This commentary reacts to an article that presented an agenda for educational change to encourage early childhood inclusion. It discusses the need for a bottom-up approach, as well as a top-down approach, to ensure accountability in educational reform. The need for increased accountability in the research community is also stressed. (Contains…

Although the ultimate goal of teacher education is to provide an adequate supply of highly qualified teachers for the nation's schools, many factors hinder its success. In special education, too few people enter the field, and a policy context that promotes easy entry via unconventional preparation threatens to dilute teacher quality. In this…

This practicum addresses the creation of an economically viable school in the private sector to meet the educational and social needs of cognitively developmentally accelerated preschool-age children. Anticipated outcomes of the practicum included development of a well-documented philosophical approach to preschool gifted education, curriculum…

This paper explores, from the perspective of a local practitioner, phases and effects of implementing a national education demonstration project at the local level. The pivotal role of the locality, its history and its economic realities, is emphasized. Drawing from her experience in planning and implementing a demonstration effort in a…

The seminar objectives were to (1) become further acquainted with the report of the President's Panel of Consultants on Vocational Education, (2) become familiar ith promising developments and innovations in agricultural education, (3) crystallize thinking concerning new directions and orientations for vocational agriculture, (4) examine…

The report presents 13 studies, undertaken by Texas institutions of higher learning, responding to educational needs for improved delivery systems of higher education services to adults, and adult continuing education programs. The individual studies are: The Urban University and the Learning Society (J. E. Champagne, R. Hopper, B. Leaman); The…

In reviewing innovative industrial arts curriculums and suitable methods for their adoption, this report presents the major objectives of 20 innovative programs in four categories: (1) integrative programs, (2) interpretation of industry programs, (3) occupational family programs, and (4) technology-oriented programs. Materials were gathered by…

This book is designed to provide not so much a blueprint of specification as a framework that will enable communities to identify the kind of educational system that they believe is most relevant to their needs. The development of new communities, such as Fort Lincoln, Washington, D.C., provides an opportunity for a major new approach to the…

The Richmond preschool is an innovative partnership between regular and special education. High school students taking a child care course act as aides to the preschool special education teacher and learn to apply and observe classroom-based theory and knowledge of child growth and development in a meaningful and concrete manner. (JHZ)

Institution-building is central to a country's self-sustaining growth because institutions provide an organizational infrastructure that can introduce improvements and innovations, sustain their momentum, and evaluate their results. Increasingly educational projects in developing nations have institution-building as an explicit objective. Key…

The values of individuals and organizations influence the allocation of time and resources. Institutionalization of experiental learning programs requires students, faculty, and field experience supervisors to appreciate the values of the others and to understand how to resolve value conflicts. (MLW)

For many years, teacher education has been the subject of persistent concerns, many of which were reflected in a 1997 evaluation of the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). The evaluation noted the lack of a common view of the purpose of STEP, resulting in "contradictory practices and mixed messages"; fragmented coursework; faculty…

Off-campus education is an experiential method of learning that integrates a student's classroom studies with on-the-job experiences obtained at an employing organization. Off-campus education programs are based on a partnership among the school, the parents, the student, and the employing organization, with each of the partners sharing the…

Practicality is the "Achilles heel" of alternative assessment in middle school science. This 5-year study of an "early adopter" school explores factors that enable alternate assessment to thrive in spite of practical problems. Interviews with five seventh-grade life science teachers and five eighth-grade physical science teachers who initiated and…

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…