This resource document provides general information about literacy portfolio assessment, guidelines on using the technique, and a format for getting started. The first part discusses testing and assessment in adult literacy and basic education, alternative assessment, and literacy portfolios. The second part contains a list of questions and steps…

The General Accounting Office examined the spending, outcomes, and performance of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) and Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs. Federal expenditure data were analyzed, legislation and regulations specifying data collection/reporting requirements and performance standards for the programs were…

"A Feel for Books" is a book discussion program for adult developing readers and their teachers and tutors conducted at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. The program consists of five or six meetings per year, each about 1.5-2 hours in length conducted at 2 local libraries; over 2 years, 40-60 persons regularly…

A study was done to discover whether a program to change the reward structure for teaching at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a research-oriented university, had had an impact on faculty members' perceptions of the importance of teaching. Questionnaires were administered to 220 faculty in 12 departments in a pre-test and to 166 faculty in 10…

This document records the oral and written testimony of witnesses at a Congressional hearing held in April 1993 to assess the costs and outcomes of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Witnesses included officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, the General Accounting Office, consultants retained to evaluate the program, and several local…

The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) provides 4-year-old children from low-income families with a comprehensive preschool experience that emphasizes their developmental, health, and nutritional needs, involves their parents, and responds to their family's social service needs. This annual report on the ECEAP discusses the…

This report provides a statistical profile of child and family well-being in Illinois, on a county-by-county basis, considering education, health, special needs, economic security, and urban and rural concerns. Comparisons of statewide data to those for neighboring states are also included. In education, information is presented on spending per…

The Division of High Schools Public Law 100.297 Instructional Support program serves eligible students, ages 12-21, who have entered New York City public schools after attending state-operated or state-supported settings and who are encountering difficulties adjusting to the high school special education environment. In 1992-93 the program served…

This paper presents an evaluation of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program, an integral part of the fifth grade curriculum in 84 elementary schools in the Broward County (Florida) Public Schools. During the 1992-93 school year, nearly 12,000 fifth grade students attended DARE classes taught by 43 trained law enforcement officers.…

Changing public policies have had a negative impact on urban child care in Minnesota over the last 25 years. A recent study of inner city child care programs found that: (1) many programs were in a continual state of financial crisis because of fluctuations in demand; (2) government reimbursement rates to centers based on average market rates did…

This policy paper summarizes the research on change and effective staff development to drive an outcomes-based, results oriented approach to increase student success. The paper provides a discussion of the following ideas necessary for practice: (1) participants must be involved in planning and developing training; (2) training must be relevant,…

An experimental study compared the effectiveness of a traditional General Educational Development (GED) curriculum with a literacy curriculum based on applied literacy skills. An experimental group of 34 adult students received GED instruction emphasizing functional and workplace contexts and supplemental instruction, whereas the 35 students in…

The federal government's experience with adult retraining programs began in 1962 with the passage of the Manpower Development and Training Act and creation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. When the 1973 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act expired in 1982, Congress enacted the Job Training Partnership Act. During the 1980s, states…

From 1976 to 1983 major reforms were enacted in Chile in the vocational training systems, based on four principles: decentralization, integration, diversification, and participation. The vocational training system in Chile is a legally established, market-oriented system in which many private training agencies compete to sell their services to…

A palliative care support and training network was developed in a relatively isolated country area of the Barossa Valley in South Australia. The project was intended to help palliative care workers, volunteers, home carers, and others work collaboratively as a team (holistic model) for the purposes of mutually supporting, sharing information and…