Properly conceived and implemented new initiatives are essential to improving schools and communities. Such new initiatives usually are pursued as projects, pilots, or demonstrations, with temporary funding and staffing. When the funding ends, more often than not much of what has been developed disappears. Sometimes this is appropriate (e.g., when…

A study assessed the use of tuition differentials for upper-division courses in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University, and also the impact on enrollment and revenue. This 3-year demonstration project involved the following stages: guiding the tuition differential concept through the university's formal bureaucratic approval…

Project SOAR (Student Opportunity for Academic Renewal) provides academic and personal mentoring and family support services to at-risk middle and high school students in six schools of the Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District. In 1996-97, 95 participants were served by the program and 95 mentors participated. This resulted in a win-win…

On July 22, 1997, a panel of approximately 25 individuals, including members of the Accountability Committee of the National Association of State Directors of Vocational Technical Education, participated in a focus group for the following purposes: to identify the information needed for program accountability; to assess the National Center for…

An evaluation was conducted of the Hawaii Food Stamp Employment and Training/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program Conformance Demonstration, known as PRIDE (Positive Response in Developing Employment). The impact analysis examined client participation patterns, services, and employment outcomes. A pre-post/demonstration-comparison site…

Texas is developing a return-on-investment (ROI) measure to assess the cost-effectiveness of work force programs. Emphasis is on issues related to conducting cross-program ROI analysis at the level of the Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) in career or one-stop centers. To make the most appropriate and effective use of ROI, the following…

For program year 1996-97, 222,639 North Carolina (NC) 9th-12th graders were enrolled in Workforce Development Education (WDE). Twenty-five curriculum products were developed, 34 course blueprints were revised to reflect business/industry practices and state/national standards, and about 3,600 business/industry personnel participated in WDE…

The Foreign Language/Area Studies Enhancement Program at Central State University (Ohio) is an experience-centered work and study program in Africa designed to give students training in language, culture, and technology. It parallels and supports the university's northern Senegal water management project designed to promote self-sufficiency among…

The Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), implemented in 1989, requires student assessment in reading, writing, and math prior to regular college course work. Students undergo continuous remediation until they are able to pass the assessment test. Though TASP advocates argue that the program helps maintain academic standards and provides students…

This manual is intended as a tool kit for further education (FE) colleges to use to develop their own approaches to equal opportunities policy development and implementation. The following topics are discussed in the eight sections: the manual's development; the case for equality; things an equal opportunities policy should cover; strategic and…

Australia's National Reporting System (NRS) was developed as a mechanism for reporting the outcomes of adult English language, literacy, and numeracy provision in the country's vocational educational and training system, labor market programs, and the adult and community education sector. This document is intended to explain the NRS to potential…

This final report describes the activities of Project Search (Selection Enrichment and Acceleration of Rural Children), a project funded by a federal Javits grant to address the identification of young gifted and talented students from underrepresented populations and to develop a model for providing appropriate services for young, potentially…

This study, a synthesis of 51 published prescriptive essays and program reports from 1978 to 1997, follows the development of honors programs in comprehensive community colleges. Despite arguments that programs of this sort betray the institution's democratic imperative by implying academic elitism, diverting needed funds from…

Gainesville College (GC) administered a Needs Assessment Survey in February 1998 to determine perceptions and attitudes about the college and areas that need improvement. Two groups were surveyed: high school counselors and principals, and community leaders such as Chamber of Commerce presidents and college trustees. There was a relatively high…

As part of the program evaluation and review process at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Illinois, a follow-up study was conducted of 433 Business Transfer (BT's) students who had taken Accounting 203; and Accounting Aide (AA's) majors who attended Harper sometime between fall 1988 and summer 1993. A survey received a 40% response rate for…