Contracting with the private sector is not new to public schools, but what is new is the scope of the services and programs offered by businesses and used by schools. This publication presents responses to a survey completed by 354 school districts belonging to the National School Boards Association (NSBA) about privatizing a wide array of school…

This paper summarizes the background, staffing, philosophy, participants, methods, and conclusions of the Case Studies on Facilitated Communication Project, which examined the use of facilitated communication (FC) with seven adult females, all with mental retardation and other disabilities. Information is provided on the development of the FC…

Resulting from a project undertaken by Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) to develop course and program competencies for the assessment of student academic achievement, this plan describes the assessment model developed by the college. Introductory sections describe the process used to develop the plan and provide responses to…

Since 1990, growing numbers of migrant students have prompted Cobden School District (Illinois) to develop a bilingual education program incorporating native-language instruction for students who speak Spanish, content courses in Spanish, and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes. The Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery is used to determine…

This handbook offers step-by-step guidelines for practitioners and community leaders who desire to upgrade the human services available to students and their families. Specifically, the book offers strategies for developing school and community collaboration to improve the benefits provided to students in a school district. The book describes the…

The aim of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) training is to provide RAAF personnel with the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for them to do their jobs effectively. This paper discusses the issues involved in implementing a training system using the Royal Australian Air Force Distance Learning System (RAAFDLS) as a case study. To…

This paper describes the development of a campus wide information system (CWIS) at Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD) in Colorado. The paper discusses the background of the college, its computing environment, interactive voice response system, and information technology plan. The CWIS was first implemented on gopher. Gopher was…

The development of training and certification of part-time adult and further education (FE) teachers in England was traced from the middle of the 19th century to the present through a retrospective study that focused primarily on the evolution of the City and Guilds of London Institute's (CGLI) part-time teacher training program that was initiated…

These planning guides are intended to help vocational rehabilitation programs and agencies identify important issues during preliminary discussions concerning possible use of assistive technology and technology-related services. They are designed to evaluate the effectiveness of current technology-related services, to implement or expand assistive…

This digest describes the creation and operation of after school programs for poor urban students. Schools often sponsor such programs and find the advantages to be the credibility lent by the school, continuity of care, and easy access to resources. Some of the disadvantages to school sponsorship are higher personnel costs, the possibility of…

"PBS Mathline Middle School Math Project" is a national program offered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to local affiliates to increase middle school teachers' understanding of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, encourage discourse among teachers, and develop classroom applications based on video models of…

Marketing has become a popular strategic initiative among state extension services to meet the growing demand for program accountability. The Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (LCES) began a formative evaluation of its marketing efforts as a step toward a comprehensive marketing plan. All extension faculty were surveyed to determine their…

A meta-analysis of 35 interventions to reduce diagnostic testing revealed that testing was reduced overall by 17.6%. Stronger effects were found for immediate reductions (31.7%) compared to reduction at follow-up times (18.7%) and stronger effects were found for interventions targeted at specific tests (23.2%) compared to interventions designed to…

This paper recounts the Macomb-Oakland (Michigan) Regional Center's 17-year successful experience in eliminating institutional care for children with developmental disabilities (many of them with severe disabilities) and providing all such children with specialized foster home placements. A paper by the Center's director, Gerald Provencal,…

This paper explores some of the many reasons to restructure, suggests the participants in restructuring, responds to Goodlad's (1990) postulates and essentials of restructuring and describes a model for restructuring between a teacher preparation program and P-12 schools. Reasons for restructuring can be classified into three categories: changes…