Providing high-quality and equitable learning opportunities should be a primary goal of all schools and school systems. Charter schools comprise the most steadily growing sector of Pennsylvania's public education system, now home to over 160 brick-and-mortar charter schools. As with all public schools--given the right conditions--the charter…

In this article, the author summarizes his efforts to design the Cultural Proficiency Continuum Dialogic Protocol (CPCDP), a tool purposed to assess and codify educators' cultural competence. The design and development of the CPCDP took place within four school-university partnerships (e.g., Professional Development School and Hybrid Partnership).…

The psychological needs of college students lead to overwhelming demand on college counseling centers' resources. In this article, we review models of case management in Higher Education including the administrative, behavioral intervention, and counseling center models. We also present a case study of the 3-year development of a counseling center…

Despite legal mandates and evidence of predictors of success in transition, there continue to be poor outcomes for students with disabilities as compared to students without disabilities. This article describes the first steps of a quality improvement project, including a needs assessment and description of the current constraints of transition…

Father involvement enhances children's well-being. A growing body of research supports this conclusion, showing that children with involved fathers exhibit greater school readiness, increased cognitive development, higher levels of empathy, and other positive characteristics (Administration for Children and Families 2004a). Research also indicates…

A study examined the success of the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Exemplary Program Project for Vocational Education in implementing and replicating exemplary vocational education programs, disseminating information about successful programs to local education agencies, and motivating school officials and teachers to develop or replicate…

The document reports on a study to design a model to meet the impact of the Pennsylvania Right to Education Consent Decree (particularly as it relates to the mentally retarded) through the following steps--a review of the literature, a review of existing information, a survey to determine the amount of impact in selected areas, and construction of…

A 1-year Industry and Adult Education Partnership Project (July 1, 1981-June 30, 1982) was designed to implement the linkage of adult basic education programs with specific local business, industry, and/or community service organizations for the purpose of shared staffing, resources, programming, and/or public relations. Four model industry/adult…

An existing 353 project that used professional staff as distance education contact persons for students in General Educational Development (GED) programs in rural areas was modified so that volunteer instructional aides (IAs) could serve as contact persons for GED students choosing the program's home study option. A home study packet to be used in…

The public library is a natural arena for intergenerational programs that can change "agist" attitudes by bringing older adults and youth together. This study determined the degree to which public libraries in western Pennsylvania perceive a need for programming for intergenerational programming, to what extent programs have been…

A needs sensing confirmation study was conducted to identify the Appalachia Educational Laboratory's (AEL) long term research and development program needs and provide guidelines for its seven member states' activities. The AEL Board of Directors, individuals serving in similar positions as the Board members, and a sample of non-public school…

A statewide interactive video teleconference was developed and presented to marketing educators, administrators, counselors, students, advisory committee members, and business people in Pennsylvania. The conference was designed to provide a technical update of the state of marketing in the United States as well as to unveil national strategies…

This report provides an evaluation of the Online at PA Libraries project which was initiated in the Fall of 1996 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit. The report documents that the following goals were accomplished: (1) provide public access to the Internet through…

This document reports on a project designed to customize training for employees of manufacturing industries in six western Pennsylvania counties. Project goals were to facilitate collaborative vocational and technical training programs between educational institutions and private sector companies and to establish demonstration sites, manufacturing…

Lehigh County Community College (Pennsylvania) and the Lehigh County Senior Citizens' Center collaborated on a project to assess the learning needs of the senior center's 1,600 members. A needs assessment completed by 68 center members and interviews of an additional 38 center members established that senior citizens preferred short-term workshops…