This descriptive study investigated the benefits and costs of using electronic portfolios (EPs) in preservice teacher education by examining the voices of students in six programs thought to be mature in their implementation. Benefits included opportunities to reflect, better access to and organization of professional documents, increased…

The purpose of the project was to design and present an inservice education program for work experience teachers and coordinators in order to improve their operational effectiveness at the school/classroom level. A series of five three-hour programs were conducted at five California locations. A total of 503 participants, representing 211 school…

This report summarizes the policy framework for operating the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program and interprets information from a statewide evaluation survey of all beginning teachers, support providers, and school site administrators in 34 local BTSA projects. It reviews 3 years of data, emphasizing spring 1998.…

Compares perceptions of rural and urban Mexican American and Anglo families in 14 states on four aspects of family life satisfaction. Hispanics reported higher satisfaction in most areas, allowing for duration of residence in state, area of residence, education, income and family size. Includes 49 references. (Author/TES)

This paper describes a collaborative effort aimed at province-wide dissemination and implementation of pivotal response treatment (PRT) for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Nova Scotia, Canada. Three critical components of the associated training model are described: (1) direct training of treatment teams (parents, one-to-one…

The job satisfaction and organizational commitment of rehabilitation counselors working in the public rehabilitaton agencies in California are the focus of this study. Participants were 223 rehabilitation counselor survey respondents whose agencies agreed to take part in the study. A total of 435 surveys were mailed. Job satisfaction was measured…

The effectiveness with which research findings are disseminated to policy makers in education, particularly at the state level, is explored in the four chapters of this report. In chapter 1, Linda J. Nelson reviews the literature and determines that policy makers do make important, but indirect, use of research. She suggests that research…

This report describes five workshops conducted throughout California to enable educators from high schools and community colleges to coalesce into career guidance task forces for their schools and to learn about current career guidance concepts and practices. Activities and personnel who supported the project are presented according to their…

A California program to train childhood educators so they can, in turn, attract, train, and motivate limited-English-proficient (LEP) individuals for child care occupations is evaluated based on three participant case studies. In in-depth interviews, three of the 30 program participants discussed what they had learned during training, the…

The purpose of this pilot study was to describe the participation of farm women in farm work in one California country. Women from 228 farms, approximately 55 percent of the farms in Yolo County, California, were interviewed by telephone concerning their efforts and roles on the family farm. The study found that the main criterion of whether or…

A telephone survey of 1,500 registered voters in California was conducted to determine perceptions of California's community colleges; members and attitudes of the two-year college student community; views of college funding, finances, budgets, and policy control; unemployed residents' views of the community colleges; and media habits. Study…

Speeches and summaries of group discussions from California's first statewide conference on health science library consortia are presented. An introduction outlining regional, state, and national cooperation among biomedical libraries and brief welcoming addresses precede three talks on the history and development in California of library…

The purpose of this study was to identify the career ladder needs of paraprofessionals as required by both California State and Federal educational mandates. Findings, gathered by questionnaires returned by 594 aides in seven southern and central Californian counties, are discussed in terms of the following: (1) personal characteristics; (2)…

Stanford's Environment for Teaching study involved analysis of data collected in 1973 and 1975 by questionnaire and interview from 188 principals and over 200 teachers from a stratified sample of 46 elementary schools drawn from 34 San Francisco Bay Area school districts. Using aggregate indices, the study examined data relating school complexity…

To investigate the effect of technological change upon farm labor use, a stratified random sample of 696 farm workers from a population of 12,215 in Kern County, California, provided a basis for analysis. Some major findings were: (1) The high peak of seasonal labor use has been eliminated, (2) The need for migratory labor is decreasing, (3)…