Describes a pilot program at the Highland Primary School Library (Illinois) to maintain or increase reading motivation and skills for kindergarten through third grade students over the 1999 summer vacation. Discusses grant funds; pretest posttest procedures; parental involvement; technology use; and students without access to the public library.…

Year 1 of the Appalachian Technology Education Consortium Demonstration Project began with formation of an executive committee to serve as the managerial arm and establishment of a board of directors to determine policy direction. Other activities included planning for external evaluation, recruiting of demonstration and observer schools, and…

Describes a computer-based education program that was developed at the University of Central Florida to train students and teachers in grades seven and above in how to use CD-ROMs. The development of different versions of the training program for different microcomputers is described, and an evaluation of the program is discussed. (Eight…

In this paper we present a simple set-up that illustrates the mechanism of sap ascent in plants and demonstrates that it can easily draw water up to heights of a few meters. The set-up consists of a tube with the lower end submerged in water and the upper one connected to a filter supported by a standard filter-holder. The evaporation of water…

As part of a federal grant to develop an across-the-curriculum ethics program, ethics instruction was integrated into English classes at Colorado's Community College of Aurora (CCA). In the English classes, students were first asked to read case studies from CCA's ethics handbook detailing specific ethical problems. In subsequent classes, students…

"Effective Reading" (ER) is a community college course designed to help developmental readers succeed in college reading through improved reading comprehension. The course is based on current research which indicates that successful comprehension can take place if students follow three steps: predicting (pre-reading strategies such as surveying…

In its two years of operation, the Adult Cuban Immigrant Project served over 538 Cuban entrants in its prevocational English-as-a-second-language (ESL) program. The prevocational curriculum is a competency-based program that is designed to help students learn English in the context of life-coping skills and job-searching skills. Included in the…

The research described in this paper examines the relationship between raters and the training raters receive to apply that rating. The primary concern is maintaining scoring consistency within the context of raters' perceptions. If the criteria for holistic and/or analytic scoring can be recognized as communication based, rather than topic based,…

Major goals of the Gila River Adult Basic Education Experimental Demonstration Project in this program description are identified as: (1) improving the academic skills of hard-to-reach adult dropouts and (2) training non-degreed local residents (people 19 years old or older with an 8th grade performance level) to recruit, counsel, and teach…

Reviews assessment efforts in Florida's postsecondary institutions, which emphasize assessing achievement periodically, improving guidance and placement, increasing college readiness among secondary students, and measuring college-level skills after the second college year. Looks at the positive contributions of these changes and the potential for…

The purpose of the Web Retargetable Course Generation System, or "ReCourse," developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) is to facilitate both distance and on-campus learning via the World Wide Web. ReCourse's features include the ability to retarget a Web course for different levels of students, multi-user chat rooms, a…

Describes the development, implementation, and assessment of an interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) program that used interactive videodisc to teach listening skills. Results of an experimental study with college students at Radford University (Virginia) that tested the effectiveness of the IMI program are discussed, and future applications…

The instructional management system of Glendale (Arizona) Union High School District is described. Efforts in this area are coordinated through six interrelated components: (1) a well-defined curriculum, with extensive review and community survey of learner priorities; (2) program improvement plans based on the Theory Z concept, in which the…

A project was undertaken to enhance the basic skill levels of marketing and distributive education students identified as disadvantaged by using a tutorial approach. After determining the basic skill competencies needed for students to succeed in marketing and distributive education, project staff identified existing materials in the areas of math…

This report provides information about the 54-hour module in ownership and/or management of a small business, Mind Your Own Business, that was taught to all twelfth grade students at the Norwich Regional Vocational Technical School. A twelve-page abstract outlines the topics/ business principles studied, describes the program, and summarizes…