After 20 years of experience, comprehensive education in Belgium is characterized by many compromises. Pedagogically, positive results have been achieved. Curricular and structural reforms have been largely successful. However, too much is being expected of it as a lever for social change, and the system may fail as a result. (MSE)

To meet future needs, secondary vocational education must shift from job-specific training and concentrate on producing literate workers with versatile mathematics and language skills. It should be responsive to individual needs, interests, desires, and abilities to ensure that they are addressed with maximum articulation and interface with…

Examines how much progress has been made in England and Wales towards meeting the needs of disadvantaged preschool children and to what extent the policies adopted so far may be considered to amount to a comprehensive strategy. (Author/MP)

Analyzes data on racial and sex differences in vocational education enrollments and wage and employment opportunities for vocational education graduates. Examines variations in vocational education program quality in urban districts and suggests that programs in centralized facilities are of higher quality than those in the comprehensive high…

With the change to comprehensive schools in Sweden completed, the author considers how education will be restructured in the future both at the compulsory and the post-compulsory levels. (SJL)

The challenge of making schools more comprehensive and responsive to students' intellectual, social, vocational, and personal needs extends to the entire community. (JD)

Attempts to understand the implications for education of an apparent paradox of the welfare state: a new culture of education has developed involving both individual autonomy and continuing attachment to public provision of education to ensure that autonomy. Compares England and Scotland to illustrate the complexity of the political debate. (DSK)

Early in the 20th century, vocational education was a concern of educators in the United States as schools struggled to meet labor force needs during the shift from an agrarian to an industrial economic base. A 1914 Congress-authorized commission studied whether federal aid to vocational education was warranted. Charles Prosser, a student of…

Schools and business must unite to make all the changes needed to ensure the success of all children. Social change, particularly the increase in single-parent families, has resulted in more children being born at risk of school failure. Most early childhood education reform initiatives have been piecemeal and have lacked a true understanding of…

Demonstrates typical concerns and problems associated with administering and maintaining a rural community Head Start center as exemplified by the Carbon County Child Development Program in Rawlins, Wyoming. Emphasizes the poverty of families served, lack of federal financial support, enrollment trends, and educational benefits of the Head Start…

This document examines the 10 essential attributes of primary health care contained in the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau's definition of primary care. Primary care for children and adolescents is personal health care delivered in the context of family, culture, and community; the range of services meets all but the most uncommon health…

Examines barriers to the effective recognition and assistance of gifted Black American children, including inadequate definitions, theories, and identification procedures. Discusses rationales for reexamining and broadening definitions and theories of giftedness to make them more applicable to Blacks. Presents prescriptions for change and…

Consistent with their name and mission, rural community colleges should be committed to building community. This can be accomplished through comprehensive curricula; extracurricular events; community education programs; continuing education; partnering with businesses and schools to encourage local youth to prepare for college; service learning;…

This paper, developed from the discussions of the Executive Session on Making the System Work for Poor Children, describes why the current human service system is failing to help many poor children, and maps out the dimensions of a system that could greatly improve these children's prospects. The argument is made that the current system's problems…

The Comprehensive Approach to Restructuring a School was designed as a framework for improving the academic achievement and reducing the dropout rate of poor African American students. The major elements of the Comprehensive Approach are as follows: (1) leadership must have vision and commitment; (2) communication processes, developed by a…