This final performance report for the Providence Public Library literacy project begins with a section that provides quantitative data. The next section compares actual accomplishments to project goals for 1992-93. Topics addressed in this narrative section include: (1) contributions of the Family Writing Center to the development of the reading,…

In 2000, the National Education Goals Panel examined the conditions that help ensure school success, conducting a series of four field hearings nationwide to find evidence of success and to understand why schools were succeeding. Participants at the hearings included students, teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, university presidents,…

Community colleges are becoming key partners in developing and improving present and future work forces. The number of business-community college partnerships is growing. Most community colleges are developing very results-oriented programs and partnerships that provide local businesses with workers trained in the skills that those businesses need…

This document contains three papers from an international conference on "ways and means for more employment." The first paper, "Employment Policy Comparisons and Policy Advice" (Ulrich Walwei), covers the German labor market in the second half of the 1990s and requirements for longer-term employment success through coping with…

Early school leaving is an issue internationally. In Australia, nearly one in three young people is at risk of not completing secondary education, a situation that affects long-term employment prospects and earning capacity. Not all leave early for the same reason, and their reasons are not necessarily negative ones. Six "types" of early…

This report discusses the place of preservice and inservice teacher education in the needs of gifted children, outlines the role of the gifted education specialist, and discusses the competencies that gifted education specialists should have. It begins by providing a joint statement of core beliefs and goals related to giftedness and the…

This paper examines effects of public funding for religious and private schools in the Netherlands and England over the last century. These two countries were chosen because both have religious schools fully funded by the state. The paper shows that state funding has disadvantages and advantages. Funding has been associated with considerable, yet…

This document profiles 10 European programs that exemplify good practice in building skills and qualifications among employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The programs profiled are as follows: (1) TRICTSME (a program providing World Wide Web-based information and communication technologies training for SMEs in manufacturing); (2)…

This is a report on the National Articulation and Transfer Network (NATN) program, which seeks to increase the achievement and aspirations of students from underserved population, namely African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. More than 150 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), and…

This document contains the second year of the U.S. Department of Education's 2002-07 Strategic Plan. The plan outlines the strategies and actions the department will undertake to meet its goals, and it defines the measures and targets the department will use to determine success of the plan. Detailed are the six goals, along with their objectives,…

This paper describes an initiative developed at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, that involved radically changing the program's performance-based standards and expanding the structure of the student teaching experiences to include multiple avenues of training and assessing teacher development. The paper: (1) identifies characteristics in each…

Vocational education teachers in the areas of trade and industry, health occupations, and vocational business education can be hired without a bachelor's degree in Florida, provided they have at least 6 years of experience in their occupational field. However, these teachers must become certified by taking a prescribed number of courses within 2…

Sweden's 136 folk high schools are open to anyone over 18 years of age. Established in Denmark in 1844, folk high schools were introduced to Sweden in 1968. Folk high schools can be attributed to the educational ideas of Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872), who wanted to see education where people learned from their experiences as well…

This annual report describes the actions of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education and the activities of the Missouri higher education community. The "Blueprint" of the Coordinating Board has guided statewide planning for Missouri higher education. This report takes a final look at the Blueprint as Missouri moves into its…

This report describes four demonstration projects, funded from July 1989 to December 1990 in Oregon, on early identification and prevention of mental and emotional disorders in children. The intention of the projects was to find ways to identify children at risk of suffering emotional disorders and to intervene early enough to prevent these…