A study examined the extent of and the causes for student attrition in vocational education health careers programs in California. During the ten-month study, researchers utilized the following methods of data collection: analysis of data on enrollees, leavers, and completers that were gathered from California State Department of Education records…

This textbook is designed for use: (1) as a text in college classes in curriculum and instruction, educational administration, public policy, school counseling, school psychology, and the social psychology of education; and (2) as a resource for inservice training of school administrators, staff personnel, and teachers. The book focuses on…

The typical route to certification for beginning foreign language teachers requires the candidate to complete an approved program of teacher education in a four-year institution, have a certain minimum grade point average, and have completed a specified number of foreign language credit hours. Notable trends in foreign language teacher…

Classroom teachers are affected directly and indirectly by external forces: international, national, social, institutional, pedagogical, economic, commercial, professional, and religious. It is proposed that teachers make use of constructive forces and combat destructive ones by using organizational and individual resources to create change.…

Two elementary school teachers were members of a large sample participating in a study of changing teacher practices through intervention with staff developers. In October, one teacher was transferred to a similar school in another part of the district. The other teacher accepted an assignment in another school at the end of the first semester.…

The educational change strategy termed "reaching success through involvement" (RSI) has yielded promising results in creating school effectiveness. This paper analyzes the theoretical bases and practical applications of RSI strategy among 14 schools over an 8-year period. RSI theory assumes that educational organizations are dynamic social systems…

A rural Vermont school district instituted needed and desired changes during a 3-year improvement effort. A 1982 needs assessment evaluated school performance in seven areas found to exist in effective schools. Change efforts followed three principles: all curriculum and policy changes were done on a district-wide and K-12 basis, teachers were not…

This document outlines an overall plan of action for improving school effectiveness in the Spencerport (New York) school system. This master plan (developed by a leadership planning team consisting of key personnel in the Spencerport system, in cooperation with the Institute of Research on Teaching, College of Education, Michigan State University)…

Proceedings of three regional conferences on the quality of American higher education are presented. Sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, these conferences consisted of round-table discussions concerning recommendations from the national report "Involvement in Learning," as well as strategies needed to…

Every high school student should not only be provided with appropriate academic instruction but with supervised work experience as well. For the past 70 years, the number of students in cooperative education programs has grown steadily. Despite these steady gains, the best estimates place no more than 10 percent of all vocational education…

Implementing new instructional strategies and programs is a challenging task, and the need for teacher renewal and updating is apparent when the advances in literacy research in recent years and the increasing gap between this knowledge and the training of most teachers are considered. Among the obstacles to teacher change are short-term inservice…

This report is adapted from a letter sent to President-Elect George Bush in early January 1989. The report was published to stimulate a broad public discussion of the role that the Federal Government might play in developing the skills of the Nation's people. The priority of preventing damage to young children is the topic of the first section. In…

Although effective schools research has indicated the need for an added emphasis on increasing student achievement within a satisfying learning climate, the issue of how best to implement this research has been perplexing for both researchers and practitioners. Different approaches are being tried in two rural Saskatchewan school divisions. In…

An innovative educational program is being planned at the Yorba Linda Campus of the Northern Orange County (California) Community College District in an effort to increase enrollment and improve the financial status of the district. The proposed program involves the following components: (1) the adoption of a trimester-based educational system;…

This handbook is intended to help instructors and administrators increase enrollments of females in nontraditional vocational training programs and thereby foster sex equity in society. Information is provided that is designed to address the following objectives: increasing nontraditional enrollment, facilitating positive educational experiences…