In 1996, Kansas launched the nation's most sweeping attempt to radically transform the child welfare system by implementing a privatized form of managed care. Four years later, the child welfare system shows signs of instability and seems very much in transition. This report examines the current status of the child welfare system in Kansas and…

In response to increasing demands for military child care and lack of comprehensive care standards, the Military Child Care Act of 1989 (MCCA) mandated improvements in military child care. Today, the Department of Defense runs a model child care system serving over 200,000 children daily at over 300 locations worldwide. Noting that most of the…

"Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education" is a research program designed to allow researchers to examine the roles of music education in the lives of school-aged children to expand the understanding of music's role in a quality education. The NAMM Foundation, the sponsoring organization, has provided more than $1,000,000 to fund research…

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) seeks to foster a community that produces sustainable solutions in all facets of campus life: (1) teaching; (2) research; (3) service; and (4) administrative operations. The university strives to model the three tenets of sustainability (environmental preservation, economic prosperity, and social equity for…

Two recent studies by Biancarosa et al. and by Saunders et al. have finally demonstrated that "job-embedded, sustained professional development" can significantly improve student achievement. But there's a catch. In both studies, effective professional development (PD) strategies were successful only under certain circumstances or only in some…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the integration of strategic management and quality assurance in higher education. The study presents how the value chain can be described in the strategy and quality maps, which are, respectively graphical representations of the strategic plan and the quality assurance system. The quality map is a new…

This ALTC project is a collaborative endeavour between the four public universities involved in teacher education in Western Australia (Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia), focussed on improving the quality of preparation of pre-service teachers for rural, regional and remote…

Learning communities continue to be at the heart of teaching and learning today. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of the impact of the Freshman Academy/Learning Community program on student progress at a historically Black university. The authors also looked at the extent to which students engaged in their learning as a result of…

This report documents and highlights the effects of the career guidance section of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act in the State of Ohio during the 1988-89 fiscal year. The report asserts that Ohio has more than met the intent of the federal law in terms of the student outcomes achieved, improved career guidance program delivery, cost…

Addressing the lack of cooperation between early intervention programs and the rural health community, this monograph presents eight papers by educators and health professionals who identify specific problems and offer solutions in the form of effective collaboration techniques and model programs. Papers by Susan Hastings and Stewart Gabel…

Typically, efforts by English, speech, and developmental reading departments to make students "complete communicators" have been confined to one or two basic skills courses giving unsuccessful "one-shot" inoculations in the theory and practice of one of the communication competencies. As such communication is not taught in the context of the…

This paper lists guidelines approved by the Illinois State Board of Education for improving alcohol and drug education in the schools. Statistics point out the seriousness of alcohol and drug abuse in terms of human costs to the victim, his/her family, and associates, and the economic costs of health care, accident losses, crime, social programs,…

This bulletin describes two exemplary mathematics programs in Oregon: the Math Lab at Mountain View Junior High School in Beaverton and the Academy Math Program at Jefferson High School in northeastern Portland. The Math Lab at Mountain View is a weekly supplemental unit that is integrated into general math and pre-algebra courses for seventh and…

The approximately 700 resumes contained in this report cover research projects, exemplary and innovative projects, and curriculum development projects administered by state departments of education through research coordinating units (RCUs) from July 1, 1979, to June 30, 1980 (fiscal year 1980). The projects are funded under Sections 131, 132, and…

Seven Wisconsin school districts formed a consortium to improve district level implementation of career education, K-12. Each district developed assessment and/or evaluation instruments to meet their specific needs, and circulated these instruments among all seven districts for review and feedback. After revision and field testing, these…