A structural and philosophical reform of Peruvian education was instituted in March 1972, using as its basis a local community education nucleus model. This article presents the reform experience, relates it to its historical antecedents, gives some information on evaluation studies in progress, and traces some projections for educational…

Describes the use of portfolios, which include student test scores, GPAs, samples of class work, and student surveys, as tools for assessing student ability and success at the Colorado School of Mines. Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of portfolio assessment as well as instructional and institutional changes brought about by the evaluation…

Problem-based learning is designed to maximize active student participation in the learning process, foster student problem-solving and self-education skills, enhance student self-assessment, increase student communication skills, and improve student abilities to access and use information resources. A Texas high school's innovative problem-based…

Describes the evolution of the University of Illinois' collaborative Project on High Performance Learning Communities, established in 1989 in response to policymakers' and practitioners' need for a more fully developed, practical knowledge base on educational reform. The university/research partners' role is to synthesize the most current,…

Profiles four successful charter schools. San Diego's O'Farrell Community School provides an enrichment curriculum for inner-city middle schoolers. The Minnesota New Country School, established by three teachers, stresses individual and group projects. Saint Paul's City Academy engages 60 racially diverse youngsters with real-life construction…

Michigan allows four different entities to authorize charter schools: state public universities, community colleges, intermediate school districts, and local school districts. To ensure establishment of high-quality standards, Central Michigan University developed a rigorous two-phase chartering process. Charters avoid "best" approaches…

Australia's National Schools Project tried to facilitate restructuring by abolishing, bending, or breaking the rules that prevented schools from improving student outcomes. Since 1992, the 50-school project has expanded to over 200 sites. An evaluation of three NSP schools identifies barriers (cultural resistance and structural complexity) and…

Discusses the importance of Head Start programs understanding the changing profile of today's family and meeting the subsequent demands for more services. Points out that Head Start agencies around the country have already formed partnerships to deal with diverse issues such as child abuse, incarcerated parents, and preventive mental health.…

Describes the Horizons-on-the-Hudson Magnet School for the Gifted and Talented, an inner-city school of the Newburgh Enlarged School District (New York). The programs of the K-6 school have drawn a diverse student population to take advantage of the options designed to expand a child's horizons. (SLD)

During 1992-93, the school of social work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was confronted with proposals for elimination, merger, and consolidation. This case study examines the proposals and rationales behind the school's strategies to counter them. Implications for social work programs in similar circumstances are discussed.…

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the International Technology Education Association's Technology for All Americans Project is developing content standards. TfAAP's goal is to promote excellence in technology education by defining technology's domain, advocating technology study, and creating standards. The program's development,…

Describes Elderhostel, a non-profit educational organization that offers inexpensive, short-term academic programs hosted by educational institutions around the world. Provides findings from two investigations of the Elderhostel programs, in 1990 and 1997. Focuses on the program's musical component. (CMK)

Under an Israeli Communities of Thinking model, teaching and learning are organized into three stages: the fertile question, research, and performance. A questioning pedagogy recreates the fertile question, undermines students' assumptions, celebrates questions, imparts knowledge questioningly, coaches research questions, and enables open…

Describes campus-based strategies to facilitate collaboration by examining the process of restructuring a division of student affairs as an educational partner with academic affairs. Describes three collaborative efforts at the University of Massachusetts Boston: the Beacon Leadership Project, the Diversity Research Initiative, and the Beacon…

Presents the theoretical background of educational improvement and changes for implementing school-university partnerships in the framework of Oranim, Israel's largest teacher training college. Offers three models of co-operation between the teacher education program at Oranim and the educational field giving a description of the unique…