This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

Local school systems, Local Education Agencies [LEAs], and universities, Institutions of Higher Education [IHEs], work together in a variety of ways in the initial preparation and ongoing professional development of teachers, although it is difficult to ascertain the number of LEA/IHE partnerships. These relationships typically allow for a…

This book provides diagnostic techniques for assessing the needs of school personnel involved in implementing new innovations for school improvement. Using the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a framework, it discusses the roles and personal needs of the people involved in the change process and provides strategies for the total management…

Institutions for people with disabilities can be "deinstitutionalized" by changing the way they are organized and regulated. The process of developing community learning environments in residential programs involves design of daily living routines, assessment of residential living skills, identification of teaching objectives, development of…

Three speeches presented at a panel discussion on the future of recreation and leisure education in higher education are printed in this booklet. Richard Kirchner in a speech entitled, "Responsible Responses to Revolutions in Higher Education," offers reflections on the past and present status of college and university recreational programs, and…

As educators across the nation launch into frenzied efforts to "do something" in response to the various recommendations of commissions on educational excellence, many are forgetting that knowledge of how to implement change is available. This paper focuses on three concerns that educators must face when fitting general recommendations…

This article describes the development of a program for college students with learning disabilities at Randolph Macon College (Virginia), focusing on recognition of the need for change, the political realities of change, and the resulting continuum of services offered to these students. (DB)

This report presents a model state legislative bill to provide for the special needs of gifted and talented students. The model bill utilizes a "best practices" framework and attempts to be fiscally responsible and provide maximum flexibility while meeting the needs of gifted and talented students. The model legislation itself begins with a…

The current approach to dealing with childhood lead poisoning has led to repeated diagnoses of poisoning because such children are treated and then returned to their hazardous environments. This handbook describes in detail the program requirements for effective childhood lead poisoning prevention programs at the local level based on the…

The report summarizes an evaluation of Colorado's English Language Proficiency Act (ELPA) program for 1996-97. ELPA provides partial support for programs for limited-English-proficient elementary and secondary school students for a maximum of 2 years per student. It is noted that while the number of students eligible for the ELPA program has…

Project RETAIN (Retention in Education Technical Assistance and Information Network) is a Florida project to assist school districts through identification and dissemination of effective practices that keep students with mild disabilities in school. One part of the project attempted to establish a consensus among experts in the fields of…

Health promotion includes those strategies that reinforce the maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors and discourage the use of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. Health promotion strategies are gaining momentum in the United States. Three of the six "America 2000" education goals have health-related implications, specifically the goals…

School staff members need continuing opportunities to learn and grow because the waves of social change strike them first and most powerfully. Research on effective schools tends to stress staff development as crucial. School boards are involved in the development of their staff. A staff development program of broad scope and sharp focus can…

Enactment of South Carolina's Education Improvement Act of 1984 taught several lessons about successful education reform. The law provides for raising student performance by increasing academic standards; strengthening the teaching and testing of basic skills; elevating the teaching profession; improving leadership, management, and fiscal…

Despite expansions in children's health insurance programs, rates of uninsurance in California continue to be high. Noting that absenteeism due to poor health is associated with school failure and asserting that schools offer an established framework on which to build a coordinated approach to enrolling children in health insurance programs, this…