This report describes efforts by Alverno College (Wisconsin) to reform the traditional liberal arts curriculum and redefine the relevance of women's colleges. Beginning in the early 1970s, the college began to refocus student learning by integrating ability development and performance-based knowledge. Faculty and staff redefined the curriculum,…

Current school improvement tools are largely piecemeal and often lack credible supportive evidence. Knowledge Work Supervision (KWS) is built on the premise that schools must develop the capacity for sustaining districtwide improvements. Chapter 1, "The Past Before Us Is Not the Future," summarizes the key elements of the four phases of…

"Contested Ground: Performance Accountability in Adult Basic Education" (ABE) is one of the most important books on adult literacy policy at the turn of the century. In it, Juliet Merrifield examines the critical issues of policy, practice, and theory with which the field is currently consumed. She and her colleagues maintain that the concept of…

The Enterprise Florida Jobs and Education Partnership has taken actions to resolve issues raised in a previous report. The legislature has expanded the partnership's work force development (WFD) role; assigned it a role in implementing the state's welfare-to-work program; and established additional incentive funding for WFD program outcomes. The…

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) framework describes adult performance along these four dimensions: structure of the knowledge-base; fluency of performance; independence of performance; and range of conditions for performance. When completed it will include a developmental sequence of descriptions of learner performance for each EFF standard;…

This book presents a preschool framework that integrates literacy activities into content area lessons while embedding instruction within adult-child social interactions and realistic, playful activities tailored to each child's individual needs. Chapter 1 of the book delineates the theory and rationale behind the framework, and outlines essential…

This paper describes an initiative developed at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, that involved radically changing the program's performance-based standards and expanding the structure of the student teaching experiences to include multiple avenues of training and assessing teacher development. The paper: (1) identifies characteristics in each…

Three presentations are provided from Symposium 32, Core Directions in HRD (Human Resource Development), of the Academy of HRD 2000 Conference Proceedings. "Exploring the Convergence of Political and Managerial Cultures in the Dominican Republic: Implications for Management Development and Training" (Max U. Montesino) reports a survey of…

In 1998, the Board of Directors for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy directed staff to study teacher quality. The Institute examined three teacher preparation and development programs covering the early stages of teachers' careers: pre-service teacher preparation, beginning teacher assistance, and professional certification.…

This annual report on the performance of the three Arizona universities, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona, informs the general public, elected officials, business leaders, and consumers of higher education about the universities' progress and milestones. In preparing the report, the universities…

Data that were originally gathered during the 1978-1990, 1994, and 1996 Scottish School Leavers Surveys were subjected to a secondary analysis to identify the qualifications, characteristics, and choices of high-attaining female school leavers. The following were among the key findings of the analysis: (1) on average, young women from all social…

Student level factors influencing the employability of technical and further education (TAFE) graduates over time were examined. Student Outcomes Survey (SOS) data were collected from 4,673 South Australian 1998 TAFE graduates and 2,819 South Australian 1999 TAFE graduates. Some students were employed (part time or full time), whereas others were…

Australia's new information technology training package emphasizes assessment occurring in the workplace or in a simulated work environment. The options available to Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) institutes in delivering institutionalized training to meet this requirement were explored. The following four options were…

This book is designed to inform school administrators regarding school law. As a resource, it provides suggested, easy-to-understand guidelines for the avoidance of litigation. Subjects include preventive law and risk management; constitutional and statutory foundations of staff selection, contracting, and evaluation; negligent hiring, defamation,…

Again today, as 40 years ago, the idea of setting standards for career and technical education (CTE) has come to the fore. CTE practitioners have learned some lessons about implementing standards, among them that there is no "standard" standard; instead, there can be a confusing variety of standards. An analysis of standards reveals that there are…