"R&D Alert" covers issues affecting schools in the Western Regional Educational Laboratory's four-state region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah--and throughout the United States. WestEd researchers and assistance providers have been focused on secondary education for many years. This issue of "R&D Alert" goes beyond describing the problem…

The Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) is a project within NSF's (National Science Foundation's) Math Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Funded at $23 million over five years, the AMSP involved 51 school districts and nine higher education institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The AMSP faced two significant challenges in…

This report provides the reader with a summary of the rationale, design strategies, and major accomplishments of the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI). Drawing upon both the data collected directly in Appalachia by Inverness Research Associates, as well as knowledge gained by working with many other rural initiatives, this summary…

In March 1983, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) received $4 million in Federal funds to establish an emergency jobs program as authorized under the Emergency Jobs Act of 1983. Within 90 days, TVA found employment for 493 persons, and, by the end of June 1984, 1,183 persons had been employed by TVA. Of those employed, 14.9 percent were…

Schools that become part of the "Making Middle Grades Work" network are expected to use the middle grades comprehensive improvement framework to show progress in changing school and classroom practices in ways that advance student achievement. True school reform is not a quick process. It is a continuous effort to make purposeful and planned…

This site visit report reviews activities of Monadnock Developmental Services, Inc., a program serving people with developmental disabilities in one New Hampshire region. The report focuses on the development of employment services in the state and region, including system change strategies, practices being used to support people in jobs, and…

Project REACH (Regional Education to Achieve with Company) was a regional workplace literacy (WL) program designed to increase the levels of literacy, job performance/satisfaction/retention, productivity, and self-esteem of the work force of six businesses in the Saint Louis area and to foster the development of business-education partnerships for…

A third-party evaluation was conducted of the International Masonry Institute's Regional Training System. Data were collected from the following sources: the enrollment database; surveys of 244 participants (68 prejob apprentices, 8 early leavers, 48 completers, 35 journeyworkers, 23 business agents, 23 craft instructors, 20 cross-craft, and 19…

A group of partners headed by the Home Builders Institute (HBI) created the Mid-Atlantic Regional Training (MART) Center for Residential Construction, with a primary focus on providing education and training services related to the masonry and carpentry trades at existing institutions in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West…

A study examined the usefulness of one major strategy for helping teachers, administrators, and resource staff use research on bilingual instruction. The strategy studied was the Multi-District Trainer of Trainers Institute (MTTI) as implemented in California. The study's objectives were to: describe the MTTI design, content, delivery, and…

Data were gathered relevant to two components, professional staff and students, to identify and assess effective and/or ineffective practices and procedures in the second phase of a Regional Career Education Program conducted in eight Eastern Kentucky counties. The data base, collected in the 1974 study (Phase 1), was used to provide comparisons…

Regional training activities of campus-based women's centers, and needs assessment and evaluation studies of the National Women's Centers Training Project are discussed. The women's centers project at Everywoman's Center, University of Massachusetts, was designed to provide staff training in the following areas: power and leadership issues in…

Four major component areas of the Hazard (Kentucky) Educational Region were sampled using questionnaires, tests, and interviews in an effort to assess the effects of a regional career education program. The community component, randomly selected to achieve a five percent representative sample, was examined for major variables associated with the…

The methods and activities used by the Pittsburgh Area Center for Teachers (PACT) to involve teachers in continuing professional development activities are described in this paper. PACT's operating principle is that inservice programs must be planned with and conducted by teachers. Inservice education activities include internships, topical…

The Southwest Alabama Cooperative Literacy Project was a workplace literacy program involving the University of South Alabama and seven manufacturing plants in the LeMoyne Industrial Complex in southwestern Alabama. The project's primary objective was to increase job productivity by teaching both conventional and functional literacy skills in…