Dance education offers the opportunity for students to learn effective communication skills, gain self-confidence, and increase awareness of different cultures. At the heart of any quality arts education program is a sound curriculum that provides all students with sequential instruction and helps them achieve arts literacy. An introductory dance…

The Americans with Disabilities Act demands a proactive approach in developing effective and integrated adventure education programs for the disabled. Programs cannot exclude qualified disabled individuals; modified participation is a choice, not a requirement; and staff must work toward removing physical barriers and providing reasonable…

Addresses teacher needs during peer coaching trials, reviews peer coaching program features, and proposes a model to guide future planning, evaluation and research. The coaching program's critical components include classroom assessments, coaching team cluster meetings, and administrative support. Interrelations among components are discussed. (SM)

Presents a rating scale for evaluating programs that are working to include students with high-incidence disabilities. The scale evaluates 12 general components with 47 items. Its use in over 50 schools in Florida to aid in program development, program monitoring, program evaluation, staff development, and parent education is described. (DB)

Describes development of the "M-Quality" program at the University of Michigan: a continuous quality-improvement approach tailored to the school's plant operations. Discusses the program's planning stages and the problems encountered and lessons learned from the process. (GR)

Tells about the creation of the High School Geography Project. Beginning with a statement of problems faced by geography instructors, the story continues by examining the creation of project objectives, development of an overarching structure for lessons, and discussion of the project's success. Suggestions for contemporary curriculum design are…

Describes an experimental program in educational administration offered at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, focusing on program implementation and evaluation. Provides a set of changes in a small leadership-training program. The program and its changes serve as models for adjustment in small leadership-preparation programs, particularly…

Summarizes findings from a quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study examining the twelve-year evolution of a district-wide Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) program. Chronicles changes during the period, identifying factors that influenced particular developments and relating them to aspects of DBAE theory. Concludes that program…

Addresses issues in special education of incarcerated youth with disabilities including: (1) prevalence rates of disabilities among juvenile-delinquent populations; (2) problems in providing special-education services to incarcerated youth; (3) developments in case law concerning delivery of special education to this population; and (4)…

Illustrates the benefits of an aggressive library program of regularly scheduled and professionally curated art exhibitions and related events. Describes the Visual Arts Program at the Pacific Beach branch library (San Diego). A sidebar by Debra Wilcox Johnson discusses libraries' development of cultural programming for adults. (AEF)

Interviewed 420 street youths in a midwestern city to analyze their sexual behaviors. Ninety-one percent were sexually active, and nearly half were engaged in sex for survival. Discusses the need to coordinate comprehensive social services to prevent an increase in the number of street youth. (SLD)

Discusses the components of strategic planning in developing a fund-raising campaign for a college or university. Emphasizes the importance of setting priorities, and defines the characteristics of good priorities, such as boldness, being grounded in the institution's mission, and culminating in visible results. Includes a case study of the…

With help from National Association of Scholars, 11 colleges have begun programs using the Great Books curriculum, designed to expose students to the best of Western civilization. The programs vary in the degree to which they adhere to Western works; some faculty are including non-Western civilization. Securing campus approval for the programs has…

Presents issues concerning return on investment (ROI) and its use in education and training. Discussion includes building a feasible ROI process; criteria for an effective ROI process; a practical model for ROI, which includes preliminary evaluation, data collection, isolating program effects, converting data to monetary values, tabulating program…

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, influential in middle-grades policy, advocates a three tiered approach envisioning high-performing schools as academically rigorous, developmentally responsive, and socially equitable. This report discusses pioneering programs, critics' concerns, exemplary Michigan programs, and urban schools'…