This exploratory study clarifies the goals and functions of long day and short day preschools, as related to the requirements of the client groups being served, and analyzes their effects on children's socialization and elementary school achievement. It was hypothesized that low socioeconomic status children who had attended long day preschools…

Greene's finding that children's involvement was higher in the more pupil-controlled classrooms is in apparent conflict with CCEP's expectation that involvement is a measure independent of setting. A resolution is suggested in the study of a set of 20 all-day behavior stream observations of individual children in 3 Follow Through classrooms and…

This report is Part I of a study of program implementation in 12 models of Head Start Planned Variation. Chapters examine (1) how well models are implemented, using sponsor ratings of teachers as the data source; (2) the factors which may influence the extent to which models are implemented, such as sponsor input, staff reaction and input, and the…

Two State Urban Education Quality Incentive projects were implemented and coordinated within the administrative component in District 19, New York City Board of Education. One of the projects, STINT, provided 18 teacher trainers to give necessary support to 160 beginning and inexperienced teachers and to increase the academic achievement of their…

Classroom observation techniques and needs assessment strategies can be used to evaluate gifted program inservice and staff development for teachers. Inservice program length, quality, and type can be evaluated through use of pre and post inservice observation, comparison of inservice participants with nonparticipants, and assessment of changes in…

The study was designed to enhance teachers' understating of students' learning by using assessment tasks. Four third-grade teachers and the researcher collaboratively set up a school-based assessment team in the two-year Assessment Practices in Mathematics Classroom project that assisted teachers in implementing assessment as integral part of…

In 1994, the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers set forth a vision for Early Head Start programs in declaring that all child care settings used by Early Head Start families, whether or not the program provides the care directly, must meet the high standards of quality embodied in the Head Start…

Daily participant observations of social development over two years at Family House, a residential treatment program, were coded into a narrative and analyzed using a phenomenological perspective allowing "native categories" of significance to emerge and guide the analysis. The strengths and limitations of this novel research strategy…

Presents results from a study investigating the effects of professional training on teachers' use of observations to assess elementary students. Describes the training program and its focus on professional empowerment, strategy development for observation-based assessment, and learning the value of peer support. Reports that participants'…

The focus of this action research project report was to reduce female bullying in the school. There were 35 female participants from sixth and seventh grade, one counselor, and eight recess supervisors. This research project took place from September 4, 2007 through December 14, 2007. Some of the behaviors associated with this problem included:…

Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, first developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of…

After 2 years of a 5-year pilot project to develop approaches to strengthen basic competencies of students enrolled in vocational programs in Oklahoma, two of the projects were reviewed. The study sought to: (1) document the incidence and level of basic skills instruction, along with the teaching methods and materials used, in the vocational and…

This report summarizes findings from an ethnographic study of the Child and Family Resource Program (CFRP), a Head Start demonstration program providing child development and family support services to low-income families with young children. Designed to describe program operations from the perspective of staff and client families, the study was…

Using an ethnographic approach, three Parent Education Programs were studied to describe the social setting in which they took place and to document their impact upon parents. The programs were conceptualized as social service organizations designed to change the parental roles of participants. Each program was observed, interviews were conducted…

Sharp limitations on measuring the impact of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) can be largely overcome by developing an improved system and techniques for planning projects and their likely effects. The distinguishing characteristics of VISTA for measurement purposes are: a large number of volunteer program activities and sponsors, hence…