The French government's decision in 1985 to have 80 percent of high-school students reach the "baccalaureat" level by century's end and to create a new secondary school degree (the "baccalaureat professionnel") are among the most broadly influential and successful education reforms since the beginning of the Fifth Republic.…

Effective school discipline plans get to the root cause of student misconduct and specify expected behavior codes, values, and directives. Successful plans involve all stakeholders in their design, recognize parents as the first link to prevention, ensure access to professional development, celebrate students' positive contributions to the school…

About 30% of U.S. students leave primary grades without basic reading competence and cannot fully profit from secondary education. A San Diego high school developed a multidimensional reading course that stresses building vocabulary through natural language and reading, reading at school and at home, listening to teachers read, practicing phonetic…

Guidelines for teaching through interactive television address planning, the first class meeting, creating a learning community, instructional tips, motivation techniques, and communication. Guidelines for student learning in this environment are also provided. (JOW)

The Northwestern Pennsylvania Tech Prep Consortium model for replicating tech prep programs includes these steps: fact finding, local industry analysis, curriculum development, detailed description, marketing strategies, implementation, and program evaluation. (SK)

A communication model consisting of input from target audience, program delivery, and outcomes (receivers' perception of message) was applied to an osteoporosis-prevention program for working mothers ages 21 to 45. Due to poor completion rate on evaluation instruments and failure of participants to learn key concepts, the model was used to improve…

Examines dominant features of feminist pedagogy as it is constructed in nursing education; explores the perceived superiority of feminist pedagogy over traditional models of education; and focuses on the problematic rhetoric and conceptions of empowerment. (JOW)

Considers that the issue behind English department recruitment is not the size of the major but the focus and pertinence of the curriculum, where success is defined by an effective articulation between what a faculty believes it has to offer and what serious, goal-oriented students--the sort wanted in the major in the first place--are looking to…

Describes online learning in engineering at Deakin University in Australia, including: flexible engineering programs, computer-based learning, progression from individual efforts to formal centralized control, costs of information technology, experiences with grant-funded development projects, managing development of online material, student…

Presents the steps necessary for creating a successful facility master plan, including the purpose and use of a steering committee and the need for a comprehensive database that includes a community/school profile. Explains community involvement in plan development, and outlines the steps necessary for preparing a final facility plan for…

In the midnineties, Albuquerque Public Schools developed an Extra Support for Principals initiative-a voluntary support program that respects participants' time constraints and schedules only three activities during the year. Both experienced and mentored principals value the program, which keeps more beginning administrators on the job. (MLH)

Due to increasing litigation, significant insight has been gained over the past several decades on the problem of suicide in jail and prison. Provides a brief overview of the progress in research, programming, and policy. Reviews the key areas of process research, risk assessment, and penological policy changes considered vital for the field's…

Positive Transitions for Student Athletes is a program designed to address the psychological and career-related issues surrounding the inevitable sport retirement transition faced by the majority of collegiate athletes. Provides a rationale for the development of sport retirement programs, as well as the Positive Transitions program and outcome…

Describes how Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts is using a $500 million pledge, a nontenured faculty, and a group of top students to help develop a new kind of institution, the first independent, four-year engineering college created in 40 years. (EV)

Recounts starting a Montessori school in the 1960s in New Orleans. Highlights events of import: (1) decision to be nonsectarian and racially integrated; (2) early conflict between teachers and parents on Montessori practices; and (3) physical location problems. (DLH)