This booklet challenges assumptions about the hopelessness of educational reform in urban high schools by presenting the stories of: (1) Theodore Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools; and (2) Metro High School in Cedar Rapids (Iowa), a school that participates in the Coalition. Following an introduction, the Coalition of Essential Schools…

This newsletter issue focuses on the 10 years of leadership provided by the Family Resource Coalition in the support of families. The centerpiece of this anniversary issue is an interview with Coalition founder and President Bernice Weissbourd, exploring how the original ideas of the family resource movement have been implemented over the past 10…

This issue of a newsletter on perspectives of refugee resettlement presents views and advice from 20 former members of the Overseas Refugee Training program who are now working with refugees in the United States. Topics discussed in this issue of the newsletter include the following: (1) the feelings of former staff on the effects of training; (2)…

An examination of family literacy programs was made in this newsletter issue to reveal the trends and practices of these programs and their contribution to the development of children of refugee parents. The examination found that most effective and innovative programs recognize that literacy instruction is more effective when it is content based…

Summarized in this report are the proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Institute for Research on Poverty and the Department of Health and Human Services, and entitled "Poverty and Policy: Retrospect and Prospects." Each section of the report contains a summary of one conference session. Major themes include: (1) the effects of market…

Project RISE (Regional In-Service Education) is an inservice center serving teachers, administrators, support staff and parents in central Connecticut. It began in 1976 with state funding, and serves 500 teachers in nine rural and small town districts. An initial needs assessment provided a basis for planning and responding to individual teachers'…

Sixteen vocational education evaluation problems which indicate the present situation in the states are discussed, and alternative solutions to them are suggested in this report. Each problem represents a situation that should be remedied or a need that must be met and was found to be common to a number of states attempting to develop or improve…

This document consists of the single 2002 issue of The Bernard van Leer Foundation's "Early Childhood Matters," a periodical addressed to practitioners in the field of early childhood education and including information on projects funded by the Foundation. Articles in this issue focus on early childhood development tracer studies of…

This newsletter double issue is totally devoted to this report. The report presents an overview of recent policy changes related to job training and education for welfare recipients. It also presents the findings of research on several types of job training programs, discusses the data on the economic value of basic and higher education, and…

The experience of a number of specific local workplace programs indicates a definite connection between the provision of employee basic skills programs and increased worker productivity. One Tennessee company, for example, reports a 95 percent drop in costs resulting from worker mistakes and a doubling of worker productivity since the company…

Included in this issue of UNICEF News are several brief articles focusing on the theme of appropriate technology. Topics discussed include (1) the improvement of family life through the scientific application of appropriate technology; (2) UNICEF and the household fuels crisis; (3) the workload of African women; (4) ways energy, food, health, and…

This newsletter summarizes the debate on the use of state-level initiatives as levers to effect fundamental changes in higher education. It provides several perspectives on the use of incentive/enhancement programs to achieve state higher education goals. The concept of budgetary leverage is outlined, and the growth in enhancement programs…

This paper evaluates the Institute's training program, which was designed to help teachers and other educators make parent participation and community involvement in bilingual/bicultural education more effective. Focused on is the effectiveness of the anthropological techniques to which participants in the training program were introduced. The…

A 1992 conference on strategies to secure and maintain employment for person with long-term mental illness brought together providers, consumers, family members, researches, and others to develop as complete an overview as possible of the current state of knowledge in the field. This booklet summarizes findings from the conference. There were many…

Work-Based Learning (WBL) has been at the heart of school-to-work initiatives in the 1990s. Local partnerships funded by the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act are placing high priority on developing WBL opportunities for students. However, there is still controversy about whether work really contributes to students' education, and results of…