This report describes the New York City School Improvement Project, a program designed to help participating schools to improve their instructional effectiveness through school based planning groups that represent the schools' constituencies. The project design and procedures for determining the needs of individual schools are discussed, as are…

The Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act established provisions whereby youth may receive academic credit for skills acquired through work experience, but many educational institutions have not sanctioned these provisions. This problem was explored in a study of credit availability, type of credit, and the relationship between credit…

Discusses seven stereotypical views concerning the history of federal involvement in elementary and secondary education. Examines federal intervention after World War II; origination of federal programs; the National Defense Education Act; basic skills education; federal aid to precollegiate education; federal pressure for desegregation; and…

The Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce warns that the United States can remain competitive only if productivity increases because of a high-skill, high-performance work force. They propose a flexible matrix of learning opportunities to prepare students to be adaptable and productive on the job. (SK)

This report consists of data tables summarizing test results statewide for students in grades 11 and 12 who took the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills (MBS) test in March, 1987. The MBS assesses minimum skills in reading and mathematics. It is used as the graduation test for students who entered ninth grade prior to September 1985 and have not yet…

To consolidate the diversity of opinion about the definition of competency, an operational definition and skills classification matrix is presented. Although most people agree that competency tests should measure student ability to transfer academic training to life situations, the fact that life skills and school skills represent different…

Lists the expectations that employers have for entry-level workers, as well as the skills needed to be promotable in the next century. Compares employers' expectations with a profile of student skills. Gives implications for school counselors. (CH)

This report describes the results of a survey designed to explore the problem of deficiencies in the basic skills of secondary school students. Three perspectives were sought: that of the corporate sector, of labor unions, and of school systems. Information in the report is based on (1) survey returns from nearly 200 businesses and 123 school…

There are 900 million illiterate people in the world. Because of reflective insights and creative research during the last two decades, the literacy process is no longer conceived as a training process that concentrates exclusively on implanting specific mechanical skills. It is now recognized as an educational process, as an unfolding of human…

The gap in literacy rates between women and men continually broadens. In 1985, 63 percent of the world's approximately 1,000 million illiterate people were female, compared to 60 percent in 1970 and 58 percent in 1960. A process of social change, including community involvement and mobilization in favor of women's literacy, is needed to sustain…

Approximately 60,000 Delaware public school students in grades 1 through 8 and in grade 11 were administered a battery of achievement tests as part of the state-funded Delaware Educational Assessment Program (DEAP) in 1986. This was the second administration of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), in reading, language arts, and…

Compliance with South Carolina's Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP), involving test administration and instructional monitoring, was on schedule for the 1983-84 school year. Results of readiness tests given to over 50,000 first graders showed 72.6% "ready" to begin formal instruction. Teachers were given materials for areas in which…

The eleven papers presented at a 1985 conference on school-to-work transition are collected in this volume. The papers focus on school-business partnerships, school programs, and community projects. Their titles (and authors) are: (1) "Investing in Our Children: Business and the Public Schools" (Sol Hurwitz); (2) "From School to…

Three forces are combining to mandate a more highly skilled work force: (1) technological advancement, (2) job growth centered on high-skill occupations, and (3) new work organizational strategies. As many as 50 million workers, many of them minorities and immigrants, may have to be trained or retrained in the next 12 years. (CH)

Explains the difference between everyday thinking and academic thinking. Maintains that children who experience academic learning problems may rely too much on everyday thinking skills. Relates examples of this problem in reading, mathematics, and science. (JDH)