The bulk of this issue consists of five articles providing insight into various phases of adult continuing education. "The Meliorist Position as a Philosophic Base for Adult Education" (Gordon Clay Godbey) examines these questions about meliorism: should we accept as natural improvement of the human condition, the constant wars, the…

From 1910 to 1935 a campaign was waged in the southern United States to eradicate adult illiteracy. This program was primarily based on volunteers, and it revolved around night, summer, or cotton mill schools that were often termed Opportunity Schools. Many parallels can be drawn to current efforts to address the problem of functional illiteracy…

The themes that emerge from a review of the literature on continuing education (CE) in the health professions fail either to describe the CE phenomenon adequately or to explain the disappointing results reported from CE evaluation studies. This represents a simplistic and incomplete view of CE and the effects of CE experiences. The major objective…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of group counseling using structured activities on the self-concept of disadvantaged postsecondary students enrolled in vocational-technical schools. Volunteers meeting Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) and Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) definitions of…

A project was undertaken to review funding practices for vocational education in Kansas and to present some alternative funding methods for consideration. During the course of the project, a research specialist interviewed various state-level educational staff and an area vocational and technical school director in order to obtain a general…

At a conference that focused on critical issues for small schools, the initial speaker voiced the opinion that if current trends continue, public schools may ultimately serve only the handicapped. He cited a need for schools to implement changes through community outreach, day care, senior citizens programs, retraining opportunities, work with…

Reported are findings of a large-scale, longitudinal follow-up study of the Home-Oriented Preschool Education (HOPE) Program, one facet of a multifaceted attack on the endemic problem of underachievement in Appalachia, which sought to find solutions viable within the region's family and cultural traditions. The scope of the study is immense,…

The National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs/National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs conference on student aid is reported. Following the conference agenda and lists of registrants and conference speakers, the following papers are presented: (1) "Reinterpretation of Hansen's Census Data" (John B. Lee); (2)…

The Single Parent/Adult Homemaker Reentry Program at Ashland Community College (Kentucky) was developed to meet the training needs of 40 eligible persons by enrolling them in vocational-technical programs at the college. Students received financial support for tuition, books, child care, and transportation; academic and personal counseling;…

The testimony presented in this report addresses the effects of recent reforms on the achievement of disadvantaged students, their dropout rates, and their enrollments in vocational education. An evaluation of programs in four large-city school districts revealed that educational reform has been neither a disaster nor a boon for the performance of…

The 1983-84 Center for Urban/Minority Education (CUME) Project, funded by the Education Consolidation Improvement Act, (ECIA) Chapter II, was designed to address the needs of teachers, administrators, and parents of schools serving low-income/minority students in Dade County, Florida. However, the substantial reduction in funding from the amount…

A project consisting of two followup studies, a literature review, and a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the occupational orientation curriculum and occupational orientation teacher education programs currently in existence in Texas and to recommend changes needed to update them. Various survey instruments were administered to participants…

The effects of early education bilingual programs on subsequent educational achievement were studied with Spanish-speaking children of migrant farm workers in southern Texas. The children were enrolled in the Individualized Bilingual Instruction (IBI) program for at least one year from preschool through grade 3. About 30-50 children were tested at…

The Instructional Aide Program of the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools trained instructional aides to provide direct instruction to selected underachieving pupils in the classroom setting. The aides attended in-service training sessions and were provided with supplementary materials and numerous instructional activities in the areas of oral…

The effectiveness of an instructional improvement project in the Greeley-Evans Schools, Colorado, was studied. Teachers were provided inservice education in a class called the Essentials of Instruction. Recognizing that receiving training was not the same as being an implementer of the innovation, the Levels of Use instrument identified teachers…