Families in urban areas struggle with drug abuse, poverty, increasing housing costs, and lack of affordable child care. The challenges confronting urban schools include a higher dropout rate, higher youth unemployment, and the need to address a variety of special needs of their student population, such as programs for pregnant students, dropouts,…

Equipped with the National Child Care Staffing and the new Profiles of Child Care studies, researchers are close to estimating the number of child care providers in the formal child care system. Estimates of the number of providers in the system, which includes in-home housekeepers and nannies, unregistered or licensed family child care providers…

This report describes factors distinguishing rural families with special-needs children and their communities from those in non-rural settings. Rural communities have distinct environments and unique strengths and weaknesses, differing even among themselves. A diversity among rural lifestyles, values, resources, and other socio-cultural factors…

Developed as part of an evaluation of the feasibility of establishing a continuing education program for nursing home staff at Butler County Community College (BCCC), this report provides an overview of continuing education in the field at national, state, and local levels. Section I introduces the demographic, social, and economic trends that…

The difficulties presently being faced by rural communities in the North Central Extension Region are well known. Many of these communities have economies which are closely tied to farming and therefore suffer economic hardship in direct relationship to those encountered by farmers. However, a dominant characteristic of communities in the region…

One of the committees of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) examined the vocational education and training policies of its member countries. The committee identified a number of significant policy directions that are emerging in OECD countries. Among these are an enhanced political commitment to providing vocational…

This volume is the fifth and last in a series that gives a comphehensive view on the present status and future prospects of adult education in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. The series attempts to show what kind of national policies and strategies are required to increase public participation in…

Beginning an an informal, unstructured information interchange among 100 union, worker, and management representatives from seventeen public and private sector organizations operationally involved in quality of work life activities, a 1977 conference evolved into the first annual meeting of the American Quality of Work Life Association.…

As part of a series dealing with national trends in women's education, this monograph examines the development of women's studies programs at the community college level and provides suggestions to increase their impact. The monograph first discusses the changes in the community college population, for example, in the male/female ratio and in…

Selective research studies were examined to determine the competencies necessary for successfully mainstreaming handicapped students. An understanding was sought of: (1) the problems associated with competency development for mainstreaming situations; (2) the areas of training for both regular and special education personnel; and (3) the…

This paper explores the issue of establishing and evaluating objectives for local career education programs. It presents a perspective on the state of the art based on reviews of the literature. Although it is addressed principally to local program developers and managers, the paper is also aimed at state career education coordinators. After a…

The changing perspectives of higher educational administration in Australia are traced from the growth of the 1960s and early 1970s to the period of contraction, since 1975. Three major challenges facing administrators in the period ahead are identified: problems of continuing institutional viability with the threat of government intervention;…

This paper discusses alternative schools that serve students with special needs. The evolution of alternative education is outlined and several kinds of alternatives are discussed: schools for the gifted, the vocationally-oriented, and the disruptive, and multiethnic and basic skills programs. Alternative schools for problem students appear to be…

Case studies of local development projects in Scotland, Norway, Australia, and the United States (Minnesota) indicate that federal education programs of a "generative" nature (those linking educational improvement to other improvement efforts, emphasizing process, and stimulating grass-roots participation) are most likely to promote…

Studies in Canada have shown that between 16 percent and 38 percent of Canadians are illiterate or have low literacy skills and, therefore, have difficulties in accessing and using medical care and medical information. They have also found a contributory connection between low literacy and poor health and over-use or inappropriate use of health…