Effective schools provide at-risk students with a community of support that encourages school membership and educational engagement. This study describes effective dropout prevention programs, develops a generalizable, theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between at-risk students and their schools, and suggests local and state…

This report describes and assesses second-year activities of the University of Toledo (Ohio)/Springfield Local Schools Teacher Corps Project. Planning and implementation procedures related to staff development courses and workshops at elementary, junior, and senior high schools are the focus of this initial assessment. Assessments of the following…

The educational system known as Individually Guided Education (IGE) will become increasingly important as schools enter a period of retrenchment in the 1980's. Four factors necessary for basic skills achievement can be achieved through the use of IGE: (1) strong leadership by the school principal; (2) time spent in direct instruction by the…

Twenty mentally retarded individuals placed in competitive employment were compared to a matched group in sheltered workshop settings concerning their quality of life. The competitively employed individuals experienced greater advancement; improved hand strength and weight control; and increased community participation, social vocational skills,…

This study examined whether the Chicago Annenberg Challenge promoted improvement in schools it supported and in student achievement and other outcomes; factors that might explain improvement or lack thereof among Annenberg schools; and what could be learned from the Challenge's experiences. It highlighted the period between 1996-1997 through…

With traditional mentoring programs working hard to attract new kinds of volunteers and schools facing increased pressure to help students succeed, school-based mentoring is a promising--and increasingly popular--approach. According to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the number of school-based matches grew from 27,000 in 1999 to 90,000 in…

This report presents the current understanding of the advancement of the Information Society within the European Union and countries that are up for accession in 2004, and is based on the SIBIS (Statistical Indicators Benchmarking the Information Society) surveys and analyses per SIBIS theme and country. The report is unique in its coherent and…

This report presents the current understanding of the advancement of the Information Society within the European Union and countries that are up for accession in 2004, and is based on the SIBIS (Statistical Indicators Benchmarking the Information Society) surveys and analyses per SIBIS theme and country. The report is unique in its coherent and…

Recent research by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium has led to the development of a resiliency model that helps explain why some at-risk students actually do well in school. The recent investigations have determined that some students develop traits that enable them to be successful in school. The model suggests that four…

This paper describes a qualitative study at an at-risk primary school after a year of implementing educational changes. The paper opens with a detailed diary of the author's first morning observing the principal in action at the school. The analysis of data and field notes centers on the strengths of the principal's leadership, and the themes in…

A Teaching/Learning Conference addressed the challenge of facilitating learner adjustment to distance learning. By understanding the concerns of both students and faculty regarding the distance learning environment, professional development specialists may find ways to ease the transition from traditional teaching/learning environments to the…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on new perspectives in education that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "A Systems Model for Evaluating Learning and Performance" (Hallie Preskill, Darlene Russ-Eft) describes a model for HRD developers to use in evaluating learning and performance that…

This paper describes work being carried out in the fields of online education provision and library systems, beginning with a description of the current state of the art with regard to online learning environments and educational materials management. Suggestions and solutions for librarians dealing with the management of educational digital…

Young people growing up in rural and isolated areas of Australia face particular challenges because structural change to the rural economy has dramatically affected their communities. Structural challenges include limited transportation, health and community services that are difficult to access and not confidential, scarcity of affordable…

This paper presents the methods and results of a year-long evaluation study, conducted for the purpose of determining disability accessibility barriers and potential solutions for those barriers found in four World Wide Web-based learning environments. The primary questions used to frame the evaluation study were: (1) Are there any features of the…