The principles and practices of successful parent centers in urban schools are presented so that parents and staff can use them when developing a center. The successful center begins with adoption of a model or philosophy to guide parents and staff. An interactive learning model is suggested as the most workable one, and its principles are…

A practical guide is presented to peer tutoring for teachers and others with an interest in promoting cooperative learning. It includes a guide to organizing peer tutoring, as well as a review of research on the effects of peer tutoring, and evidence for social and academic gains for the student and the tutor. The perspective is international,…

Canada's ability to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the difficulties presented by today's economic, cultural, and social changes and global competition depends on the education and skill development of its youth. Meeting these challenges requires a common purpose involving students, parents, businesses, educators and others. To…

Current thinking and practice involving the use of educational technology in collaborative activities between schools and universities are described. The most successful partnerships have been those in which both parties planned and prepared themselves well before starting. Adequate resources were allocated, and mutual respect between the partners…

Countries of Central and Eastern Europe already developing model standards in the framework of restructuring their education systems have been chosen to develop model standards for other countries. To compare the standards being developed in these countries, a system of indicators must be developed. The most important indicators are as follows:…

Early observations of 13 culturally and linguistically diverse elementary schools, each of which is implementing one of six internally-developed school restructuring designs, are reported here. The schools are all located in one demographically diverse county, and the restructuring process occurred over a 4-year period. The study examined a range…

Sir Sandford Fleming College in Ontario, Canada is in the process of transforming itself from a teaching-based college to a student-centered organization. Faculty-led teams are a critical element in this transformation. With active support from its faculty union, Fleming has reduced its administrative ranks by one-third and created a host of teams…

This digest discusses the rationale for integrating academic and occupational education. It describes models for, and barriers to, integration, and offers suggestions for advancing integration efforts. Integration of academic and occupational education reinforces the shifting paradigm from teaching to learning and requires that students become…

As an institution having undergone many changes over the past 13 years in the Maricopa Community College District, Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) in Arizona has developed and implemented its strategic planning process, institutional effectiveness and student outcomes assessment model, and resource allocation (budget) process over the…

This report describes the first 2 years of Connecticut's Jobs First program operation. Chapter 1 describes the following: the policy context; the program's three main features--time limit, earned income disregard, and mandatory "work first" employment services; the evaluation and implementation analysis; and the research sites and target…

This report asserts that college work-study programs have been very successful in creating wage-paying jobs for low-income students who need funds for college expenses. There are compelling reasons to build on this legacy of college work-study to create new work-study initiatives designed explicitly for welfare recipients. Some of the key program…

The purpose of this evaluation is to describe the current level of implementation in the high schools and to document the progress of the 3-year implementation plan of the allocated resources in the Houston Independent School District (Texas). How curriculum changes affected educational programming in the high schools, the characteristics of the…

This review of literature in the field of educational innovations includes discussions on the following areas: (1) resistance to change; (2) personality and psychological factors; (3) innovation attributes such as communicability and compatibility; (4) type of innovation decision making including those made by individuals, groups, and authority;…

This paper chronicles the development of the New Zealand-based Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Education (FADE) and critically reviews this development. FADE's objectives deal with preventing and reducing the use of alcohol and other drugs by young people. FADE chose to operate separately from traditional governmental and nongovernmental alcohol…

This paper, organized into three sections, describes the development, implementation, and supervisory aspects of a cooperative learning program in a typical fifth-grade classroom. Discussed from the teacher's point of view, section 1 addresses: (1) development of teams; (2) social skills development; (3) teammate interdependence, heterogeneous…