Teachers and community in a small rural Maori-medium school in New Zealand were concerned that their students who were highly literate in Maori experienced difficulties in reading and writing in English on entry to secondary school (where English was the medium of instruction). Consequently, this school and community introduced a 10-week…

Transitions between activities can be difficult for both young children and their teachers. Multiple strategies may be used to decrease the likelihood that children engage in challenging behavior during transitions. This paper will describe strategies teachers may use to decrease or prevent problem behavior during transitions. Particular attention…

This case study describes a career education program that has engaged rural secondary school students with the experience of university. The residential experience program included learning exercises for career exploration, attending university, and social experiences related to living in a city. Evaluation indicated that rural schools and…

This Subcommittee was tasked with developing a series of policy strategies and recommendations to shape Alberta's Advanced Education system to better support the vision and policy directions identified through A Learning Alberta. This involved examining existing funding programs and policies to ensure that they support the vision. The Subcommittee…

Recent advances in science have underscored how critical children's first five years of life are to their later success in school and life. It has also been recently recognized that early childhood interventions, particularly those that combine child-focused educational activities with parent-child relationship building, can positively influence…

This article presents questions related to legal issues of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 and the changes it has made with regard to local education agency (LEA) and the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. The author's answers to these questions are presented. In answering the general question--to what…

Students making the transition into middle or high school face challenges that may derail their school careers. Schools can do a better job of preparing students for the challenges ahead. In this article, the authors review the developmental needs and challenges of young adolescents and the concerns that they and their parents have about moving…

Assessment data from both an FYE-infused general education course (N = 153) and a first-year seminar (N = 392) were analyzed to identify students' perceptions about projects that required significant participation in out-of-class activities as an integral part of the course. The results from this analysis revealed that in addition to increasing…

This paper reports on an ongoing 3-year project which has worked with three school sites to identify program and staff needs and then develop a tailored intervention to improve program services for adolescent students with severe emotional disturbances (SED). Necessary characteristics of effective transition programs for this population are…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Illinois state project on services for children with deaf-blindness, a 3-year federally supported project to address the needs of children (ages birth to 21) who are deaf-blind. Project activities included inservice training and technical assistance, development of a comprehensive…

This paper was developed to help counselors of students with learning disabilities plan for college, by answering common student questions and providing sources of additional information. Sections of the paper discuss: (1) developing self knowledge (using compensatory learning strategies, knowing one's own strengths and weaknesses, and practicing…

Although the school-to-work and youth development fields come from very different beginnings, they share the goal of preparing all young people, including "high-risk youth," for adulthood by learning in context, actively participating in their own learning, and being challenged and supported to excel. Despite their shared visions for…

This research report describes a follow-up study of children from a large urban school district that had widely implemented a pre-kindergarten program. The study examined the critical transition between primary and upper elementary grades for enduring effects of early educational experiences. A sample of 141 children enrolled in 68 urban schools…

This supplementary secondary school program reports on the fourth year of a program focused on instructional intervention, parental involvement, and staff development in a school district with a 46% at-risk student population; more than 630 students were preliterate or limited education Hispanics. In this fourth year, the program continued to…

Using an action research model, this study concentrated on easing the transition into school by providing an induction program for preschool children which promotes the emotional needs of the child within the family. The research followed an ecological perspective, considering individual needs within the frameworks of school, home, and community…