among agencies, institutions, and communities. The center's key goals are to: 1) strengthen and support the capacity of Southern land-grant institutions and their partners to…

This theme issue of "State Education Leader" contains eight articles on rural education. "The Rural Bellwether" (Kathy Christie) discusses declining enrollment in rural schools, rural problems with teacher shortages and special education funding, issues related to school size and school district size, and distance learning…

This report describes the activities and operations of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Over the past 12 months, WICHE member states have faced the toughest financial times in recent memory. Higher education in member states, as in the rest of the country, has been hit hard, with midyear budget cuts, reduced…

In the workplace of the 21st century, America's workers will need to be better educated to fill new jobs and more flexible to respond to the changing knowledge and skill requirements of existing jobs. Meeting the challenge of employment and training will call for the best efforts of stakeholders and new forms of cooperation and collaboration. With…

Professionals Ready for Educational Partnerships (PREP) is a multimedia telecourse developed at the University of Utah to help preservice teachers, graduate students in education, and practicing teachers to understand collaboration. Using an ecological perspective, participants learn how to forge partnerships in the school, home, and community.…

The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR) program has successfully capitalized on human fascination with the ocean by using the marine environment to develop interest and capability in science. The Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, as the managing agency of the JC NERR, makes its faculty, staff resources, and…

This study examines the effects of changes made by a small rural school division in Manitoba (Canada) to its professional development model in response to requirements for new curricula and provincial standards tests. The study looks at the effects that sharing of local expertise, the restructuring of the traditional professional development…

Adaptation and modification of science instruction for students with special needs requires collaboration between all educators involved in delivering the curriculum. Further, the collaboration between educational professionals in elementary and secondary schools can be effectively modeled in teacher education programs. This paper describes…