This report discusses the importance of and bases for initiatives to enhance students' social, emotional, and behavioral performance as an essential facet of improving academic performance. Research on comprehensive approaches for addressing barriers to learning is still in development. Data from natural experiments underscore societal inequities…

This handbook provides information on autism to enable Colorado parents and educators to recognize early symptoms in young children and to provide for early intervention. Sections of the booklet address: (1) the importance of early intervention; (2) early indicators for screening children ages birth through 60 months, including difficulties in…

This document consists of the two 2000 issues of "Alaska's Children," which provides information on the Alaska Head Start State Collaboration Project and updates on Head Start activities in Alaska. Regular features include a calendar of conferences and meetings, a status report on Alaska's children, reports from the Alaska Children's…

This digest identifies seven essential elements of effective programs for students in alternative programs because they have dropped out, are at risk for dropping out, or have behavior disorders that require special education outside the general education setting. Such alternative programs offer flexible curricula that can address the unique…

In 1996, North Carolina began a 5-year evaluation of Alternative Learning Programs (ALPs). This report describes selected outcomes for students who participated in ALPs during 1995-96. These outcomes include performance on North Carolina End-of-Grade tests (elementary school) and performance on the End-of-Course(EOC) tests (high school) for…

This special issue of the newsletter "Council Connections" reports on the First North American Leadership Academy. The Academy's theme was "Strengthening the Operation of Reading Recovery" and its purpose was to develop opportunities for strengthening Reading Recovery in individual schools, sites, school districts and state and…

One of the most complex aspects of the achievement gap--one that, by and large, is out of the direct control of educational leaders--is the income gap. Broadly defined, the income gap is the standard of living difference between rich and poor, but in the education system, the gap permeates deeply into many dimensions of a student's progression…

Describes the development and field testing of a handbook for nursery school staff on the management of children's behavior problems. The handbook includes four schedules (for behavioral assessment, general assessment, parent interviews, and agency resources) and discusses play activity, behavior modification, and problem-solving approaches to…

An organizational blockage instrument was administered to measure the effects of administrative interventions by a new nursing dean prior to and following certain organizational changes. A significant reduction in perceived blockages and moderate prediction of the magnitude of specific changes prior to the second data gathering could be found.…

Proposes that therapeutic intervention doesn't have the power to create durable, predetermined changes in human systems. Suggests the family's basic rules prohibit it from changing. Discusses a preferable goal of validating the family's present functioning through an understanding of different levels of its self-perception (phenomenological model,…

Demonstrates how concepts derived from General Systems Theory can be used to understand and treat families living in impoverished, isolated rural communities in the South. Suggests interventions frequently need to be directed at the community system as a whole if community rules are to be modified for second-order change. (Author)

Defines behavioral and educational contracts as therapeutic instruments that can be educationally and socially beneficial while enhancing students' self-image. Contracts enable schools to monitor students who have discipline problems and involve them in taking educational responsibilities. (JAC)

Israeli kindergarten children were ranked on an advantaged-disadvantaged scale, and parent child- rearing attitudes were measured by means of a questionnaire. A strong positive relationship was found between rigid parental attitudes and disadvantaged rankings. Parent attitudes correlated with sociocultural factors, educational level, and national…

Issues in the development of community health education programs for rural areas include: (1) knowledge of disease processes; (2) health care intervention; (3) systems intervention; (4) ethics for change; and (5) program implementation. (JN)

Presents results of research to identify and examine community-based, family violence intervention programs in the United States which provide alternatives to incarceration of assaulters. Describes different approaches used by programs and aspects of program development such as staffing, funding, community support, and program evaluation. (MJL)