Two studies examine the nature of Japanese elementary school and junior high school students' preconceptions about media, the effects of teachers on these preconceptions, and the effect of such preconceptions on learning from instruction in multimedia situations. In the first study, 109 fifth graders reported their preconceptions toward watching…

This paper reports results of a series of intense post school follow-up interviews conducted during 1989-90 in southern Japan with mothers (and one father) of 12 young adults, who had been labeled severely or profoundly handicapped when in school. The interview process is described in some detail to underscore the importance of accommodating…

This document is part of a series of monographs on community-based services for children and adolescents who are severely emotionally disturbed. The series is the product of a national study of community-based service approaches which identified over 200 programs serving emotionally disturbed children and included visits to several programs…

Planning for the higher education system in the past involved designing, implementing, and evaluating a set of envisaged policies, strategies and operational actions for the medium and long-run. In Brazil, however, this sort of planning was virtually abandoned and replaced by short-term planning, partly as a result of the interplay of political…

A statistical overview is provided of trends in course enrollments and student characteristics in the Washington community colleges. The report examines total course enrollments; full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment in academic, vocational, and basic skills programs; state-supported FTEs by college; headcount and FTE enrollment in state-supported…

Over a 6-year period, a secondary level English teachers and a college composition instructor have exchanged their students' journals. After initial introductory exchanges between the groups, the instructors match pairs of students, who then correspond. The teachers attempt to match students of similar interests, and they have found gender mixing…

This report examines the philosophy, policies, programs, methodologies, services, and organizational structures that relate to the education of students between 4 and 9 years of age. Sections of the report address: (1) the relation between development and learning; (2) school readiness; (3) early learning programs; and (4) partnerships among…

This study describes what some urban teachers at one school believe and know about literacy teaching and learning, and relates what they believe and know to two contrasting viewpoints about the way students become literate (mechanism and contextualism). Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to create summaries of teacher beliefs and…

A project was conducted for the following purposes: (1) to determine reading methods and practices specific to the father's role in family literacy through research in the field of reading; (2) to develop a curriculum incorporating this research; (3) to implement this curriculum with two groups of educationally disadvantaged fathers; and (4) to…

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Asian Pacific Learners Task Force (APLTF), which was charged with studying this population in Minnesota and evaluating their needs in the public education system. Thousands of students, hundreds of their parents, and a large number of teachers responded to questionnaires developed by the…

A content-based curriculum in English as a Second Language (ESL) focusing on prenatal self-care is presented. The course was designed as a solution to the problem of inadequate prenatal care for limited-English-proficient Mexican immigrant women. The first three sections offer background information on and discussion of (1) content-based ESL…

This issue of the "Courier" examines the quality of life as it can be improved by adult education, especially in the countries of Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific. It also looks at the need for women's education. The following six articles are included: (1) "The Future of the Family" (Federico Mayor); (2) "Her Words on…

The three studies presented in this document investigated factors that influenced students not to enroll in Ohio joint vocational schools (JVS's) and their nonvocational students in the comprehensive feeder schools for the Springfield-Clark JVS, Lawrence County JVS, and Vanguard JVS during the 1989-90 school year. A student questionnaire acquired…

This study examined the process of college choice focusing on the earlier stages of the college choice process among 4,923 high school students (3,110 students participated by returning completed surveys) involving 21 high schools in Indiana. The study attempted to: (1) construct a mid-range model representing the search phase of the college…

This paper summarizes the findings of a case study designed to determine if differences exist in the higher education planning and policy making process in Missouri and Oklahoma. A background and perspective section develops the definitions of key concepts relying on definitions from the work of Daniel Elazar. A section describing the study itself…