A team of university and school personnel applied layers of interventions across 2 years to 34 students who fell below their class averages in reading skills in kindergarten and first grade. Although reading failure rates declined, the interventions did not significantly decrease the proportion of children identified for special education.…

Contends that creating a program that reflects diversity and equity is an evolving process. Presents common markers whereby programs can judge individual levels on the multicultural and antibias education journey. Lists indicators for program evaluation, first steps and advanced steps characteristic of a multicultural-education program. (SD)

Describes Partners in Human Rights Education in which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the framework for using interactive teaching methods to relate human-rights concepts to students' lives. Highlights Amnesty International's "Urgent Action Network" that encourages children to become lobbyists in a letter-writing…

Describes experiences in instituting a personal ownership laptop programme for 10 and 11 year-olds. Argues that learning with laptops captivates and empowers students, making them more self-motivated and task-oriented. There is increased risk-taking, as students work at their own pace, and in their own time. Furthermore, creativity is encouraged.…

Describes the development of "One America" at Glendale Community College (California), a program involving student project coordinators who work on specific issue areas and coordinate a series of presentations and workshops. The program identified five areas of concern: diversity, HIV/AIDS, women's issues, gay and lesbian issues, and…

Policy makers are turning away from individual performance pay, favoring school-based rewards that expand curriculum or fund other improvements. Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas have adopted performance-based rewards and sanctions. Policy makers must balance state and local control and align performance indicators with school…

Analyzes the outcomes of a learning assessment approach used at a Midwest community college. Reports that data were obtained from students' scores on prompts and the college's student information management system. Finds that: (1) 76% of prompts were scored at a level that indicated students met general education achievement levels; and (2) 55% of…

Examined relationships between teachers' amenability to implementing anti-tobacco programs and features of implementation settings. Telephone surveys of Florida middle and high school teachers indicated that after controlling for other school and community factors, classroom activities remained significant predictors of program effectiveness.…

Details implementation of the Family Group Decision Making Project in Canadian Newfoundland and Labrador among residents from Inuit and European backgrounds. Notes how the program offered solutions to problems of fostering cultural autonomy, measuring family violence, unifying families and protecting family members, and integrating child welfare…

Reviews evidence of the effectiveness of traditional alcohol, tobacco, and drug use prevention approaches with girls and with boys, as well as available evidence from gender-specific or gender-informed interventions focused specifically on girls. Recommends needed research and prevention strategies that take gender into account. (Author/DLH)

A study investigated the efficacy of specific interventions (mentoring, parental involvement, and multicultural curricula) on academic achievement of 273 elementary students from low-socioeconomic environments. The interventions had no statistically significant effect on student achievement in any grade. However, by the end of the program,…

In this article, a distinct type of adult-youth relationship found in some youth programs and characterized as instrumental is discussed. Such relationships focus primarily on joint work on a task or project, or in a discipline, with the adult having expertise and a strong identity in the substantive domain involved, rather than in youth work per…

This article describes program strategies and adult practices that can build youth-adult partnerships. In particular, it focuses on strategies to empower girls in all-female after-school programs. The Young Women's Leadership Alliance has involved 164 girl leaders and five adult women leaders over three years. To build the partnerships, adults…

Professional drivers, i.e. lorry, truck, bus and taxi drivers, have been identified as a particular health risk group. An intervention to study the efficacy of a series of educational programmes, involving improved nutritional balance in meals served, food preparation routines and carrying out personal health profiles on staff, was implemented at…

Young unemployed persons are a prioritised group in active labour market programmes. Such programmes can be regarded as "integrative", facilitating integration into the labour market for young people in accordance with their own preferences. However, such programmes can also be regarded as "defensive", discouraging young…