Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

Surveys student and faculty perceptions about dissertation advisor-advisee relationships regarding roles, the nature of the relationship, communication between advisor and advisee, and communication with committee members. Pinpoints conflicting expectations about faculty feedback and advisor-advisee roles as areas of dissatisfaction. (SR)

Project FIEL, Family Initiative for English Literacy, was designed to provide participatory literacy and biliteracy development opportunities for (Hispanic-American) families in El Paso. This article discusses program goals; theoretical perspectives; project design rationale; population characteristics; curriculum development, implementation, and…

Examines the impact of a pilot project in which undergraduates at Roane State Community College e-mailed drafts of essays to graduate students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who returned the drafts through e-mail with comments. Finds that students felt the experience was helpful. Discusses benefits of collaboration between two- and…

Since most undergraduates at Wayne State University are from the Detroit area, staff decided to communicate with area schools about expectations for incoming freshmen and provide high-school/university curriculum articulation. Four schools successfully participated in a pilot project investigating how a university library/high-school partnership…

Outlines findings from a pilot project by the Centre for Research on Literacy and the Media (England) in which primary school pupils adapted a text from a print into a moving image medium (animation). Examines the impact of this translation on pupils' print literacy. Suggests that informed practical use of media can have benefits for the pupils'…

Considers the roles and the process that characterize the design of online distance education courses, especially when the online tutors are not real experts in the course content domain. Describes an Italian pilot project that studies the use of Information and and Communication Technologies (ICT) in in-service teacher training. (Author/LRW)

Reviews a pilot project (teaching science) in India. Objectives included the following: developing reliable locally-produced low-cost equipment; finding experiments compatible with the equipment that illustrate principles and practice of modern chemistry; providing teachers with workshops, manuals, and videotapes; establishing a production unit to…

Describes the Virtual Company, a learning environment developed by the Open University (Netherlands) that is modeled after real companies to bridge the gap between learning and working by situating learning in a real-life business setting. Discusses problems in higher education, demands of society, and results of a pilot study. (Author/LRW)

Reviews the Web as an instructional delivery medium and describes a hybrid model for continuing medical education (CME) delivery that merges the Web and CD-ROM. Discusses an evaluation that demonstrated the effectiveness of the model for delivering CME to rural physicians in regions with low bandwidth. (SK)

Two national reform movements--one focused on creating small, autonomous schools, the other fixated on a standardization agenda--are basically in conflict. The standards movement is touting the traditional, top-down, centralized, bureaucratic system modeled after Frederick Taylor and his efficiency experts. Progressive, decentralized initiatives…

Using survey and interview responses, examines school members' perceptions of school autonomy over budget decisions, availability of budget information at the school level, and members' willingness to engage in shared decision making in Rochester, New York. Results suggest there are implementation barriers in Rochester pilot schools. Participants…

Addresses changes in cataloging at the University of California, Berkeley. Discusses experimentation with pilot technical services (OCLC PromtCat, Bibliographic Record Notification, and Repeat Search); technical services staff reductions and the emergence of a new staffing model and motivating supervisors and staff to become more flexible and…

Explores methods of assessing opportunity to learn (OTL) and presents data collected as part of a pilot study of an eighth-grade statewide mathematics assessment to explore issues of validity. Investigates the integrity of various dimensions thought to constitute OTL, analyzes the relationships among teachers' and students' self-reports, and draws…

Outlines a pilot study to test server software designed for delivering tutoring over the Internet, based on a project at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) to develop a master's program in Project Management for overseas delivery. Discusses student attitudes toward more flexible learning environments and the efficacy of distance…