This report responds to a legislative mandate to examine the funding of the Statewide Nursing Program at the California State University, an external degree program of advanced training for practicing nurses. Included in the report are: (1) a brief history of the program; (2) the State University's rationale for offering it; (3) a description of…

Rapid technological changes in manufacturing, business, and health care, among other fields, mean that community college instructors and counselors must be informed about current trends in theory and learning, and equipped with up-to-date information about job requirements and opportunities. California's Vocational Education Instructor and Career…

Reducing school energy costs can increase the discretionary dollars available in the school budget. The first part of this guide introduces the key elements of an effective energy management program. Through an evaluation of nearly 150 California school district programs and a detailed review of 22 exemplary programs, the 12 following elements…

This paper explains the importance of new teacher induction programs to help beginning teachers successfully transition to the classroom and remain in teaching. Such programs use different activities to orient, support, train, and assess teachers within their first 3 years of teaching. Activities include orientation, mentoring, staff development,…

Fifteen Teacher Education and Computer Centers (TEC) were funded by the California State Legislature to provide staff development services to teachers and administrators in all areas of the curriculum, but especially in mathematics, science, technology, and other curriculum areas in which there are significant shortages of teachers. This paper…

This report presents a series of policy recommendations from the members of the California Technology Project Distance Learning Task Force to the California State Department of Education and the State Legislature on future directions for distance learning for kindergarten through twelfth grade schools. These recommendations are intended to assist…

A state-mandated survey was conducted of 255 special education administrators in California concerning support for students receiving special education services who engage in severe problem behaviors in school settings. A student with severe behavior problems was defined as a student with mild, moderate, severe, or profound intellectual…

Asserts that these are exciting times to be involved in history/social science education in California. Reviews recent trends and maintains they will have a significant impact on both preservice and inservice teacher education. Provides a preview of articles in this special theme issue on teacher education. (CFR)

The importance of cooperation between colleges and schools to insure that students have adequate preparation for college-level work is considered by the assistant vice-president of the University of California System. It is claimed that higher college admission standards would screen out underprepared students but would not solve the problem of…

The report documents the first stage of an 18-month study to determine the effectiveness of existing California legislation for identification of 3- to 5-year old children with special needs. Local service sites (N=112) responded to a questionnaire which addressed implementation of eligibility criteria at local sites, improvement of the…

The purpose of this document is to provide standards for the preservice professional preparation of teachers, to encourage inservice professional development, and to describe the necessary conditions for teaching and learning the social studies. These standards may be used as goals toward which the professional social studies teacher strives, as…

As long as students with limited English language skills have attended California schools a debate has raged among educators and policy-makers regarding how best to educate these children. A major focal point of this debate is bilingual education. That is, the viability, advisability, and effectiveness of using students' primary language in…

Achievement gaps have real consequences for students, particularly those facing the challenge of passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), now a requirement in order to receive a high school diploma in California. The combined 2005 CAHSEE passing rates reveal significant discrepancies between White and Asian students and their African…

A growing number of American students are nonnative English speakers. These students are vulnerable to early school exit and schools are facing more and more such students each year. Presently, about 56% of all public school teachers in the United States have at least one English language learner (ELL) student in their class, but less than 20% of…