This commentary looks at the contributions and future research implications of the four articles in this Special Issue of "Thinking Skills and Creativity" to the fields of creativity and creativity education, both in culture-specific and culture-general terms. The articles included in this Special Issue draw attention to issues of…

Urges educators to beware adopting new programs during the coming academic year. A better approach is to adapt worthy innovations without throwing out last year's innovations. The history of American educational practice supports this approach, emphasizing the value of familiar continuity sprinkled with modest and occasionally some significant…

Proposes 13 trends that educational software development should follow. Four main areas are considered: (1) the computing environment, including hardware and networking; (2) software design, including learner control and hypermedia; (3) the user, or learner, including group activities; and (4) the software development process, including…

The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…

The recent conservative trend in educational policy is addressed in this paper which begins with a description of 10 specific types of threats to the instructional development movement that can evolve from an excessively conservative environment. These threats are named as follows: (1) scapegoat; (2) baby-with-the-bathwater; (3) chronological…

Outlines two responses regarding why educational innovations come and go with such regularity. It is argued that there is a paucity of knowledge about these innovations which is leading to superficial solutions or implementation and that the inability to tap into the roots of these educational innovations results in the reinvention or recycling of…

The article looks at trends in early childhood mainstreaming of children with disabilities. Specific discussions focus on implementation, the perspectives of parents, and the development of friendships and peer relations in mainstreamed settings. A convergence among public policy, educational practice, and developmental principles and research is…

The article provides an historical overview of events which led to establishing a Commission on Education of the Deaf as well as the Commission's 40 recommendations which emphasized improved quality while reducing costs through competition. Events in the deaf community indicate implementation of initiatives is still awaited. (Author/DB)

This article reanalyzes the principle of partial participation in integrated educational programing for students with severe or profound disabilities. The article presents four "error patterns" in how the concept has been used, some reasons why such error patterns have occurred, and strategies for avoiding these errors. (Author/JDD)

Discusses writing projects, studies of implementation and teacher change, and mirrors of change which point to the state of the art in language arts. (RS)

This commentary on inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs raises issues concerning why so little progress toward inclusion has been made; quality of early childhood instruction versus inclusion expectations; the need to "just do it" (inclusion); and the need to allow for the child's individual preferences. (DB)

This commentary on the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs raises issues concerning balancing the roles of advocate, scientist, and person with strong beliefs; interpreting the intent of research on integration issues; and a seeming overreaction to a supposed "deficit-model" of the past. (DB)

Discusses nine common myths, which represent collective opinions based on false assumptions or are the product of fallacious reasoning, associated with developmentally appropriate programs for young children. (BB)

Tech prep has been considered "dead" by some commentators, but that assessment is usually made only in cases in which tech prep was merely a new label for an unchanged course or program. In many cases, tech prep has become more widely implemented and accepted as real changes have been made. Many of the concepts of tech prep will remain even if the…

New York City has implemented all-day kindergarten programs, reduced the size of primary grade classes, and proposed that the public schools provide pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds by 1989. In the process of program implementation, much has been learned about large-scale efforts aimed at young children. It is known that simply realigning…