A National Institute of Education (NIE) policy statement is presented regarding competition for future funding of regional educational laboratories and research and development (R&D) centers with appropriations available for Section 405(f) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA). Attention is also directed to continuing eligibility of…

Purposes and functions of regional research and development (R&D) services sponsored by the National Institute of Education (NIE) are described, based on a task force's assessment of R&D services provided by regional laboratories. The historical context of the following questions are addressed: whether the conduct of R&D constitutes a…

A study was conducted to assess the potential use of available supply/demand data in planning for secondary vocational education programs in Tennessee. Literature was reviewed for ideas and an analysis was made of the data in the Tennessee Occupational Information System (TOIS). In addition, expert opinion was collected from a selected group of 12…

A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. This final report describes all facets of the study and presents the researchers' findings and conclusions. Following a preface, the report…

Many education reformers criticize the mediocre state of learning in high schools in the United States. In order to insure that all students have equal access to high quality teaching, it is argued that educators must explore the potent connections among school setting, ability grouping, teaching methods, and student opportunity to learn. The…

This collection of conference presentations focuses on the twin themes of restructuring and technology in rural schools. Rural America's increasingly polarized demographics, political leadership voids, teacher training, renewal strategies, and ever-shrinking budgets are discussed, along with ongoing media criticism, which is a reality for all…

Research and practice have shown that staff development is the key to the successful implementation of any effective schools project. Staff development is defined as the ongoing, job-related, research-based activity provided for employees to maintain and improve their competencies. Part 1 of this paper outlines components (such as district-level…

Dialogue journal writing is a communicative language technique that can be used effectively in the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classroom. In this approach, the teacher responds in writing to each journal entry by the student. It is a low-cost writing-fluency activity that is relatively easy to initiate and can provide an important bridge to…

This paper outlines the current state of knowledge about how intellectual competence is acquired. Implications resulting from recent changes in the psychology of learning and development are beginning to revitalize the science of learning and instruction. Four broad topics illustrate the links between instructional experiments, fundamental…

Help-seeking has become a topic of growing interest in the past 5 years for educators and psychologists concerned with the development and enhancement of children's active learning skills. This paper explains the instrumental role of help-seeking in learning. Major conceptualizations of help-seeking are examined and evaluated for their utility in…

Since the early 1970s, vocational-technical (VT) activities in Italy have primarily been under regional management. Principal activities covered by VT are basic vocational training, further vocational training, retraining, and training for the unemployed. The Regions also have responsibility for the training of apprentices. The VT user population…

A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the degree to which teacher training programs in 4-year public colleges and universities include rural education as part of their teacher education program. Questionnaires were mailed to college of education deans and chairpersons at each of the 473 4-year public colleges and universities in the…

A followup study conducted in 19 high schools throughout Oregon involved 1,296 early leavers and graduates of the class of 1981. Both vocational education and nonvocational students participated. Data came from three sources--surveys of former students, transcripts and permanent files of these students, and program rating data from vocational…

Information on cooperative programs between colleges and schools is presented in this directory, which, along with a database, was developed from the results of the 1986 National Survey of School-College Partnerships. The first section of the directory contains 166 descriptive abstracts that are organized into 15 categories of partnership…

Educational research has been meeting resistance in its effort to influence curricular policy or to change classroom practice because of the lack of value placed on it by those who exercise power over and in higher institutions of learning. In order to counteract this resistance it is important to identify those predisposed to effect change in the…