The 4th and 7th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores for the past several years have indicated that the percentage of students meeting the new higher standards is not satisfactory, although improvement is being shown every year. There are indications, however, that while some elementary and middle/junior high schools are…

The focus of the Forum's eleventh Study Group report is assessing what it will take for the state to respond to the court's findings in the decade-old Leandro lawsuit, a suit that challenged, among other things, the constitutionality of the state's current system of financing schools. The essence of the court's ruling is that: The state, as judged…

The internship program for undergraduate-level community health students at Slippery Rock University in Butler, Pennsylvania, is designed as a capstone experience bridging the gap from academia to practice. Students in the internship program spend 12 weeks during the summer of their senior year working in any health organization of their choice,…

As greater accountability in higher education grows, authentic learning has found a prominent place in the education agenda. Technology continues to open up possibilities for innovative and effective learning opportunities, and students and teachers are no longer happy to accept familiar classroom-based pedagogies that rely on content delivery and…

In this issue various concepts of economic change are examined. Part I looks at economic change as a context for focusing on workforce issues. Parts II and III discuss what is being done to address this contemporary problem. This issue contains the following papers: "Presidential Perspectives on Economic Change and Restructuring: An…

This book contains the following papers examining the challenges of integrating high school vocational and academic curricula to provide education through occupations: "Components of a Complex Reform" (W. Norton Grubb); "Integrating Vocational and Academic Education: Lessons from Early Innovators" (Kimberly Ramsey et al.);…

A collection of program descriptions and case studies in college faculty peer collaboration and peer review includes: "Setting a Scholarly Tone: Teaching Circles in the History Department at Kent State University"; "Fostering Collective Responsibility for Student Learning: Teaching Seminars in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte…

Under the Idaho state system for curriculum development in vocational education, Technical Committees made up solely of industry personnel are responsible for drawing up task lists for each program. This curriculum guide contains a series of 27 modules that comprise the Idaho Program Standards for Business Systems Specialist. It begins with a…

The state of vocational education and training (VET) in Australia in 1997 was evaluated by collecting data on the following key performance measures: participation and achievement in VET; employer views on VET; student outcomes from VET; VET's benefits for particular client groups (females, people from rural and remote areas, indigenous…

The 1976 Educational Testing Service (ETS) Invitational Conference served as a platform for individuals who have been prominent in educational measurement and research to present their views on issues surrounding the testing controversy. The 1976 ETS "The Testing Scene: Chaos and Controversy," presents a historical review of events surrounding the…

Foremost among efforts over the last decade to improve the work-related skills required of all young people to meet the demands of American's workplaces was the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills Commission (SCANS). Integral to SCANS were its three-part foundation (basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities) and these…

The key features of student achievement were examined at twelve sixth form colleges (SFCs) in the United Kingdom with an emphasis on strategies to maintain and improve performance. It was found that students at SFCs have on average higher prior attainment and suffer less deprivation than their counterparts in General Further Education and Tertiary…

The performance of Alaska's State Training and Employment Program (STEP) in fiscal 2000 was evaluated by matching the records of participants of the following STEP subprograms with Alaska and Washington state unemployment insurance (UI) wage records and federal military and federal civilian payroll records. Data were collected for participants of…

This document is a step-by-step guide to organizing a study circle program to serve as a vehicle to achieve communitywide dialogue for action and change. Part 1 provides an overview of communitywide study circle programs, with special emphasis on their operation and impact. Part 2 details the following steps in organizing a communitywide study…

The question of whether the Job Corps's impacts on students' employment and related outcomes differ according to the characteristics of the Job Corps center attended was examined. The study sample consisted of approximately 9,400 program group members and 6,000 control group members who were randomly selected from among the nearly 81,000…