The purpose of this book is to provide a variety of practical, challenging ideas for teaching reading skills and motivating students to read for pleasure. Sections of the book provide information on the following topics: (1) the principal's role in reading instruction; (2) developing a teaching strategy--philosophy, goals, and objectives; (3)…

Written for the prospective student of a nontraditional educational institution as well as the prospective member institution, this handbook presents an overview of the concept of nontraditional education and the ways the National Association of Private, Nontraditional Schools and Colleges attempts to preserve the quality of that concept through…

Guidelines for the implementation of individualized education programs (IEPs) for handicapped children are provided. An introductory section details the mandates of Public Law 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and defines the components of the IEP and a list of 12 exceptionalities. Section 2 discusses assessment, including…

The booklet presents a compilation of informal checklists and inventories to help in assessing the developmental skills of visually handicapped students from birth through senior high school. Part 1, "Informal Assessment of School Age Visually Handicapped Students," covers the following areas: visual functioning; unique academic needs (such as…

To permit local districts to exercise their option to use standardized tests for state-mandated evaluations, a test rating form was developed. A key concern was the percentage of state approved reading and mathematics skills measured by a test, rather than the test's value for other uses. Other content concerns were readability and cultural and…

The Trouble-Shooting Checklist (TSC) is an empirically-developed, descriptive instrument which is based on the responses of six educational change agents. It enables an agent to predict a given institution's success in adopting innovations by ordering its levels of concerns and innovation usage. It focuses on two types of innovation:…

The first section of this manual contains a selective review of organizational change literature which focuses on predictive institutional variables as they affect the adoption-diffusion process. The second section describes the development of the Trouble Shooting Checklist (TSC). The third section presents two Trouble Shooting Checklists (TSC-A…

The report describes a project to implement a cluster curriculum in the graphic communications and metals clusters in an area vocational high school setting. A flexible curriculum allowed for the development of competencies common to all trade areas within the cluster. The material was organized into 10-week units of instruction to be completed at…

This booklet, designed for working parents, presents a step-by-step process for locating and making informed choices concerning child care alternatives. Included are suggestions for finding babysitters, child care centers, and family day care homes which satisfy extensive checklists of physical, social, emotional, and learning environment…

Presented from the perspective of the vocational rehabilitation counselor, the guide defines the essential elements of vocational evaluation and work adjustment programs and identifies problems experienced by State vocational rehabilitation agencies in obtaining high quality vocational evaluation and work adjustment services. It also provides…

This study concerns a demonstration enrichment program for intervening into the ways of thinking, learning, and behaving displayed by urban ghetto children in Harlem public schools. The study focuses on the implications of ongoing research by the Institute for Developmental Studies (IDS) for the further understanding of the independent behavior of…

The developmental teacher competency checklist is designed to facilitate planning of individualized pre- and inservice teacher training programs for teachers of integrated classes of normal and handicapped students. The checklist, which is suitable for self-evaluation and for supervision, applies a five level rating scale to the following…

The main article in this newsletter concerns the adoption by an architectural firm of elements of a systems approach as a means of providing school buildings responsive spatially and environmentally to educational change, and how these activities were later instrumental in facilitating entry by the architectural firm into the construction…

These 11 behavior observation schedules were developed to serve as a source of data for evaluation experimental variations in instructional procedures and classroom organization, and for monitoring changes in teacher, teacher aide, and child behaviors. (MS)

To determine the specific nature of the environmental "press" derived from paternal occupation on the social interaction of children in the classroom, 1,386 elementary children were administered the Barclay Classroom Climate Inventory. Results are presented according to the fathers' occupations. (MS)