This newsletter issue focuses on the issue of recommended instructional and curriculum changes that are part of the current reforms in science education. The issue is composed of four articles. The first article, "Science Education: Schools Pushed To Broaden Access, Overhaul Practice," discusses the call for a science curriculum that…

The Infant Monitoring Project was initiated in Polk County, Oregon, to address the need for monitoring the development of infants and young children designated as "at risk." The project involved a cooperative effort between the Polk County Health Department and the Teaching Research Division of the Oregon State System of Higher…

This Vocational Education Resource Package (VERP) provides information needed to adopt and implement IN-D'MAND, an exemplary internship program for disabled, minority, and disadvantaged community college students developed at De Anza College (Cupertino, California). In partnership with local enterprises, IN-D'MAND arranges career internships for…

A survey questionnaire returned by 161 institutions of higher education (an 80.5% return) addressed six areas of concern: (1) the institution's involvement in student learning outcomes assessment; (2) pre-assessment of students; (3) types of post-assessment; (4) efforts to relate pre-assessment and post-assessment; (5) attempts to do non-academic…

Suggestions, based on the experience of researchers at Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Associated Universities (ORAU), are offered on how evaluations in which true experimental designs are not possible can be designed for meaningful comparison. The ORAU conducts evaluation and assessment studies of educational programs intended to explore some aspect of the…

During the last decade, the study of American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language has become enormously popular. More and more schools and universities recognize the important role that ASL can play in foreign language education. This monograph provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and structure of ASL, to the Deaf community…

Five speech-making activities for junior high school students are presented in this unit from the Greenfield Express Management System (GEMS) program, a California Demonstration Program in Reading. A project overview form from the California Centers for Educational Improvement (CCEI) describes the GEMS program and lists other units included in the…

The project that yielded this report developed a framework for the University of Alberta's library to guide the activities of the self-study portion of the university's Presidential Advisory Committee on Campus Review (PACCR). The framework demonstrates how the review process can be adapted to meet the particular needs of the library while…

The Management Assessment Center (MAC) of the Dade County (Florida) Public Schools is a unique project, employing multiple techniques to evaluate behavior for school-level administrator personnel selection. This final report of an evaluation deals primarily with issues of the validity and the utility of the MAC. To ascertain validity of the MAC,…

Relevant policy issues for early childhood special education (ECSE) programs to consider in the areas of exit decision making and follow-up procedures are identified in this report. These issues were generated through extensive naturalistic case studies of four ECSE programs located in urban, suburban, and rural communities and were selected to…

The Cayuga-Onondaga Assessment for Children with Handicaps (COACH) is an assessment and planning tool designed to assist in the development of relevant educational programs delivered in integrated settings. The tool provides methods to determine a student's top learning priorities from a family-focused perspective, translate priorities into goals,…

Forty-one readings are presented on the social ecology variables and interventions that characterize the life of persons with disabilities. The readings are grouped into six categories dealing respectively with background, assessment of student-centered variables, interventions relating to student-centered variables, program-centered variables,…

The implementation of research design in studies on substance abuse education is discussed in this meta-analysis. Findings indicate that the quality of research design is constrained by negative feedback from evaluation stakeholders. This finding is applied to an evaluation of the Here's Looking at You, 2000 drug education program currently…

The book deals with the concept of quality of life for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Part I, "Quality of Life: Personal Perspectives," contains "A Dream for Myself" (Connie Martinez); "Reflections on My Quality of Life: Then and Now" (Nancy Ward); "Quality of Life versus Quality…

This issue of a quarterly newsletter focuses on alternative assessment methods in adult basic education. It is occasioned, as explained in the opening editorial, by the announcement of the requirement for use of the 1987 edition of the Tests of Adult Basic Education for pre- and posttesting of basic education students in New York City, beginning…