This paper provides school district administrators with a structured method for developing school programs aimed at reducing the risk of adolescent dropout. The methodology encompasses problem definition, fact finding, mission management, overcoming inertia, cohering programs tied to theory, feasible goal-setting, and normative personnel…

"Understanding World Agriculture" is a 3-year project (1984-1987) designed to mobilize resources of the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) to enhance citizen understanding of political, economic, technical, and social factors relating to world problems of hunger and poverty and to the stake of the United States in international…

Meta-analysis of 17 studies was conducted to determine the effectiveness of retaining elementary school students in grade. Calculations with data from the 17 studies produced 217 effect size measures, most of which were measures of differences in reading and mathematics achievement. Some measures of differences in social adjustment, behavior, and…

Described is the first program in the State of Ohio for serving parents who need relief from parenting responsibilities or assistance during a period of crisis. Turning Point, a joint project of the North Side Child Development Center and the League Against Child Abuse, is a crisis assistance program that operates weekends to serve a maximum of 10…

Considerations in the design and implementation of the technical assistance (TA) system for supporting Pennsylvania's statewide school improvement initiative are analyzed. After a brief introduction, the authors describe the key features of the initiative, called Long-Range Planning for School Improvement (LRPSI). They briefly review recent…

Fourteen research studies were conducted on exemplary practices in experienced teachers' centers, focusing upon specific interests or concerns of those operating or otherwise supporting the centers. Research was funded through small awards which would allow teacher center practitioners to collaborate with researchers to develop knowledge about…

The continuing development of educational professionals (teachers and administrators) takes place in three types of institutions. Advanced degree programs offered in colleges and universities that lead to the master's and doctorate degrees are the mainstay of continuing development. Second in importance are the staff development programs sponsored…

This document outlines the objectives and procedures of a program at a New Mexico school district whose purpose is to enable school personnel to systematically monitor students' academic and disciplinary progression. The objectives of the program are to diagnose academic or disciplinary problems and prescribe remedies, to establish an oncampus…

This case study describes the evolution of a Master's program in community psychology from its inception in 1976 through 1984. Yin's (1978) discussion of the critical events in the routinization of innovations and his emphasis on passages and cycles are used to analyze the development of the Master's program in community psychology at Indiana…

Two approaches to college second language instruction are described. One, an on-campus option, gives students a classroom opportunity that is similar to the intensive/immersion program, which is a ten-week intensive language course followed by a ten-week program in Mexico, France, or Germany. The on-campus option, called "Super," is a…

This paper describes Miami-Dade Community College's (MDCC's) Academic Alert and Advisement System (AAAS), which uses a powerful and sophisticated computer system called Response System with Variable Prescriptions (RSVP) to provide students with information about their progress in a course midway through the term. The paper begins by outlining the…

Despite intensified recruiting efforts, the underrepresentation of minority group members in the health professions continues, with factors and forces outside of the immediate control of health professional schools being largely responsible. In order to correct this problem, educators must develop early outreach programs to prepare, motivate, and…

The last decade has seen an increase in the number of organized pre-retirement planning programs. An exploratory model for examining such programs utilizes Warren's division of the community into five sectors to provide a conceptual community framework by which pre-retirement development can be analyzed. In the first sector,…

This description of a project in the Netherlands concentrates on the progress made by participating schools since 1974, inhibiting and success factors, and the outlook for the future. The MAVO project provides secondary students with training for administrative functions. One of the characteristics of the program is that it provides a three-year…

Project IRIS (Improving Reading Instruction School-Wide) is one school district's effort to improve reading instruction. The project's first three years have produced median reading gains of one year or more per student per year. Although the most important aspect of Project IRIS is school-wide commitment to improving reading instruction, other…