This Kids Count Report details statewide trends in the well-being of Maine's children, with particular focus on child health care access. The statistical portrait is based on a variety of indicators in five areas: (1) child health care access; (2) physical and mental health; (3) community and family environment; (4) social and economic…

The Exemplary Schools Project was a national cooperative project that identified successful Canadian secondary schools and analyzed their practices to suggest policy implications. Five issues were examined: the meaning and recognition of success; interactions between the school and its context; the influence of school structures, processes, and…

A 4-week study at Goshen (Indiana) Middle School examined the internal and external factors affecting Hispanic student achievement. Data were collected through classroom observation, student interviews, and a survey of Latino parents. Although teacher responses to Hispanic student classroom participation were always positive, student responses,…

This book examines the implications of postmodern culture for adult education through a review of modernist culture and education and a comparative account of modernist and postmodernist culture that is configured as a set of six tensions in three domains: belief (situatedness and ambiguity); individual identity (determination and control); and…

This paper illustrates practical situations in which librarians are beginning to have an impact on developments on the Internet and ultimately have an impact on lifelong learning by providing organized interfaces to resources. In the area of information skills training, it is argued that the librarian must contribute actively by developing these…

This guide, written in a question-and-answer format, provides basic information on bilingualism and raises practical issues in plain, clear, and direct language. It is written for both monolingual speakers who want to consider bilingualism and bilingual speakers who want to become better informed. Many of the ideas and perceptions in the first…

This publication describes actions and basic principles that campus-based alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention coordinators can take to develop long-term administrative and financial support for campus AOD programs. The first section covers types of prevention programs that increase the probability of success. These programs include:…

This report presents data from surveys of teachers, students, and principals on issues such as teaching quality and methods, school environment, expectations, attitudes, and job satisfaction. High-quality teaching is associated with students' having more positive attitudes about learning, school, and their futures. It is also related to…

This book, the last volume in a three-part series, draws on a large-scale worldwide poverty study to present the views, experiences, and aspirations of poor people in 14 selected countries. In each country, interviews and discussion groups were held in 8-15 rural and urban communities that reflected the most prevalent poverty groups and the…

The accessibility of the World Wide Web and its flexibility for conveying digital information in various forms makes it a convenient mode of communication for education. With the help of a distance learning application called "Easy Ed," this paper demonstrates how these properties of the Web along with a data model can be used to provide…

This paper explores the concept that the experience of growth may be structurally similar to the emotional experience of religion and hope. It develops this view by focusing on two studies that involve a series of coping and outcome variables, together with analysis of Park, Cohen, and Murch's (1997) instrument on stress related to personal…

This article discusses three issues concerning the field of psychology: modern psychology and its definition of mental health; Japanese ideology and its definition of mental health; and applicability of Western methods of psychotherapy to other cultures. There are at least two different definitions of good mental health and most psychotherapies in…

The goals at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) for preparation of pre-service teacher educators in educational media and technology include the development of pedagogical ability as well as technical knowledge and skills. Pedagogically, EMU faculty adopted the goal of teaching the students to use technology to facilitate a constructivist approach…

Research has shown a decline in motivation and performance for many children as they move from elementary school into middle school; however, research has also shown that the nature of motivational change on entry to middle school depends on characteristics of the learning environment in which students find themselves. This Digest outlines some…

For much of the past 20 years, philanthropists have invested significant time, money and knowledge into the important task of improving the nation's education system. Collectively, their efforts have targeted all aspects of the system--from helping teachers upgrade their skills and knowledge to creating better curricula and classroom tools, from…