Rapid social change with profound implications for the raising of children contributes significantly to the problems schools face, but it is also true that schools can exacerbate children's problems. Suggestions are made to improve education and to make schools places where children are helped to cope with stress. Current practices that might be…

This guidebook describes the components involved in proactively developing a comprehensive crisis-management plan. Chapter 1 explains the philosophical underpinnings of a crisis-management plan and discusses the importance of vision and staff development. Chapter 2 answers the questions: Why do we need a crisis-management plan? Who needs to be…

This report presents the results of an 18-month research project that studied the effectiveness of youth work with vulnerable young people. The research, representing six distinct geographical areas of Scotland characterized by disadvantage, focused on young people aged 13 to 16. In each neighborhood, the project examined the experiences of young…

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health created the School of the Future (SoF) project to enable selected Texas schools to coordinate and implement school-based social and health services on their campuses and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method of service delivery by evaluating the project. This booklet focuses on the Parent Volunteer…

This guide is designed to involve people in study circles in discussing and taking action on community changes caused by immigration. A foreword introduces immigration and race relations, education, language differences, and job opportunities and defines study circles. Session 1 gives individuals the opportunity to share their personal…

This report describes and compares the inclusive assessment and accountability systems of Maryland and Kentucky, with a focus on components, scoring methods, reporting practices, data use, participation of students with disabilities, testing accommodations, and implementation considerations (including cost and training issues). Maryland and…

This book offers an overview of the cooperative learning process, including its rationale, research base, value, and practical considerations, with an emphasis on two key characteristics: cooperative learning's ability to create communities within classrooms, and well-structured, sequenced assignments which allow students to internalize…

African-American nurses' perceptions of their baccalaureate nursing school experiences were examined in relation to Vincent Tinto's (1987) theory of student retention and Astin's theory of student involvement. In-depth interviews were conducted with four graduates of a predominantly black southeastern university and four graduates of a…

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) tracks children throughout the country as they move from kindergarten through fifth grade. As part of the ECLS planning process, the possibility was considered of assessing the program environments of Head Start children before they entered the ECLS kindergartens. A review was conducted of selected…

This document presents 10 national reports on widely differing traditions regarding vocational and technical education and training (VOTEC) in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Chapter 1, "Synthesis of Country Reports" (Claude Pair), covers programs and pathways, quantitative trends in participation, and…

A survey ascertained whether Arizona seventh-grade students perceived themselves to have participated in and benefited from career awareness, exploration, and counseling activities. In total, 2,349 seventh-grade students participated in the survey administered in spring 1997 after one full year of school-to-work (STW) regional funding. Students…

This state plan for the education of gifted/talented students in Texas first offers a rationale and goal and then defines the state and district roles for educating gifted students. The plan provides guidelines for use by local district personnel in the development of gifted programs that meet state requirements. These guidelines include: (1)…

This investigation chronicled the experiences of an instructor and her students as they first experienced a distance course that utilized various technologies. Both the instructor and the students had limited or no experience with e-mail, use of the Internet, or the supporting software. The students were 33 elementary school teachers taking a…

This qualitative study explored the presence of community voice in a newly structured inner-city elementary school in Santa Ana (California). Nearly every family at Pio Pico Elementary School lives below the poverty level, and Spanish is the primary language of 90% of the residents, with most families being of Mexican or Central American origin.…

This paper discusses the importance of teachers and parents of students with learning disabilities working together to ensure that students' educational programs are appropriate and address their specific needs. It provides guidelines aimed at fostering positive teacher-parent relationships by discussing recent legislative mandates and current…