In recent years, the Boston Public Schools have generated many successful changes in practice and produced significant improvements in student results, focusing on the improvement of teaching and learning to enable all students to achieve high standards of performance. Steps supporting standards-based reform were taken in the areas of teaching and…

This report offers an economic overview of Washington's information technology (IT) industry, stating that between 1990 and 1997 the state added 36,000 IT jobs and moved the state from 21st to 16th nationally in high-tech employment rankings. Washington also took the lead in high technology salaries, with an average wage of $81,000 in 1997.…

This colloquium was held with the purposes of promoting cooperation and collaboration among engineering education institutions in the Mekong subregion and establishing the linkage with engineering institutions in France; to promote university-industry collaboration in the field of engineering and technology education; to establish a network of…

This workshop manual focuses on validation procedures designed to foster program improvement rather than compliance monitoring. The manual is in eight chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the elements to be evaluated--organization and management, training, student assessment, design and implementation of classroom interventions, team work, screening a…

The Instructional Support Team (IST) process is mandated in all Pennsylvania schools that include any grade from kindergarten through 6. Middle schools that house grade six or below are required to enroll in IST training and ultimately achieve IST validation. In addition to the IST requirement, all secondary schools are required to have a Student…

This policy brief explores the role of community colleges in addressing the national shortage of K-12 teachers. It provides a summary of recent studies that highlight the prominent contributions of community colleges to the preparation of teachers (Boggs and Bragg estimate that 40% of the nation's teachers have completed at least a portion of…

This digest explores various ways in which businesses have partnered with educational institutions to improve vocational education efforts. It begins the article with an acknowledgment that vocational education has undergone consistent reform in the last decade to satisfy the demands of public, corporate, and government sectors that hold community…

In this issue, we explore how community partnerships to support formal learning and development matter and how they can be created and sustained. In "Research Update," we discuss the results of a new report and poll on 21st century skills that affirms that every student needs a "basics plus" education that pushes beyond core academic knowledge to…

This annual report highlights many recent achievements in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system. The ERIC system encompasses the world's largest and most frequently used education database as well as a network of 16 subject-specific clearinghouses, several adjunct clearinghouses, and three supporting service components. ERIC…

Linking information to education users goes beyond information organization issues, such as abstracting, indexing, and information filters. It is a social issue as well. This paper focuses upon the social dimensions of education information, as expressed in partnerships needed for the United States Educational Information Network's (USEIN)…

While natural resource professionals are adept at managing resources, they often lack the skills and desire to work effectively with the public. School-based partnerships are a potential vehicle for enhancing social interaction skills. Research shows that teachers benefit from partnerships but the benefits of partnering for the resource…

This publication reviews works on educational reform that represent attempts to do more than merely respond in knee-jerk fashion to political pressure for reform. Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun, in "Learning Experiences in School Renewal: An Exploration of Five Successful Programs" (Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational…

To promote and evaluate initiatives designed to address concerns over preparing American youths for employment, the U.S. Department of Labor sponsored the School-to Work/Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration, which began in 1990 with grants to six programs. In 1992, grants were extended for 5 of these programs and added for 10 other programs. This…

This monograph focuses on the chemistry of lipids and enables teachers to introduce their students to the concepts and processes of industrial chemistry and relate these concepts to the consumer products students encounter daily. This teacher resource module is organized into sections that provide information on how to use the resource module, how…

In response to current interest in new collaborative partnerships between universities and schools to promote teacher education, the Queensland, Australia, Board of Teacher Registration hosted a two-stage summit in 1995. One outcome of the summit was the establishment of a Working Party on Partnerships in Teacher Education under the auspices of…