A survey of faculty at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Kansas was conducted to determine the current effectiveness and future needs of the JCCC Writing Center. Surveys were delivered to all full- and part-time instructors. The response rate was 18%, with approximately 31% of full-time faculty and 12% of part-time faculty returning…

The Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) was an ambitious effort launched in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1996 to provide high-quality early care and education services to at-risk children, on a county-wide scale and under the direction of local neighborhood agencies. Four years after its launch, ECI was providing substantial social and educational…

Smart Start is North Carolina's model early childhood initiative to help all North Carolina children enter school healthy and prepared for success. Serving all 100 counties in the state, Smart Start's services include child care subsidies and health and family support services. This report describes the program, focusing on its impact on the…

This publication offers summaries of presentations from a 2001 symposium on adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) research and practice. Presentations include the following: "Reading Research Synthesis" (Miriam Burt); "How Adults Learn to Read in English" (John Strucker); "Findings, Reactions to and Practitioner Implications of the 'What Works'…

Many children and adolescents, in Boston and elsewhere, experience drastic incongruities between their home, school, and community environments. Arguing that after-school programs can help to unify these disparate worlds, thereby fostering a sense of continuity for youth and aiding their development as learners, this report shows how best to…

This report describes the impact of nurse consultant services to child care programs in Colorado on the children, parents, and staff of the centers they serve as part of the Healthy Child Care Colorado (HCCC) initiative. Study participants included 25 child care center directors and 24 nurse consultants, representing large and small centers in…

This institutional effectiveness (IE) report for Trident Technical College (TTC), South Carolina, describes majors and concentrations, academic advisement, and transfer. The 2001-2002 academic year marked the tenth year of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) for the college. GAS is a systematic means of developing an individual yardstick for assessing…

This publication assembles the most current research on professional development and change for teachers looking to accelerate their professional growth and the improvement of student learning. Designed as a how-to resource, it reviews the stages of building an effective professional development system. The seven chapters are: (1) "Developing a…

An adult educator in Butler, Pennsylvania, noticed that, although students who took the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) seemed highly motivated to improve their basic skills in mathematics and spatial relations, only 2 of her 20 students who took the GATB made a concerted effort to develop their vocabulary. Thinking that those two students…

A study investigated the teaching of grammar in an advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) class in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For a week, the instructor taught the students on the topic of comparatives, superlatives, and equatives. The instructor gave a written pretest, posttest, and a delayed posttest to the whole class of 15-25 immigrants and…

This document evaluates the effectiveness of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Academic English Mastery Program, a program designed to serve students whose lack of proficiency in standard American English is an impediment to academic performance. This study used random sampling, experimental and control groups, and three principle data…

This book provides guidance on developing an effective evaluation plan for adult English language programs, whether in the context of family literacy, workplace and workforce literacy, or general language development. With an emphasis on surveys, interviews, observation measures, and performance samples, the authors show how staff members and…

Western Illinois University's College of Education and Human Services is redesigning its undergraduate teacher education program. The program places volunteer freshmen in real classrooms for long-term observations and volunteer assistance, eventually leading up to a full range of teaching opportunities. Also, coursework is presented in an…

Sectoral employment training programs attempt to provide disadvantaged people with good jobs that pay living wages and offer opportunities for advancement, using innovative approaches to employment training and interacting with industries to create systemic change in labor markets. The Sectoral Employment Development Learning Project (SEDLP) is a…

This descriptive study in the Cleveland (Ohio) public school system evaluated the impact of an intensive, school-based mental health program. Forty-two African American elementary school students were referred for school-based mental services due to overt behavioral problems. Children were evaluated for risk status across three domains: community,…