The Theatre Arts Standards of Learning identify the essential content and skills required in the theatre arts curriculum for the middle school and core high school courses in Virginia's public schools. The standards are designed to be cumulative and progress in complexity by course from the middle school through the secondary level. Throughout…

Countries around the world have achieved huge gains in primary education, reaching a world average of 83.8 percent in net primary enrollment. However, large numbers of students still do not complete primary education, and even fewer continue on to secondary school. Since so few children complete primary school, those who do must be able to…

The effects of attending an urban career magnet high school were examined by comparing the career development of 51 graduates of 4 career magnet high schools and 59 graduates of 4 comprehensive high schools in a large city. Subjects were drawn from a database through a random assignment and matching process. All 110 graduates were surveyed using…

Little agreement exists on which school expenditures and resources are most likely to improve student resources or whether resources really matter at all. This study compiles a national database of school finance information and analyzes the data to address the importance of school expenditures. Data were collected from the National Assessment of…

This collection of articles on second language learning includes: "Action, langage et discours. Les fondements d'une psychologie du langage" ("Action, Language, and Discourse. Foundations of a Psychology of Language") (Jean-Paul Bronckart); "Contextes socio-culturels et appropriation des languages secondes: l'apprentissage en milieu social et la…

A doctoral dissertation describes the needs, attitudes, and characteristics of 82 bilingual native speakers of Spanish in Arizona, most community college students, concerning their Spanish language education. Data were gathered using a survey, 14 interviews, observation in classroom and home environments, and four case studies. Results indicate…

This Fall 1997 Enrollment and Staffing Report by the State of Washington Board for Community and Technical Colleges includes information on enrollments, student demography, selected program student characteristics, state-supported course enrollment, contract-supported course enrollment, staff, and individual college data. Findings indicate that…

A study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Palatine, Illinois, to develop a profile of fall 1993 students, compare student and community demographic data, and determine the percentage of various community sub-groups served by the college. A random sample of 500 degree-credit students (representing 3.2% of the 15,518 students…

An exploratory study was conducted to evaluate the utility of a method to demonstrate that Australian enterprises that invest in the training of their employees gain a return from that investment through an increase in employee productivity. The method, which compares enterprise expenditure on training of personnel with labor productivity across a…

The theme of this issue is lifelong learning. Contents include a message introducing the publisher's Chief Executive Officer, Devron Gaber, and letters to the editor. A guest editorial, "Lifelong Learning For All: A National, Social, Corporate, and Personal Imperative for the Knowledge-Based 21st Century" (Ron Faris), considers how…

This study examined the effects of social class background on children's oral language development. The study focused on children's oral vocabulary knowledge because such knowledge provides a good summary of language skills, is easily measured, and is very consequential for later schooling success. Using a large national data set, the study…

A study explored the ways that front-line community development workers across Canada gained information needed to work with women participants in community economic development initiatives. Data were gathered through focus groups, a preliminary study with 15 key informants employed in community development organizations, and structured telephone…

By exploring what school readiness means in the context of work with very young children, program leaders can better understand how they can support the lifetime learning of infants and toddlers in their programs. This book, designed for infant-family program leaders, examines the important role that cognitive and social-emotional skills play in…

Participation in sport or fitness activities in Great Britain was examined through a survey of more than 6,000 adults throughout Great Britain. As of April 2001, 35% of adults surveyed were currently participating in sport or fitness activities. Those most likely to participate in sport or fitness activities were male, young, in high social…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined four factors (academics, peer relationships, personal security, and family acceptance) as they related to the self-esteem of students with and without disabilities. The instrument used to measure these factors was the adapted Self-Esteem Inventory containing 58 questions. The survey was…