This book is the first of four volumes in a directory of more than 1,000 discretionary grants and contracts supported by the Research to Practice Division of the Office of Special Education Programs. This volume focuses on projects concerned with research, innovation, and evaluation divided into two broad discretionary programs: "Research and…

This book is a directory of about 1,100 discretionary projects supported by the Office of Special Education Programs and focuses on projects concerned with research, innovation, and evaluation. This first volume of four presents projects categorized in the following two discretionary programs: "Research and Innovation To Improve Services and…

This "ERIC Digest" considers the U.S. charter-school movement, which has produced about 800 schools in half the states and enrolls over 100,000 students. Charter schools reflect founders' varied philosophies and commit to achieve certain educational outcomes within a certain period, in exchange for waiving many restrictive regulations.…

This 5-volume directory describes more than 1,000 discretionary grants and contracts supported by the Research to Practice Division of the Office of Special Education Programs. The projects are grouped into sections representing the seven program areas of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments (1997), Part D. This…

Focusing on the time period since the 1974 Supreme Court Lau v. Nichols decision, this paper reviews Federal policy regarding bilingual education, discusses the current sociopolitical context of bilingual education, discusses evaluations of bilingual programming done to date, and examines the implications of these factors for schools and…

The significance of competency assessment for schools of education is explored with emphasis on developments at the state level and in specific teacher education programs. Multidimensional quality indicators of teacher preparation programs are suggested in the first paper. Other papers present an overview of state legislative reactions to…

"The ERIC Review" announces research results, publications, and new programs relevant to each issue's theme topic. This second issue contains three principal articles: "Issues in Adult Literacy Education," by JoAnn Crandall and Susan Imel; "Emergent Literacy: An Early Reading and Writing Concept," by Carl B. Smith;…

The most obvious and difficult problem facing educators of migrant children is that of frequent interruptions in the child's education caused by his migration. Various solutions have been put forth over the past three decades; these have included providing mobile schools and staff, residential schools, uniform record transfers, interstate credit…

This paper explores the issue of establishing and evaluating objectives for local career education programs. It presents a perspective on the state of the art based on reviews of the literature. Although it is addressed principally to local program developers and managers, the paper is also aimed at state career education coordinators. After a…

The major distinctions between evaluation and research are examined, the chief differences being the intent and type of criteria against which judgments are made. Conceptualization of the evaluation process in higher education is discussed on two levels. A collection of nine similes for understanding evaluation is examined in terms of major…

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies are required partners in the one-stop system mandated by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). The following features have long characterized VR: the primary goal of integrated competitive employment for persons with disabilities; state flexibility in VR systems, approaches, and structures; case…