A study of the status of alternative education (AE) in Pennsylvania surveyed 220 administrators and 234 teachers and counselors in AE settings. Results indicate that discipline programming was common to most programs, probably because Pennsylvania's AE legislation specifically states that AE programs are "designed to modify disruptive…

Pennsylvania is the third most rural state in the nation. The recession of the 1980s devastated the rural economy, leading to a brain drain from rural areas. Nevertheless, there's much that's right about rural schools. Rural schools have pioneered the use of distance education technology. Staff remain in rural schools because they like the…

This bulletin presents basic information for parents about identification and services for gifted students in Pennsylvania. Written in a question and answer format, the bulletin addresses the following concerns: the Individualized Education Program (IEP) required for all exceptional students in the state; the multi-disciplinary evaluation process;…

Through a Pennsylvania statewide curriculum integration project involving 11 school districts, this research examines the curriculum reform process and determines which factors, or combination of factors, are absolutely essential for successful curriculum reform. Comparing programs and their respective levels of success makes it clear that only a…

Rural education scholars may be biased advocates of small schools or they may accept the values of the scientific community. An analysis of a rural Pennsylvania district's failure to receive Reading First funding did not provide enough information to determine why the proposal was rejected. The article's arguments about "privatization"…

Critics charge that the use of standardized examinations for initial teacher certification fails to measure teacher competency accurately and results in high failure rates for minorities. Compares minority bias review panels in Illinois and Pennsylvania, and finds greater minority involvement and attention to minority culture in Illinois' test…

Explores gender issues in school board membership through interviews with 13 male and 5 female school superintendents and 28 male and 26 female school board members in Arizona, New York, and Pennsylvania. Responses represent the beginning of a database of experiences of female school board members. (SLD)

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year federally funded project at the Great Lakes Area Regional Center for Deaf Blind Education to provide technical assistance to service providers and families of children with dual sensory impairments in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Individual sections of the report present…

With the failure of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to adopt the governor's education reform package, the time is opportune to review the major problems with education in Pennsylvania and some actions that would relieve these problems. The main symptom of education problems, in Pennsylvania as in the nation as a whole, is weak academic…

Public "schools of choice" refers to a new trend in educational policy that involves various forms of competition and choice. The initiatives of individual states range from authorizing magnet schools to allowing parents to send children to neighboring school districts. What these programs have in common is that parents, as consumers of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems and issues that emerged as school districts in Pennsylvania tried to implement a strategic planning mandate at the local level. In June 1993, revisions to the Pennsylvania school code changed requirements for graduation from time spent in the classroom to the mastery of 53 state-designated…

Three Pennsylvania universities focused on defining the functional role and identifying the training needs of work-based mentors for Pennsylvania's system of school-to-work transition, in order to design a training protocol. Interviews were conducted with 81 experienced employees concerning their view of the mentoring role and the activities that…

This paper examines the conceptualization and design of the Pennsylvania Audiographics Distance Education Project's (PADEP) Life Skills and Drug Education Course, and discusses the successes and difficulties of the project based on results from formative evaluation. Educators from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, developed new courses that could be…

A telephone survey of a random sample of over 1,650 Pennsylvania citizens solicited opinions on proposals for improvements in the areas of: (1) welfare reform; (2) smoking reduction; (3) unintended pregnancies and unwanted births; (4) education reform; (5) children's health and safety; and (6) workmen's compensation. Each section of this report…

A curriculum development project was conducted to generate additional competency-based modules to be used within the articulation model for Pennsylvania dental assisting programs, established in 1988. Project activities included reviewing, modifying, and providing parallel competency-based structure for the courses at the A.W. Beattie Technical…