This monograph gives an overview of the vocational education and training system in France. It contains the following information: (1) a presentation of the administrative, demographic, and economic background in which the training system in France exists; (2) a brief historical review of the development of the training systems; (3) a presentation…

This monograph describes the approach to vocational training in Luxembourg. The study was compiled from available publications and interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Education and the chambers representing both sides of industry. The report shows that the distinguishing features of the vocational training system in Luxembourg are…

This book focuses on a range of instructional practices that promote children's understanding and build meaning into their academic learning experience. Actual practices uncovered in a 2-year investigation of 140 classrooms in a variety of high-poverty school settings are described and analyzed in a comprehensive demonstration of what…

Co-op seminars are a key component of the cooperative education (CE) program at LaGuardia Community College in New York City. All LaGuardia students must enroll in CE and attend a series of co-op seminars that raise general issues about work, occupations in general, and the competencies required on the job. The seminars serve as a form of career…

The second annual Affiliates' meeting of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching brought together 200 people to examine authentic teaching and assessment practices and policies. Nine presentations from the meeting are compiled in this document, illustrating different approaches to developing alternative assessment…

Multicultural education helps fulfill the story of democracy by encouraging each person and each community to become present and heard in individual identity. Strategies of transformation are necessary to enable people from all backgrounds to ask questions about current society and to participate in the creation of the nation's history. There are…

This report describes the desegregation of the education service in the London (England) Borough of Newham from 1984 to 1996, involving closure of most of the education authority's special schools and units and plans for all children with disabilities to be in mainstream schools by 1999. The report reviews the early days of local council policy…

Although not a new concept, mentoring is being seen as an increasingly important part of an individual's career and work force development, requiring sophisticated skills of those who provide it. Mentoring has been defined as "a relationship in which a more experienced person facilitates the broad development of a less experienced person on a…

This report to the Florida State Legislature answers questions posed by the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee regarding the gifted and talented program in elementary and secondary schools. Questions address: identification of districts offering the program only for specific grade levels, effects of delaying the identification and placement of…

This two-part monograph provides a theoretical and practical analyses of intercultural and multicultural education programs. The first part describes inter- and multicultural educational programs in the United States and Canada and includes the following eight chapters: "International, Intercultural, and Multicultural Dimensions of Community…

The effectiveness of magnet schools in providing racially balanced learning environments for students and the overall quality of the education they provide were studied in an investigation of 11 magnet school campuses in Federal Region F, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Sites included three elementary schools,…

This study surveyed general education teachers in four private elementary/secondary schools in New Delhi, India, concerning their attitudes toward mainstreaming students with mild to severe disabilities and factors that teachers considered essential for successful mainstreaming. The 98-item survey elicited 32 responses. Results are discussed in…

When colleges were first organized in what would later become the United States, they were far different from those in existence today. Students matriculated, enrolled, and graduated in lock step through a prescribed 4-year curriculum. Colleges functioned not so much to encourage intellectual development as to foster moral piety. Topics and sides…

Alternative perspectives and practices for describing and documenting teaching practice and student learning relevant to classroom reform are identified, and a framework is provided for characterizing these process-focused instruments and indicators. Diverse descriptors were used to locate documents describing instruments and procedures used to…

Barriers to progress in educational reform exist inside and outside the education system. Some arise where new practices encounter traditional expectations and boundaries, but others go much deeper than education, such as poverty, racism, local political conflicts, and human resistance to change. The following five categories of barriers are…