This article presents the conversation of the principals of Breakthrough High Schools (BTHS) about literacy. When asked about the essentials of a successful high school literacy initiative and the administrator's role in developing a schoolwide literacy initiative, the principals revealed the strategies and practices they use to improve students'…

Outlines major challenges for vocational educators and counselors: (1) need for a comprehensive, cohesive approach to career theory, research, and practice; (2) view of career development as a complex interplay among attributes, behavior, and environment; (3) interdisciplinary collaboration on theory, practice, and a career development research…

Although cooperation between high school vocational education for the handicapped and state vocational rehabilitation programs had been common during the 1950s and 1960s, increased emphasis on special education, third-party funding falling under disrepute, and "similar benefits" provisions of vocational rehabilitation legislation has made…

Asserts that therapeutic gains for children may be maximized if important systems serving their mental health needs collaborate. Contends that collaborative efforts between clinic- and school-based practitioners may increase ecologically valid treatment options. Explores both the gains and the potential pitfalls that may arise when school- and…

Focuses on some apparently evolved features of human adolescence and their possible functions, including the pubertal growth spurt, sexual size dimorphism and bimaturism, the greater aggressiveness of males, heightened concern with one's social standing and the factors affecting it, intergenerational friction, same-sex aggregations and solidarity,…

Despite barriers such as apathy, lack of training, home problems, and demographic and ethnic factors, vocational and special educators need to involve parents in setting goals and determining strategies that will help handicapped adolescents become qualified workers. (SK)

This article addresses the need for communities to develop integrated service systems for troubled children and youth. The varieties of educational services presently offered are reviewed and found to be inadequate. An integrated service system is proposed, comprised of personal services, services for caregivers and families, educational and…

Illustrates with a hypothetical adolescent with a disability the use of the McGill Action Planning System for initial and follow-up transition planning. Shows how the system promotes self-advocacy for students and families and provides information useful in the Individualized Education Plan. (SK)

Describes a cooperative project developed between the Arlington (Virginia) Public Library and local middle schools to form a Teen Advisory Board (TAB), a group of students who read and review new young adult books. Highlights include expansion of the program; student involvement in other activities; and four lists of favorite titles. (LRW)

Calls for authentic family-professional collaboration which will develop new visions for children with special needs and new expectations of schools and agencies. Contends that families want to be supported rather than supplanted by professionals and that, if collaboration is to be more than rhetoric, both parties must recognize their rights and…

Aimed at both policy makers and service providers, this report assesses services and policies regarding adolescent parents and pregnant adolescents and recommends a number of additions and changes. The first chapter examines the services already offered to pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents, including counseling, family planning,…

Support services to prevent dropping out of at-risk students include family wraparound services, individual counseling and psychiatry, intensive in-patient treatment, and residential placements. An essential ingredient, interagency collaboration requires common understanding of purposes and goals, communication, and group process skills. (SK)

The sociology of leisure provides a rich and long-standing research tradition in deviant leisure activity. Leisure and recreation experiences are the product, not of a single system, but of the interaction among systems, none of which separately seems to effectively treat the family and its members. The need for recreational group activities is…

Teachers need to state clearly their commitment to students and subject matter, their definitions of teaching and school administration, their perspective on what is new about being an adolescent and what is new about teaching an adolescent in today's world. (MLW)

Managing the issues associated with gang activity is prioritized in Minneapolis parks. A strong commitment to interagency cooperation and teamwork has effectively addressed the root causes of gang formation and prevented some criminal behavior. The article examines public safety enforcement, summer programs for Minnesota youths, positive role…