After an overview of distance education is presented, models and case summaries in formal and nonformal education are described. The evaluation of distance education is discussed in terms of effectiveness, cost, and management. Finally, new directions for evaluation and policy formation are outlined.

Discusses alterable elements of classroom organization, traditional approaches to instructional improvement, and "component building," an alternative approach to education. The component-building approach involves an extensive program of field experimental research on classroom practices that are or could become components of complete…

Research shows conclusively that principals and other school leaders are essential to school improvement, and that these individuals benefit from the intensive, contextualized support that a coach or mentor can provide. But how does a coach support a school leader in mastering the professional and emotional challenges of school leadership for a…

Item parameter estimates vary for a variety of reasons, including estimation error, characteristics of the examinee samples, and context effects (e.g., item location effects, section location effects, etc.). Although we expect variation based on theory, there is reason to believe that observed variation in item parameter estimates exceeds what…

In the late 1990s the Texas Education Agency advocated the transformation of all counseling services into developmental guidance programs. This document describes the process undertaken and the lessons learned when evaluating a small, rural school district in north Texas in order to begin this model transformation. The purpose of the study was to…

The integration of technology into adult literacy promises both exciting and problematic times, especially with regard to curriculum evaluation. Different evaluation approaches have various strengths and weaknesses. A particular strength of the adversarial approach is a well-rounded evaluation with both positives and negatives identified; its main…

This paper describes the theories and social factors that contributed to the development of competency-based training (CBT). These include behaviorism (Edward L. Thorndike), scientific management (Frederick Taylor), progressive education (John Dewey), and derivative theories including operant conditioning (B.F. Skinner), objectives-based…

Teacher efficacy has been identified as a variable that can influence teacher effectiveness. The results of methods designed to change teacher efficacy, however, have been mixed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible impact on teacher efficacy of the FOCUS (1992) instructional method, which is designed to create an environment in…

This final report discusses the activities of Project PAACS (Postsecondary Accommodations for Academic and Career Success), a project located on the campus of Mississippi State University and designed to work with the T. K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability to research the assistive technology needs of students with disabilities.…

No amount of wishing can eliminate the pervasiveness of social-class dynamics in the lives of teachers and students. Educators and students need clarity and insight regarding the presence, interplay, and power of social class in their encounters with one another. This paper addresses these social class dynamics within educational institutions,…

This volume consists of four issues. Issue 1 looks at some recent research on practice and is composed of these articles: "Reflection on Literacy," a summary of the World Conference on Literacy; "How Effective Is Adult Literacy Education?" that reports outcomes of Ontario Literacy Coalition studies; "UK Trends: Assessing…

The Learning Record is a framework teachers can use to translate their observations of students into a disciplined, systematic, standards-based reporting process. This guide offers all the information necessary to use the Learning Record in the upper grades. The chapters are: (1) "Documenting Prior Experience"; (2) "Documenting Student Learning";…

This study provides some evidence of significant differences between the Redundancy and Bottom-to-Top Models in sequencing four-semester elementary and intermediate Spanish courses using the ACT Spanish Test Form 1 as the dependent variable. T-test results of independent samples (unequal variances model) were 0.056. Results also indicated that…

The implementation of basic research on children's scientific thinking into science curricula continues to be a slow process. This chapter summarizes research on cognitive development that has helped to establish the goals for much of early science education and examines its implications. The chapter begins by describing scientific thinking and…

Based on research conducted in 1996 and 1999, this paper discusses theoretical issues and provides an overview of the purposes for which school libraries are creating and maintaining home pages or World Wide Web sites. In 1996, a content analysis was performed of Web sites of 50 school libraries in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden,…