Patterned after a model developed in Philadelphia in 1964 without Federal funds, the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) program emphasizes minority group leadership and seeks to attract the unemployed and underemployed who ordinarily would not have been attracted to public manpower programs. The program basic education, skill training,…

The author discusses several methods of improving teacher quality: rewarding faculty involved in student recruitment; teaching the design, delivery, and evaluation of instruction; encouraging participation in inservice programs; and recruiting the elderly to provide expertise in professional fields. The decline in the quantity and quality of…

As demand for after-school services has grown, the public has responded with support for growth in federal, state, and local funding for these services. As in other successful grassroots movements, this high level of support is evident across groups with diverse objectives. Some after-school advocates are mainly interested in increasing the supply…

This publication documents a participatory assessment project conducted from 1993 to 1995 with four afterschool programs in New York City. Key questions were whether the assessment project would develop the capacity of program staff to assess their own projects and whether the programs were successful in supporting the literacy development of the…

In 1990, social science programs in Quebec's colleges in Canada were revised to standardize core courses and objectives across individual courses. Subsequently, the province's Commission on the Evaluation of Collegiate Teaching undertook an evaluation of the revised program to determine its administration and effectiveness, as well as the…

This article provides results about a high school's support for its peer mediation program and the effectiveness of that program. The four subject groups surveyed included faculty, students in eight home room classes, trained student mediators, and students who had used the program to resolve an interpersonal conflict. Individuals directly…

In response to recent state legislation, school districts in New York developed plans for universal prekindergarten (UPK) programs for the 1998-1999 academic year. Based on an analysis of the first year prekindergarten program plans for 63 upstate New York districts (with follow-up information on 29 districts) and 32 New York City districts, this…

A formative committee conducted a developmental study to produce a program evaluation instrument (PEI) that would be effective in conducting an adult basic education (ABE) program evaluation study at Nicolet Area Technical College (NATC). Five procedures were used to complete this product. First, a literature review was conducted that assisted in…

Describes methods and conclusions of an in-depth evaluation of the UNESCO Associated Schools Project for International Understanding. The report includes suggestions for improving course content, teaching methods, and instructional materials. Improvements in program quality, international coordination, information dissemination, and expansion into…

Research on residency education in family practice is discussed. Programmatic variables are examined: geographic region, size, and type of program. Definitions of these variables are provided, the current distribution of family practice residency programs across each of these variables is described, and data for use by other researchers is…

Reports on Foxfire's Teacher Outreach Program, 1986-1991. Discusses numbers and characteristics of participating teachers and students. Reviews program components, describes assets, evaluates progress, and determines future directions. Concludes that Foxfire's careful work and "quiet" progress lead to new levels of development and…

Includes "A New Vocational Education Act" (Anderson-Yates, Washburn); "Program Evaluation and Improvement under Perkins 1990" (Stadt); "The U.S. Department of Education's Perspective of Postsecondary Technical Training Needs" (Brand); and "The Tech Prep/Associate Degree Program" (Parnell). (JOW)

Program improvement is the theme of eight articles in this issue. Articles discuss collaborative relationships, strengthening programs, outcomes-based education and tech prep, improving adult education, futures studies, program evaluation, and supervised agricultural experience. (JOW)

Examined whether preschool quality could be enhanced through competence development in teaching staff simultaneous to organizational changes and financial cutbacks. Tested a model for competence development with an intervention group that took part in a competence development program. Found that the development work led to a higher quality in…

In the 2004-05 school year, at a time of nationwide debate regarding the rigor of the high school diploma and the value of school-to-work programs, Chesapeake Public Schools (CPS) conducted an evaluation of the preparation of their students for the job market. The results of the evaluation did not substantiate widespread concern that the high…