Discusses the creation of an Employer Child Care Council and its Quality Child Care Initiative, a comprehensive plan to improve the care and education of the county's children by generating support from the business community for the accreditation of quality child care programs. Also outlines the council's strategies for successfully implementing…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This strategy brief presents a…

The Blacksburg (Virginia) municipal government's worksite exercise program, developed in response to rising health insurance premiums, was evaluated to determine its effect on health care costs and employee absenteeism. Thirty-two employees who participated in the program for 4.5 years were compared to 32 nonparticipating employees. The program…

This study (the first part of a two-part study) analyzed the effectiveness of three mandatory welfare employment programs in serving different segments of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) caseload. Data were collected in evaluations of welfare employment initiatives in San Diego, Baltimore, and several counties in Virginia.…

A study was conducted to determine the most effective procedures being used by agricultural education teachers in conducting young farmer programs in Virginia. A questionnaire containing 111 procedures was developed and administered to 83 young farmer teachers from approximately 80 percent of the Virginia departments with young farmer programs.…

Describes study of rural or small town community development programs funded by the Small Town Emphasis Program. Outlines program factors including competition, innovation, needs assessment, low income involvement, networks, technical assistance, efficiency, strategy, and timing. Provides examples of six programs and recommends future development…

In the 1990s, Virginia launched one of the nation's most ambitious standards-based reform efforts. Encouraged by a budding national accountability movement and motivated by conservative distrust of the public school establishment, state officials sought to clarify what students needed to know and to hold students and educators accountable for…

Debate about teacher supply, demand, retention, and attrition has been renewed in recent years by an increased concern about the reduced numbers of prospective teachers entering teacher education programs, the high attrition rate of beginning teachers, and the resulting teacher shortages. U.S. schools are experiencing teacher shortages, especially…

Describes a principal's frustrating, but ultimately successful 3-year effort to convert a Virginia elementary school to a year-round schedule. Now in its third year, the school boasts students with higher standardized test scores, better attendance, and fewer discipline referrals than their traditional-calendar counterparts. (MLH)

In the 2004-05 school year, at a time of nationwide debate regarding the rigor of the high school diploma and the value of school-to-work programs, Chesapeake Public Schools (CPS) conducted an evaluation of the preparation of their students for the job market. The results of the evaluation did not substantiate widespread concern that the high…

The Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) is a project within NSF's (National Science Foundation's) Math Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Funded at $23 million over five years, the AMSP involved 51 school districts and nine higher education institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The AMSP faced two significant challenges in…

This paper presents a profile of Virginia's Star Quality Initiative prepared as part of the Child Care Quality Rating System (QRS) Assessment Study. The profile consists of several sections and their corresponding descriptions including: (1) Program Information; (2) Rating Details; (3) Quality Indicators for Center-Based Programs; (4) Indicators…

The U.S. Department of Education is supporting a 3-year program involving Virginia Tech's computer department and a rural public elementary school. The project seeks to determine whether immersive access to networked computing by students and their families has measurable effects on long-term student achievement. A fifth-grade classroom was…

A study was conducted to investigate certain characteristics of respondents who renovated furniture during a Washington County educational television 19-program series on chair renovation, who had previously renovated furniture, and who planned to renovate a chair following the series, and to compare them with those respondents who had not. Data…

Virginia's statewide plan of educator preparation in functional behavioral assessment, as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is described. The step-by-step training process facilitated positive academic and nonacademic outcomes for all students. Preliminary data support the effectiveness of both the content and…