Intermountain Community Learning and Information Centers are the result of work begun in 1977 by Utah State University and are based on use of rural libraries in a new information and education function. Support from the Western Rural Development Center permitted the Cooperative Extension Services, state libraries, and continuing educators from…

There are ways to meet the need for social studies reform and revitalization other than adopting an "agenda of inquiry" which would incorporate the potentially appealing aspects of the radical perspective, as proposed by Fred M. Newmann. As a result of recent reform reports, many educators have already taken action to improve educational…

The results of standardized tests are misused and often do more harm than good, according to William W. Cooley, professor and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The results seldom assist anyone in improving instruction. Too many out-of-school variables such as social-economic status influence test scores. Achievement is…

In May 1975, the School Education Law in Japan was revised, creating the category of special training schools out of the numerous types of miscellaneous schools that had sprung up following the end of World War II. The Japanese government created regulations for the schools, specifying that the purpose of the special training schools was to help…

A preliminary case study used repertory grid and stimulated recall techniques to examine how teachers make sense of the impact of microcomputers on their work. Emphasis was on how teachers construe their classroom influence in relation to the actual use of microcomputers and to idealizations of their use. A version of the Kelly (1955) repgrid was…

Those interested in textbook research, theory, and practice need to identify the independent or context variables that influence the making of a textbook--the intervening variables that come into play as textbooks are conceived, developed, and designed--and to show how these impact on the textbook, or dependent variable. To begin, critics and…

Professionalism and flexibility in learning are considered in five seminar papers. In "Recommendations for Learning," Donald Bligh offers 17 recommendations for learning, based on the final discussions of a seminar of the Society for Research into Higher Education. The principles of professionalism and flexibility are applied to course…

This annotated bibliography was compiled to help educators understand organizational change in schools. The purpose is to provide ideas that will help avoid wasted effort and reduce heartbreak in the application of change processes. This third edition omits at least one-third of the entries from the second edition. Items dropped are those…

This paper summarizes the first 18 months of Maryland's School Improvement through Instructional Process (SITIP) program, begun in fall 1980. Four general methods of data collection were used for the project: observation, interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Of Maryland's 24 local education agencies (LEAs)--Baltimore City plus 23…

Projected technological developments are described and analyzed for their relation to education, including very large scale integrated circuits and microcomputers, videodiscs, instructional networks, Dynabook, electronic publishing, devices for creative expression (word processor, electronic palette, music composition aids, computer-aided design),…

This paper, presented at the 1984 regional workshop of the Appalachia Educational Laboratory, draws upon recent research to list and debunk the following 10 "myths" about school improvement: (1) that change can be initiated simply by clarifying goals and designating staff (change actually requires three gradual steps--initiation, implementation,…

A two-part report, sponsored by the Northwest Regional Exchange, focuses on the role of technical assistance in educational settings. This document, part II of the report, examines selected change models for establishing technical assistance systems and implications for action. After a brief introduction, the following critical components of…

This report focuses on three 11-day summer institutes on "The Impact of Toxic and Hazardous Materials on Humans and the Environment" conducted for 90 secondary school science teachers over the course of three summers at Sonoma State University, California. These summer institutes were all followed up with in-service days during the…

From January through March 1988, 31 teachers and administrators from the Capital Region (Albany, New York) met with professors from the State University of New York at Albany in five full-day sessions to discuss education in New York State in the 1990's and to write a report on the results of their deliberations, including observations and…

This report of a hearing presents testimony on H.R. 2535, the School Excellence and Reform Act, also cited as the "Even Start Act," a bill aiming to combine into a single educational program adult basic education for parents and school readiness training for children at risk. The specific intent of the legislation was to establish a…