Sport and recreation-based approaches to the social problems of "at-risk" urban youth have become very popular in recent years. Yet the lack of a proper theoretical understanding of these initiatives threatens to minimize their effectiveness and could generate a backlash against them. To begin to fill this void, this paper presents a…

Involving parents in school management is one of the recommendations in the framework of school-based management (SBM) in Hong Kong. Thus, to set the platform for home-school cooperation in school management, there is a need to develop a partnership between parents and school in the current education reform movement in Hong Kong. The innovation…

Helen Keller was someone who worked throughout her long life to achieve social change; she was an integral part of many important social movements in the 20th century. Her life story could serve as a fascinating example for children, but most picture books about Keller are silent about her life's work. In this article, the author examines the…

The experiences of Canadian women in adult basic education and literacy (ABEL) were examined in a national research project during which 2 contact women from each of 12 ABEL programs across Canada spend one-half day each week "researching" their program's "woman-positive" activities and the consequences of those activities for…

This study examined 10 institutions of higher education with widely different characteristics to determine whether, in the process of implementing quality improvements, they had become "learning organizations." Data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews with more than 20 individuals at nine of the campuses, and were then…

This document consists of four papers presented at a symposium on core directions in human resource development (HRD) moderated by Verna Willis at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Reengineering the Organizational HRD Function: Two Case Studies" (Neal Chalofsky) reports an action research study in which…

This paper explores teacher roles and advocates a type of teacher leadership that stimulates change and empowers those they lead. Citing changes in visions of leadership in business circles and the many recent attempts to reform education that have met with resistance, the paper notes that teachers, rather than advocating change, are generally…

This directory identifies 83 national and regional organizations with major programs focused specifically on young adolescents and/or schools serving the middle school grades. The programs listed have been designed to encourage and support schools to better serve these youths. The directory entry lists each program's name, address, phone number,…

Conceptions of principal change facilitator style (PCFS) and bureaucratic and professional role orientations (BPROs) are used to explore the construct of teacher receptivity to change (TRC) and the relationships among teacher perceptions of PCFS and their perceptions of receptivity to change. Part I of the study analyzed and refined the…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years and their families. This study examined characteristics of families participating in Smart Start, their child care arrangements and family activities, and their need for and use of community…

This paper reports the perspectives of county-level supervisors who have been important in advancing state-mandated school reforms in West Virginia. A chronological background on West Virginia school reform from 1982 through 1997 covers legislation related to the "Recht Decision," state reform initiatives, creation of the School Building…

In 1977, the Bernard van Leer Foundation began supporting a project in Colombia that had the objective of improving the quality of early childhood care and education in a small village. The Costa Atlantica project offered an approach to development that was based on community organization, social management, participation, cooperation, popular…

One of four programs funded nationally to test the notion that increased efficiency in the use of student and teacher time would result in higher student achievement, the Cotopaxi/Westcliffe Project was unique in that the two Colorado districts involved were small, rural, and operated on a four-day school week. The 4-year intervention consisted of…

Ideas are presented regarding the future of the student affairs profession. Part 1 assesses the foundation of the profession. Its chapters identify challenges for the future that are present in current practice, review ethical principles undergirding the profession, examine the assumptions and beliefs that guide student affairs, and highlight…

This document, the fourth of five volumes of a study of programs of instruction for handicapped children and youth in separate day and residential facilities throughout the United States, contains instruments and materials used in two surveys designed to gather data for the study: (1) a survey of separate facilities; and (2) a survey of State…