A project designed and implemented a framework of conceptually oriented reading instruction to foster students' amount and breadth of reading, intrinsic motivations for reading, and strategies of search and comprehension. The framework emphasizes five phases of reading instruction in a content domain: observing and personalizing, searching and…

This paper reviews five broad types of research that are designed to determine whether or how teacher education has made a difference to teachers. The five genres consist of: (1) a line of reasoning about where one might look for the effects of teacher education and how one might design a research study to see the impact of teacher education; (2)…

This report presents the results of two years (1988-1990) of the Success for All elementary school restructuring program in grades K-3 at the Francis Scott Key Elementary School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The program was designed to ensure basic skills education for the majority Asian population of the school. The program uses innovative…

For the third year, six Massachusetts communities incorporated computer assisted instruction (CAI) into their regular Title I programs, for students in grades 1 through 9. It was hoped that CAI would produce reading and mathematics gains over and above those which are characteristic of more conventional Title I instructional approaches. A pretest,…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether at-risk kindergartners and first graders engaged in a regular curriculum supplemented by the WORDPLAY program would attain greater receptive and expressive language skills than similar students engaged in the regular curriculum only. WORDPLAY is a program specifically designed to provide extensive…

The Houston Independent School District (Texas) began its alternative certification program (ACP) in the summer of 1985. The original proposal provided for a 1-year internship training program. Combining on-the-job training with supplemental, district-developed training modules, interns who are successful in the program would be recommended to the…

As part of an effort to describe the operation of private home day care (PHDC) programs in Ontario, and to compare current findings with those of a 1981 survey, four surveys of PHDC in Ontario were conducted. Objectives of the survey were to: (1) provide an overview of PHDC agencies' organizational structures, program objectives, and clients…

A study investigated the relationship between teacher training and teacher competence. The Classroom Performance Record and the Class Context/Planning Record, two instruments constructed for use with the Virginia Beginning Teacher Assistance Program, were used to study 12 competencies of 230 beginning secondary school teachers. Teachers were…

This report describes the results of a cost-effectiveness comparison of the alternative programs (education and non-education majors) available at Texas A&M University for students seeking certification as secondary education teachers. The two alternative programs leading to secondary teacher certification, the major costs associated with the…

This topical synthesis addresses the problematic issue of whether the techniques, processes, and procedures that generally result in effective, high-quality education will also achieve results with at-risk youth. After an extended introduction that raises this question, the key characteristics of effective schools are specified as leadership, a…

Reported in this executive summary are findings of a survey and comparison of the transition efforts of a responding sample of 108 Head Start programs (out of a stratified random sample of 144) and 15 additional Head Start programs that received special transition grants in 1986. Respondents included, for each program, the Head Start director, the…

Although much has been achieved during the last decade in the area of drug abuse, drug abuse still remains a major social, economic and political problem and continues to receive a significant amount of attention from policy-makers and researchers. Treatment facilities have vastly expanded their capabilities over the years, accepted treatment…

Following a discussion of the characteristics of an ideal reading program, this paper presents a comparative analysis of two reading programs--one a teacher-created tradebook program and one a commercially prepared basal reader program--and measures them against the ideal. The paper analyzes the programs in terms of the following characteristics:…

This monograph contains four reports of studies dealing with the impact of secondary home economics programs in five states on child development and parenting. (The states involved were Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Iowa.) Chapter 1 details the assessment of child development and parenting programs in the five states that used a…

Although research strongly supports the facilitative nature of empathy in all helping relationships, there is a need for the experimental assessment of the differential effects of procedures designed to maximize this skill. Resident assistants (N=154) participated in a study to compare programmed and didactic training methods and to determine the…