Standardized testing, usually in the form of a multiple choice test, has dominated educational reform throughout Mississippi for the past 2 decades. Because of the minimal impact that standardized testing has traditionally had on curriculum decisions and classroom instruction, a paradigm shift in assessment format was adopted in the State from a…

As far back as the 1960s, research and statistics began to demonstrate what appeared to be an inequality in the criminal justice system in that minorities, particularly black males, were being arrested and confined in numbers far greater than their proportion to the general population. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice, in conjunction with…

This pilot study examined attitudes toward play and how play is facilitated among early childhood teachers, administrators, and college educators. Classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires were used to identify attitudes toward the value and relevance of play for early childhood development and education, respondents' knowledge base…

An evaluation of Round One of a pilot study of a system for identifying effective youth organizations around the world is presented in this report. The report begins with a page of general observations about the successes and shortcomings of the pilot study, indicating that in general the study accomplished its objectives but that a need for…

Recent research suggests the importance of social interaction in facilitating knowledge acquisition and transfer. The theory of mediated learning experience has recently been used to develop a teacher-student interactionist model that is especially applicable to high-risk students. In this model, teachers are involved as mediators in: (1)…

With the development of the Internet technology and proliferation of the network application, visual materials have been digitized and archived on many publicly accessible computer servers. However, these visual resources can be beneficial to educators only when they know what they are, what they look like, in what format they are created, and how…

For the 1992-93 school year, the Indiana Department of Education awarded planning grants to 10 school corporations and special education cooperatives which applied to be Inclusion School Pilot Sites. Funding was provided for activities related to planning and becoming more inclusive. Visits and interviews at the sites led to conclusions about…

This paper provides recommendations for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a demonstration program designed to assess direct lending as a replacement for the current federal student loan program. It offers a list of principles which the demonstration project should address. Recommendations include: (1) maintenance of student…

Six papers discuss the Louisiana School Effectiveness and Assistance Pilot (SEAP) program, an ongoing 3-year research project associated with a legislatively mandated school and district accountability program. In three phases, the project joins school indicators, school effectiveness, and school improvement initiatives. The following papers are…

This study evaluated a first-year pilot program to improve retention, academic achievement, and student satisfaction of 49 academically underprepared freshmen at Assumption College (Massachusetts), a predominantly white, Catholic, liberal arts institution. Students were identified by low verbal, math, and total SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test)…

The development of the Army Intern Intake Survey (AIIS) is described. The AIIS focuses on the Army civilian intern program, a vehicle for entry-level employees to progress in Army civilian jobs, which produces a profile of past and current interns. The AIIS will identify changes in intern quality over time and will make comparisons of Army interns…

During 1990, a model of general education in which academic studies were challenged by a new vision of vocational preparation was pilot tested. Anticipated outcomes were a renovation of academic and vocational education through the interaction of collaborating teachers and an enriched form of vocational education. The pilot testing involved seven…

An evaluation was done of compensatory educational programs in reading and mathematics in the Saginaw (Michigan) School District. The elementary Compensatory Education (CE) program is both a push-in format (grades 1 and 2) and a pull-out format (periodically taking students out of regular classrooms) that serves 2,045 students in grades 1 through…

A pilot study systematically collected classroom assessment data in reading and compared that data to the students' test scores on the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP). A total of 61 teachers in 18 New York City public elementary schools gathered the data for 268 students in grades 2 through 6. Teachers identified the books their children could…

Beginning in fall 1993, Golden West College, in California, began pilot testing an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course adapted from the Focal Skills approach, which features instruction in intensive modules in listening, reading, writing, and general immersion. The listening and reading skills modules were offered in the fall 1993 semester,…