In 1996, faculty at Sitting Bull College (SBC, Fort Yates, North Dakota) developed its Environmental Science (ENS) Program, basing it on the scientific method and techniques students would need for employment in environmental technician positions with local and tribal agencies. Over the course of 15 years, this employment-based training evolved…

The Educational Innovation Incubator is an electronic classroom designed to evolve at the University of Central Missouri. This newly enacted endeavor is a place for faculty and students to combine the scholarship of teaching and learning into their courses by experimenting with the latest technologies in education. This paper describes the process…

In August 1970 the Ford Foundation announced the establishment of a Venture Fund grant program to help strengthen and to encourage innovation in undergraduate education throughout the country. Criteria for selection were: (1) evidence of creative programs in the past, (2) the quality of current educational programs and leadership, and (3) the…

This publication discusses plans for an experimental "middenschool" program, which is being considered for adoption in the Netherlands. The middenschool program would extend the period of basic education beyond primary school into the first stage of secondary school, serving students in the 12-16 or 11-15 age bracket. This booklet…

Increasingly, educational reform is linked to the concept of professional learning communities (PLCs). Definitions of PLCs vary, but generally the concept refers to a group of educators who "continuously seek and share learning, and act on their learning" (Hord 1997, 6). Stoll and her colleagues, concluding their review of the current state of…

The Student Centered Education Project is an experimental college program run by and for psychology students at Western Michigan University. The project was initiated in the fall of 1969 by faculty of various departments within the university, with the aim of developing a more effective learning environment for the students. The faculty initially…

This paper examines the anticipated advantages and disadvantages of a proposed trimester plan for a Birmingham (Alabama) high school. The proposed plan would maintain the usual length school year, simply dividing it into three "mesters", rather than the traditional two. The Birmingham trimester plan also would lengthen each class period…

This booklet is the second in a series of annual publications that list and describe a wide array of promising and innovative educational practices in hopes of stimulating the development of alternative educational delivery systems and strategies involving students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Included in the booklet are brief…

Discusses the development since 1971 of an alternative school-within-a-school at the Wheatley School in East Williston (New York), emphasizing shared decision making, nontraditional teaching, and student self-evaluation. Describes recent changes in the program to improve both student evaluation and the program's communication with the traditional…

This booklet is the fourth in a series of annual publications that list and describe a wide array of promising and innovative educational practices in hopes of stimulating the development of alternative educational delivery systems and strategies involving students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Included in the booklet are brief…

This practicum report describes a year-long effort to reorganize a large urban junior high school according to the "house plan" concept, in which the school is organized administratively and geographically by grade level, rather than by academic department. The reorganization plan involved five major changes, including relocation of departments…

Planning Program Budgeting Systems (PPBS) rest on the assumption that decision-making and resource allocation can be managed more efficiently when information about educational processes is collected uniformly and aggregated systematically. The School Planning Evaluation and Communication System (SPECS) conforms to this conception of PPBS as a…

This document contains brief descriptions of 100 school district initiatives taken in response to legislator and state department of education mandated educational reforms. Each description, contributed by a paticipant, is indexed by reform category, school district cluster, implementation level, and state. Section divisions in the index of reform…

This booklet describes the basic curriculum design and staff organization of Project LEM, an experimental open education program at Hillers Elementary School in Hackensack, New Jersey. The LEM open education plan is characterized by differentiated staffing, multiage and multiethnic groupings, personalized instruction, a structured schedule, a core…

This report describes ten experiential education programs located throughout the United States. The principal objective of these programs is to improve the self-image of high school and college students through a series of challenging, adventuresome, and success-oriented outdoor experiences. Appreciation of outdoor science education, conservation…