Both interview and direct observation data were collected via on-site visits with the training directors at 22 U.S. training centers which had been identified as the best training facilities in order to examine why the instructional methods, techniques, and media changes in use had been tried and adopted, and to identify the trends these methods…

This document suggests an agenda for restructuring New York City elementary schools and improving their leadership, based on interviews with 25 inner-city elementary school principals. Participants were selected on the basis of their competence and their commitment to the education of economically disadvantaged students. The following policy and…

This report describes the Distance Learning Project North, which began in September 1988 in Alberta, Canada. The primary emphasis of the project was on increasing equity in educational opportunity and the focus was testing alternative distance education delivery systems which can be used to provide equitable, cost-effective education to the…

The study explores how urban school principals perceive the problem of and solutions to student dropouts, and how these perceptions relate to student outcomes. Using the model of Bossert and his colleagues as a preliminary framework, the study analyzes principal interviews and demographic and questionnaire data. In addition, student outcome data…

This guide is intended for job developers, counselors, and other staff who interact with employers to locate jobs for their clients. The guide was written specifically for individuals working with Indochinese refugees, but may be useful to practitioners working to place any limited-English-speaking or otherwise hard-to-place population. The…

With the increased emphasis on teaching problem solving in mathematics has come the challenge of developing new techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of such instruction. This booklet is an attempt to provide teachers with ways to give credit for a good problem solving strategy, and yet deduct for an incorrect answer. The document provides…

Data were collected from two public secondary schools located in the northeastern United States in order to search for indicators of culture peculiar to each school. Culture was defined in terms of shared norms, values, beliefs, traditions, and patterns of activity. One school was small, was located in a rural area, enrolled about 500 students in…

This student guide is intended to assist persons employed as supervisors in recruiting, selecting, and inducting employees. Discussed in the first three sections are the following topics: the staffing process and the importance of good staff; recruitment and selection (job and ideal person profiles and job interview procedures); and induction…

Principles and characteristics of program quality review are described as one means of evaluating values-based outcomes of day programs for persons with mental retardation. Program quality review may be distinguished from other evaluation systems in its focus on program outcomes--what actually happens to the people in the program--rather than on…

A study examined the school-to-work transition of a group of 16-year-olds from two mining communities in Nottinghamshire, England. During the study, the 174 school leavers were interviewed within 6 months prior to their leaving school. Nine months later, 103 of the original 174 youths were interviewed again. Finally, the youths were asked to…

This report presents the results of a study conducted to explore the nature and meaning of the work of community college faculty through a process of in-depth phenomenological interviewing of 76 faculty and staff and 24 students from community colleges in Massachusetts, New York, and California. Section 1 provides an overview of the study,…

Much recent research on educational organizations, including that of Meyer and Rowan (1977, 1978), has depicted them as ritualistically legitimated, internally loosely-coupled systems. Willower, however, has argued (1982) that legitimization of schools by their communities is not merely ritualistic but is ordinarily problematic. To examine…

The report describes activities and findings of an 18-month project which surveyed day and other non-residential services provided to persons with mental retardation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. An introductory section describes project purposes, followed by a description of project methods (sampling plan, questionnaire development,…

A formative evaluation of a pilot review and appeal process for the Maryland Writing Test (MWT) is described. The MWT is a large-scale direct assessment of writing. A three-year pilot phase was to culminate in the implementation of an operational procedure for the review and appeal of scores impacting a pass/fail decision for examinees. The MWT…

A 3-year study was undertaken to identify the salient features of verbal academic (math and science) language performance of third- and sixth-grade students. The investigation classified both native and nonnative English-speaking students as either effective communicators/responders or unsuccessful communicators/responders. The study examined…