The major negative factor to the full integration of televised instruction into the educational system has always been cost, either because of the initial investment or the time required to develop courseware. Resistance to change has always been and continues to be the greatest barrier to the use of all technologies in education. Countless…

The Regular Class Participation System (RCPS) project attempted to develop, implement, and validate a system for placing and maintaining students with severe disabilities in general education classrooms, with a particular emphasis on achieving both social and learning outcomes for students. A teacher-based planning strategy was developed and…

This report presents information for school years 1988-89 and 1989-90 on progress under and compliance with the Texas Master Plan for Vocational and Technical Education. It also reports on quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the state's vocational programs. Section I provides information on elementary and secondary education. It sets forth…

Authentic performance assessments--when used simultaneously with matching curricular practices--are a promising development for practitioners and students alike. A major benefit for practitioners appears to be the opportunity to redefine the curriculum and guide instruction. Benefits for students include the opportunity to engage in authentic work…

Decision-making and change models can take many forms. One researcher (Nordvall, 1982) has suggested five conceptual models for introducing change: a political model; a rational decision-making model; a social interaction decision model; the problem-solving method; and an adaptive/linkage model which is an amalgam of each of the other models.…

This report offers a comprehensive global view of future directions for teacher education. The first section discusses factors indicating the need for change. Education is seen as an agent of social change with various national approaches having common concerns and facing similar key issues to be resolved. In the second section, changes and…

This paper examines the Competency Based Teacher Education (CBTE) program at the University of Toledo, Ohio. A description is given of the development of the program and its implementation in 1971. The reasons for changes in the CBTE program are discussed and teacher surplus, enrollment changes, and the fact that the program was expensive are…

North Carolina's Basic Education Program was adopted in 1985 and will be completely implemented by 1993. The North Carolina General Assembly has furnished much of the necessary funds. The program provides higher standards, smaller classes, the chance to become fluent in a foreign language, more instructional materials, counseling, dropout…

The community college concept was heatedly debated in Wisconsin from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. A number of study groups and governmental bodies endorsed the creation of community colleges. Although most states embraced the concept of the community college, however, Wisconsin's debate over whether to establish a statewide community college…

The University of California, its campuses, and their individual schools and departments of education have substantial responsibilities for providing research, training, service, and leadership in the field of education. The responsibilities of the units differ. As yet, however, none is fully meeting its obligations to improve education. Part I of…

Since 1975 the Contoocook Valley District, a small rural cooperative school district in southwestern New Hampshire, has developed a performance-based student competency program which has resulted in a dramatic increase in scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. The district is comprised of 9 towns, covers an area of almost 300 square miles, and…

Improving the quality of learning is basic to raising academic standards. Research on postsecondary learning improvement has provided a base of practical knowledge to guide faculty and planners. Successful learning improvement programs share two essential characteristics: they are more comprehensive in the range of students' needs met, and they…

This guide to effective staff development planning draws extensively on the literature to discuss the concepts crucial at each stage of the planning process. An introductory section reviews the characteristics of adult learners (including what they want to learn and how they prefer to learn it), touching on adult development, learning and…

Data are presented from an evaluation of state and federal adult basic education (ABE) programs in Texas. An introduction describes the methodology by which data were collected. The next three sections contain survey data from and about students, teachers, and administrators. Other sections examine the program planning process, management and…

The purpose of this planning guide is to assist state, local, and university personnel involved in the design, development, and evaluation of staff development or other areas of school improvement. It represents a compilation of the learnings from the National Inservice Network's project work in Colorado, Indiana, and Maine from 1978-1981. Each…