Group investigation is an organizational approach that allows a class to work actively and collaboratively in small groups and enables students to take an active role in determining their own learning goals and processes. As part of reform and restructuring efforts, Beaverton High School (Oregon) implemented the Group Investigation model with…

A pilot project demonstrated that cooperative training programs are effective and cost efficient for small businesses. Common entry-level reading and thinking tasks were identified in a variety of occupational areas. Five growing occupational areas were identified: industrial/machine operator; health care; food preparation; hotel/hospitality; and…

This handbook was produced as a result of a project that studied California community college programs that teach basic skills in vocational education programs. The project included a literature review, a telephone survey, and 12 site visits. The handbook contains four sections: (1) steps for integrating basic skills and vocational instruction;…

The paper discusses dilemmas in doing research on the kinds of teachers who are effective with Eskimo and Indian children in isolated, rural Alaska communities. Issues discussed are identification of effective cross-cultural teachers by a "multiple hurdle" technique; criteria that 228 teachers, 29 administrators, and 40 community members…

Data from four separate case studies examining socialization and moral education in the elementary schools of Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela are compared and analyzed. The analysis is intended to help national officials, university personnel, and community leaders interpret what is happening in relation to moral values and the…

This report covers the second year of work by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education in assisting states to increase their ability to evaluate programs and services for special populations. The report also provides information on changes that have occurred in the total evaluation system of the participating states since the start…

Information is provided on the Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) component of Oakton Community College's Project BEST (Building Energy Systems Technology), a bilingual vocational training program designed to teach limited English proficient students of Polish or Hispanic origin the basics of heating, refrigeration, and air…

The purpose of this book is to provide information and insights about what might be expected in United States higher education in the 1990s. The book uses a tone which is described as "forward-realistic" in its discussion of why particular concerns are coming to prominence now, how American postsecondary education is reacting to the issues, and…

This document describes an elementary teacher education program (TEP) for training elementary school teachers to include the environment in the content and methods of the early years of education. The major focus of this document is to infuse environmental content and methods in existing or planned courses of instruction in the TEP. The topics in…

A rapid decline in the number of private liberal arts junior colleges is forcing educators to examine the status of this special sector of higher education. This monograph focuses on the history and future of these colleges in higher education, the marketing of private junior colleges, institutional assessment, church-related colleges, computer…

Exploring questions about how the classroom environment affects young learners, this book describes how young children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds have coped with the conditions surrounding them in process oriented writing classrooms. Chapter 1 describes the kinds of activities in which children engage in seemingly chaotic…

School systems are increasingly following national reports' recommendations that oral communication instruction in the high school curriculum should develop students' everyday academic competencies, personal confidence, and research and employment abilities. This report discusses instructional applications of oral communication and offers course…

Eighty papers from a 1984 international conference on improving university teaching are presented. Topics include the following: predicting achievement and overcoming disadvantages for first-year students, the impact of technology on higher education, using student conceptions of learning and teaching, problems and solutions for teaching…

This project is concerned with the development of procedures and plans for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to use in assessing its initiatives on an ongoing basis. This work is meant to complement another review of NSF's investment opportunities by estabishing a sound basis for designing and carrying out assessments aimed at any of the…

One segment of a three-year study to examine the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition in light of instructional practices is presented. The study's major focus is the development of literacy skills, including school-related language forms as well as reading and writing, and in this segment, the services delivered to language…