Project THISTLE (Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning) is designed to improve the basic skills of college bound urban students by working with their teachers in an integrated process of curriculum and staff development. The project's emphasis is on preparation of classroom teachers to strengthen creative, logical, and critical thinking…

To study aspects of P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) that prove both most and least problematic for rural special education cooperatives, which is the most prevalent type of cooperative arrangement, a sample was selected that included the 2 Federal Education Regions (from a total of 10) determined to contain the nation's…

A strong connection exists between the vitality of America's economy and the consumer education components of vocational education, basic adult education, and the private sector. While great progress has been made in implementing consumer programs at the junior and senior high levels, the Adult Performance Level study indicates that consumer…

Beginning in 1983, three educational reforms were undertaken in Pennsylvania to revise high school graduation requirements, test for remedial needs, and set higher standards for teachers and administrators. Revision of graduation requirements involved state and local education officials, professional organizations, and the state legislature. New…

Based on research studies of effective staff development and rural education, the Inservice Leadership Team (ILT) was designed to identify key teachers in school buildings, team them with principals and central office staff, and train the team to design, deliver, and evaluate staff development at the school level. Rural Pennsylvania school staff,…

A group of three conference papers, all describing successful methods of preparing students for succeeding at the postsecondary level, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Educational Pathways that Promote Student Success at the Postsecondary Level" (Lester W. Jones), discusses a program established at Xavier University--a…

The University of Ulster (Northern Ireland), a multicampus university in an economically depressed area highly dependent on international trade, and France's University of Caen, developed a program in European business studies with French as a key discipline. The four-year undergraduate program enrolls Irish students with good French proficiency…

After an introductory section which points out that the responsibility of small and rural schools is to provide all children with a quality education, and that Boards of Education must decide what is best for all children in the community, the paper briefly describes 16 exemplary programs involving cooperation between school districts. The…

The strength of partnerships within and without the educational enterprise provides the ability to alter or modify existing practices as social and economic realities emerge. A number of interdependent factors raise questions related to partnerships. Demography is a major factor; while a substantial portion of the aging population will have less…

The Biomedical Sciences Program at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), is described. The federally funded program was designed to help economically disadvantaged students to pursue careers in biomedical sciences. The program provided academic support in mathematics, science, and English; study skills development; experiences in…

The advent of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) has not been favorable to community-based organizations (CBOs) serving unemployed young people. The overall decline in the amount of money available for employment training is one reason for the reduction in services, but it is not the sole reason. The transition to the new act itself is also…

Responding to research indicating that more concentrated efforts and innovative approaches are needed to change the negative teacher and student attitudes toward the disabled in mainstreamed classrooms, the pilot program described in this paper was designed to foster communication between the regular classroom teacher and the special education…

In a broad overview of teacher education, the challenges that faced four generations of teacher educators are considered as background to the issues now confronting the fifth generation. The major contribution of the first generation was to set out the fields which were to comprise the content of professional study--pedagogy, curriculum,…

The context of educational reform within which U.S. higher education has worked in selected Latin American countries is examined, with attention directed to the specific experience of the University of New Mexico. The evolution of the Latin American Programs in Education office (LAPE) in the university setting, the organizational milieu in which…

The workshop reported here was held to allow key personnel from secondary education and community colleges in Virginia an opportunity to explore existing problems as well as potential strategies relating to improved articulation of vocational programs at both levels. The content is presented in three parts. The first contains the three major…