This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the South Dakota Statewide Systems Change Project, a 5-year federally supported project to establish a system of educational services to support children with severe disabilities within general education settings. The project provided extensive training, information, and technical…

This paper focuses on selection of students and curricular programming in gifted education. A current emphasis on selection rather than identification of able learners, including culturally diverse able learners, is noted, as are new understandings of the nature of giftedness, including: giftedness is more than high intelligence; giftedness is…

Adventure education seeks to promote individual growth and development through the purposeful planning and implementation of educational processes that include risk in some way. This book introduces major topics in the broad literature of adventure education by bringing together 53 writings of adventure education practitioners. The writings are…

This booklet is designed to help parents, educators, and communities facilitate parent and family involvement in the education of their children. Eight chapters provide: (1) a discussion of the basics of parent involvement, including the benefits of parent involvement, elements common to successful parent involvement programs, and types of parent…

To develop innovative, developmentally appropriate models of child rearing in Thailand, several studies examined Thai child-rearing practices, principles which should be used in early child rearing, and models and strategies which could be used in child rearing in this cultural setting. Six different studies were conducted, using a variety of…

This paper reports on the Contact Children's Mobile, a program developed in 1987 to provide educational and social enrichment opportunities for children from birth to 12 years who live in a large remote region surrounding Wanaaring, Australia. Two teachers travel an average of 800 kilometers weekly to make home visits or hold daylong educational…

This paper analyzes principles of knowledge diffusion and provides a framework for applying new ideas or innovations, particularly in relation to rural community development. As new knowledge is created or old knowledge is found to have new applications, the art of spreading knowledge and managing innovation has become more crucial in both urban…

The core features of the preindustrial model of school-to-work transition are needed now. An environment must be recreated in which young people see the vital connections among education, training, and work that were once so clear. The emerging consensus model has these features: combined formal schooling and structured on-the-job training leading…

These conference proceedings address a broad range of issues related to postgraduate education and training beyond the doctoral degree for maintaining expertise in all areas of psychology. They focus on six general issues: (1) models for education and training beyond the doctoral degree; (2) societal needs, changing demographics, and national…

This case study shares the perspectives of two individuals who worked from within Laconia Developmental Services (a state institution in New Hampshire for people with developmental disabilities) to close it. One individual was institutional superintendent and the other served as a liaison officer among the state government offices, Laconia…

Distance education has become a major teaching and learning tool. Distance education typically uses technology to reach learners in the following ways: (1) audio communication through one- or two-way radio or telephone; (2) audiographic links such as computer-to-telephone setups; (3) freeze-frame transmission of visual images; (4) one-way…

The design and implementation of a broad-based intervention program for students at risk of school failure are described, and implications are drawn for efforts to improve the education of at risk children. The Learning City Program uses state-of-the-art research to create a facilitating environment in which the continuous development of children…

A study obtained early information on the effects of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 on states' efforts to develop and implement effective systems of school-to-work transition. Systems in eight states were studied: California, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. State leaders understood the need…

Using data from the Survey of State School-to-Work Opportunity Systems (1994), a study examined states' work in providing the necessary support to involve all students in school-to-work opportunity systems. The study focused on a time when the states were in the planning or very early implementation stages of school-to-work system development.…

This proceedings contains 13 papers on the role of distance education in sustainable community development, particularly in Canada's remote northern communities. Four sections cover theoretical issues such as the meaning of "community" in international distance programs and the influence of students' immediate community on their survival…