This practicum report describes a recruitment program to include black residents in a residential program for teenage girls with emotional problems. Recruitment efforts stressed the following four principles: (1) staff preparation for work within a multicultural setting; (2) presentation of the facility to new black referral sources; (3) renewed…

The director of a Head Start Day Care and Family Resource Center (which is the only licensed group child care and early childhood education facility serving Native Americans in the rural southwest) implemented a practicum intervention designed to inform the tribal central finance office about the goals and financial needs of the child care center.…

A 20-minute-long videotape program, intended for regular classroom teachers involved in mainstreaming, was developed and implemented to meet in-service needs of elementary school teachers in Cherry Hill, a township in Camden County, New Jersey. Included in the videotape program were an explanation of Public Law 94-142; an overview of the decision…

A dropout prevention program was developed to address the needs of middle school alternative students, those students who have been labeled as severely disruptive and who fall into the high-risk category for potential dropouts. Many of the students have a history of physical violence, abusive language, truancy, and police arrests or juvenile…

A weekly dance at a community center was used to develop a teachable moment for active senior citizens regarding fire safety, in order to reduce their injuries and possible loss of life. A target group of active senior citizens 70 years of age and older who frequent the weekly community center dance was established for the program. The program…

This practicum was designed by a curriculum development administrator to develop positive attitudes in at-risk 7th-9th grade students in a drop prevention school in Florida. The school was located in a small town in an agricultural county whose population was predominantly black and of low socioeconomic status. The number of students varied from…

A practicum was designed to increase the utilization of an elementary school media center whose wealth of materials were seldom checked out or used, and whose facilities were used mostly for fixed library scheduled classes. Moreover, the media center's facilities were unattractive and uninviting to visit. The solution strategies involved…

For decades, educators have been concerned with the problem of truancy. Accordingly, this report focuses on an absentee improvement program at a rural, lower-middle class, predominantly white elementary school with 722 students that had a history of high truancy, as verified by teachers, the administration, the school counselor, staff, and…

This practicum focused on the problem of lack of involvement of the parents of 32 mainstreamed fifth grade students with special learning needs. Evening workshops were conducted for parents and their at-risk, mainstreamed students in fifth grade. Sessions focused on the use of computers, manipulatives, make and take home instructional games, study…

A practicum was designed to address the discrepancies in educational and behavioral expectations and priorities noted on parent and staff surveys at a rural elementary school. The survey of parents (n=261) indicated parents' need and desire for education and training in helping their children at home. The goal of the project was to implement an…

A study was conducted to determine whether the adult basic education environment improved the educational outlook of at-risk students. The research was conducted using a 25-question survey with 100 students enrolled in the Nicolet College Alternative High School program for at-risk students in northern Wisconsin, from January through December…

A practicum developed and implemented a nutrition and fitness program for 90 kindergarten and first-grade students in an urban elementary school. The program was designed to make parents, teachers, and students more aware of nutrition and physical fitness requirements for proper growth and development. The 33-week program included: (1) pretest…

A training program was implemented for teachers to increase the quality and quantity of developmentally appropriate multicultural education for 2-year-olds at a child care center in which the children and teachers were predominantly Euro-American. The 10-week training program used readings, videos, discussions, and guided imagery to: (1) raise…

This practicum involved the development of an 8-month inservice training program to give teachers (N=71) at a rural high school basic information concerning the mainstreaming of students with learning disabilities (LD) as well as to influence their attitudes toward inclusion of such students in their classes. Initially, teachers were confused…

This practicum report describes a 12-week project to decrease truancy and improve motivation and academic performance of three students (ages 12 to 18) hospitalized with severe emotional disturbances. A visible and powerful reward system using a menu strategy was developed and implemented in which students participated daily in establishing goals…