These two documents discuss two related family literacy projects that were conducted to develop a model for providing sustained literacy and developmental activities to economically disadvantaged families throughout Pennsylvania. The first document details the development/implementation of the Families Reading Together program, which built upon…

Both the school-to-work system and youth development theory emphasize preparing youth for adulthood. They share the following characteristics: prevention of problem behaviors, a belief that young people develop by learning actively and in context, a conviction that young people need opportunities to interact with and be respected by adults who…

This bulletin focuses on the requirement of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 that school-to-work initiatives engage representatives of organized labor in the development, implementation, and governance of a school-to-work system. The first section outlines what organized labor brings to the school-to-work initiative. The next section…

Work force development systems have three primary subsystems: youth development and preparation for employment, adult work force entry, and worker retraining and transition assistance. Programs targeting youth pose one of the greatest challenges to those striving to develop or improve work force development systems. School-to-work will not…

This report highlights four urban comprehensive secondary schools that are developing, implementing, and evaluating reform initiatives that include vocational and technical education as a key component of these efforts. Efforts of these four high schools are described: Bryan High School, Omaha, Nebraska; Humboldt Secondary Complex, St. Paul,…

Designed to assist local school districts, this manual provides guidelines for the development of local plans for the education of academically or intellectually gifted students in North Carolina. In 1996, the General Assembly in North Carolina passed legislation removing gifted education from the law governing children with special needs and…

The challenges of burgeoning enrollment and the high concentration of lower-income and ethnic minority students, a climate of low expectations, teacher and student mobility, and increasing drop-out rates, led to the formation of the Houston (Texas) Consortium of Urban Professional Development Centers. The consortium focuses on urban schools; it…

In response to parent complaints about the curriculum at an urban child care center, a procedure was developed to provide parents and teachers with an understanding of developmentally appropriate practices for young children. A curriculum that was developmentally and culturally relevant to the children at the school was also developed. The entire…

This report is the result of a 2-year study of three ethnic specific schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minnesota). Key informants and public policy makers were interviewed during the first year of the study. In the second year, the parents and teachers at the three schools were both surveyed and interviewed. In all three schools, a sense of…

Research has suggested that many adults choose not to participate in available literacy programs because they equate literacy education with school. Two new directions in adult literacy program development are being explored in an effort to make programs more appealing to nonparticipants. The first is connected to program content and the second…

This guidebook provides the basic information needed for inservice training in techniques for observing gifted characteristics in children from diverse population groups including economically disadvantaged and students with limited English proficiency. The training program is based on a specific Staff Development Model (SDM) and a Research-based…

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) is a partnership of the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Stanford University, The RAND Corporation, the University of Pittsburgh, the Educational Testing Service, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.…

This manual documents key program development strategies and inservice training topics provided by the Model Demonstration Early Intervention Network Project. This project focused on building the capacity of early intervention programs to serve infants who are deaf-blind and their families. The first section covers program development and includes…

Phoenix Elementary School District #1 began implementing its Competency Based Guidance Program (CBGP) during the 1991-92 school year after being awarded a U.S. Department of Education Drug Free Schools and Communities Programs Grant. The purpose of CBGP was to provide middle-school students with a developmental and proactive guidance program.…

An attempt was made to increase selected aspects of critical thinking skills of children in a school-age child care program through staff planning of specific program activities using typical activities that would normally occur in these programs. Increased staff members' awareness of their role in facilitating the development of children's…