The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) established 2 flexibility demonstration programs--State- and Local-Flex--that allow up to 7 states and 80 school districts to redirect up to 100 percent of certain NCLBA programs funds. The General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked to determine factors that affect states' and districts' decisions about whether…

The Neighborhood Jobs Initiative (NJI) began in 1998 in five cities (Chicago, Fort Worth, Hartford, New York, and Washington, D.C.) in 1998. The NJI targets high-poverty urban neighborhoods, attempting to connect residents to employment opportunities nearby and in the urban periphery by providing training, supporting interpersonal networks, and…

Drawing on data collected in a national evaluation, this paper explores the contribution of Frontline Management Initiative (FMI) to the practice of management learning in selected enterprises in Australia. (A competence-based management development strategy, FMI places learning in an organization and links management performance to the…

This book contains proceedings from a conference, held in Dublin, Ireland, on employment of prisoners and ex-offenders, including opening and closing addresses, papers from plenary sessions and summaries from panel sessions and workshops. The opening address, given by John O'Donoghue, is followed by "Including Prisoners and Ex-Offenders in…

This book profiles the achievements and best practices of 10 outstanding adult education and literacy education programs in nine states that received the 1998-99 Secretary's Awards from U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. The programs were selected from 35 nominated programs using the following criteria: program design, instructional…

The purpose of this report is to comply with the legislative mandate of the Assistive Technology (AT) Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-394) requiring the Secretary of Education to report annually on the activities funded under this Act (Section 103(c)). Section 103(c) of the AT Act of 1998 requires the following information on the AT State Grant…

Provides an overview of the programs and activities of Parent Child Incorporated (PCI), a human services agency in San Antonio, Texas. PCI oversees or administers various Head Start, nutrition, family day-care, child-care, health, parenting, and adult education programs. (MDM)

Alberta's model junior high school environmental and outdoor education curriculum, a component in Canadian government's Active Living Environment Program, aims to help young adolescents appreciate the personal, interpersonal, and environmental consequences of their actions. Course elements include outdoor experiences and skills, personal and group…

The results of a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) project at 10 Job Corps centers nationwide with 5,379 trainees indicate that effects of CAI after about 60 hours of classroom instruction are small and achievement gains are not significantly different from those of students taught conventionally. CAI may help motivate students. (SLD)

Offers primary school teachers, supervisors, in-service specialists, and administrators guides for improving language instruction using a model that values teachers' professional judgment and encourages change in small, comfortable steps. These guidelines are used in the Tennessee State Department of Education Whole Language Pilot Project designed…

This article explores current educational reform initiatives as they relate to curriculum and assessment, programs for at-risk students, collaborative schools, and the regular education initiative. Implications for teacher preparation include the need for defining the knowledge base, designing alternative program models, and developing exemplary…

Presents the results of the second year of a four-year longitudinal evaluation of a partial French immersion program in Cincinnati, Ohio, that includes children from lower socioeconomic group and ethnic minority group (Black) backgrounds in addition to majority (White) and middle-class students. (17 references) (GLR)

This report describes how the Richmond County, North Carolina, Tech Prep demonstration project developed a model program with the following objectives: (1) market the Richmond Tech Prep model in every state; (2) disseminate information to at least 3,000 new persons from other states; (3) maintain assistance to previous adopters; (4) provide…

This digest consists of two brief articles. The lead article, "The School-to-Work Opportunities Act: An Opportunity To Serve All Students" (Mary Wiberg) tells how the STW Act differs from vocational education by expanding the traditional programs and reflecting the constructivist model of education reform and how STW meets the needs of…

The main parameters of state self-employment assistance (SEA) programs for unemployed workers were tested in two experimental demonstrations authorized by the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. The Washington State and Massachusetts Unemployment Insurance (UI) Self-Employment Demonstrations evaluated the ability of the…