Describes the founding and role of the nonprofit organization Udbhas, which promotes literacy among children in the slums of Calcutta while providing a level of food, clothing, and social and educational experiences generally absent from their homes. Discusses the children's background and identifies problems in bringing learning to these…

Revisits the middle-level school movement. Provides an overview of young adolescents' development, offers representative examples of developmentally appropriate practices, and looks at progress educators have made as well challenges encountered. Emphasizes the importance of understanding physical, pychosocial, and cognitive development in young…

Describes a study to determine the effectiveness of six community college occupational programs based on the perceptions of students nearing graduation, graduates, and employers. Major study components were the relationship between enrollment objectives and postgraduation activities, satisfaction with programs, and job preparedness and placement…

Clarifies the concept of universal basic education. Highlights the need for performance criteria and ways to measure literacy attainment. Identifies issues related to improving primary education, seeing adult literacy as its necessary complement. Underscores the substantial resources required to achieve universal basic education. (CH)

Introduces law-related education (LRE) projects developed in Texas, highlighting the State Bar of Texas' LRE curriculum, "Law in a Changing Society." Identifies LRE's nontraditional methods, including role playing, simulations, debates, mock trials, and lectures from community professionals. Stresses LRE's ability to teach responsible…

Recognizing the diversity in Kenya, examines education's goal to promote national unity. Analyzes three government policy initiatives, derived from the Mackay, Ominde, and Gacathi reports, based on psychological, cultural, and economic definitions of what constitutes a nation. Resolves the confusion in educational policy intended to promote and…

Analyzes the introduction of productive work into the Brazilian schools in the 1980s. Explains that productive work is a form of vocational training that combines general education and productive work in one institution. Concludes that the production school is not a feasible alternative in improving education for the lower classes. (RW)

Explores teachers' beliefs and theories about students' thinking by examining the teachers' instructional goals, views on the depth versus breadth of content coverage issue, and conceptions of students' thinking. Finds important differences between teachers who were effective at promoting thoughtful classroom discourse and those who were not.…

Reports on a study that investigated the problem of junior high school dropouts in Guangzhou, China, in order to determine how some schools lost fewer students by adopting different approaches. Concludes that effective education must be based on genuine care and concern for students. (GEA)

Analyzes the impact of South African political, economic, and social conditions on the library and information environment and the implications for education in librarianship. The discussion covers key issues to be addressed by the library profession and the need for a reformulation of educational objectives. (103 references) (Author/CLB)

This series of 13 articles discusses library education in Australasia. Topics covered include masters programs in Australia; library education in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea; education for technicians, teacher librarians, and rural librarians; cataloging courses; special collections librarianship; information management; the information…

Examines provisions made in Sweden for the education of handicapped and immigrant students and the services offered to their families. Stating that all handicapped persons have the right to receive government services, the article discusses preschool education, day nurseries, mother-tongue language activities, family services, and courses for…

Applauds the adoption of National Standards in Civics and Government as necessary and overdue. Briefly describes the consensus-building process that produced the standards. Contains a list of the five significant questions asked, along with guidelines for classroom implementation of the standards. (MJP)

Considers the controversy over national education standards and evaluates their potential in the classroom. Specifically, looks at staff development and the goals of school administrators in the light of the recent National Standards in Civics and Government. Postulates that classrooms can become living laboratories for American democracy. (MJP)

Reports on the results of 180 questionnaires given to public school teachers and 26 structured follow-up interviews on how teachers view themselves as moral educators. Found that teachers' individual moralities shaped the choices they made. Discovered that, although reluctant to teach values directly, teachers feel a commitment to share their…