For many non-traditional candidates, the path into teaching is riddled with bumps and detours. They must pay for increasingly expensive coursework and certification costs, attend classes that conflict with work schedules, and forgo wages to complete unfunded student teaching requirements. These roadblocks can deter valuable local…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally funded project designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a systemically oriented process model for improving the coordination of education and human services for young children with identified disabilities and their families at the local level. The project developed and used…

A survey of 133 Illinois direct service providers across various agencies indicated that providers are committed to serving youth with emotional/behavioral disorders locally, but perceived a lack of effort to eliminate ineffective programs and identified procedural barriers to providing comprehensive community-based services. A wide variety of…

Through an interagency, community-based approach, data were collected on 238 children with serious emotional disturbances in DuPage County, Illinois, including child's age, gender, race or ethnicity, learning characteristics, psychiatric status, and adjudications; parent marital status and employment; child's living arrangements; family history of…

The product of a study of urban Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs involving youths aged 16-22 that would result in real or potential job creation and community economic development, this report consists of 24 case studies and a series of recommendations pertaining to the development of similar programs in Illinois.…

The report presents 10 brief issue papers that focus on improving Illinois state planning and administrative functions for the ultimate purpose of improving conditions for Illinois citizens with disabilities. Common themes include more active involvement of the disabled themselves and their families in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of…

This book, an outgrowth of an earlier study undertaken in 1969 for the Illinois Board of Higher Education in connection with the preparation of a "Master Plan for Higher Education: Phase III," is a comprehensive analysis of the complex conditions which must be considered in order to make headway in providing higher educational…

This theme issue discusses the special information needs of older adults and library services designed to meet these needs, especially focusing on the problems of mobility, visual, and hearing impairments. Several contracted projects in Illinois, developed to assess and meet the needs of older adults, are also described and evaluated. (CLB)