This study was undertaken to assess the condition of school facilities in rural and small school districts in the 50 states and analyze the mechanisms used by rural and small school districts to finance capital outlay. The study is part of an ongoing effort to address concerns specific to rural and small schools in the United States. The focus of…

The Michigan Council on Vocational Education evaluated the coordination between vocational education and the service deliverers of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) in the state in order to comply with the mandates of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984. The purpose of the study was to describe the structure and job training…

A study examined whether reading aloud to kindergarten children on a regular basis would have an effect on their attention span. Subjects, 28 kindergarten students from a New Jersey school, were pretested and then assigned either to an experimental group or to a control group (14 in each group). The experimental sample received the treatment of…

This report attempts to answer criticisms that have been leveled against existing research on effective schooling. The research reported has three important features: (1) it is based on a major national survey--High School and Beyond (HSB)--with longitudinal information on each respondent; (2) measures are not restricted to verbal and quantitative…

This technical manual describes the School Assessment Survey (SAS), a multidimensional questionnaire that uses teachers' perceptions to measure key organizational characteristics of a school. Developed to take advantage of recent developments in organizational theory and school effectiveness research, the SAS instrument can be used to identify…

This document reports on a summer institute for 20 secondary school history teachers from the central Virginia public school community. Emphasis at the institute was on the fact that historically, as well as morally, all people are important. This idea is the basis for the "new social history" that tends to start with everyday experience. Because…

This review summarizes the rapidly growing body of findings on the social and organizational environment of teaching and examines one innovation--the collaborative school--that offers promise of an organizational context more conducive to effective teaching. Chapter 1 characterizes the actual conditions under which teachers work, focusing on…

This annotated bibliography was prepared to serve as background material for the writing of the synthesis paper "From Isolation to Collaboration: Improving the Work Environment of Teaching." Items were selected to represent the range of issues that pertain to the social and organizational context of teaching. The selected materials…

State efforts to improve the quality of undergraduate education were surveyed by the Education Commission of the States. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have initiatives to improve undergraduate education. The high school/college transition is perceived by state officials as an area with great potential for bringing about real change in…

This book is part of OPTIONS, a packaged set of materials developed to provide postsecondary administrators, program planners, curriculum developers, counselors, and instructors with up-to-date, reliable information. This publication describes 61 exemplary practices and programs that have successfully improved or expanded educational services for…

This comprehensive plan for library development in Vermont over a five year period is the result of extensive consultation with professionals in the field, the State Advisory Council on Libraries, and the U.S. Department of Education. Focusing on the role of the Vermont Department of Libraries as the implementor of the long range program of…

Information collected from interviews with 15 ministers of education and 30 program directors and researchers at 18 universities in Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina is used to study academic programs which prepare persons to be educational planners and administrators. Section one describes background…

Materials and approaches that college faculty can use to evaluate their instruction are described. This guide, prepared by a University of North Dakota (UND) faculty task force, describes new instruments, guidance for developing forms, ideas for interviewing and observing students, and suggestions for other approaches, including self-evaluation,…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers the analysis of community resources, an activity that has as its primary objective the evaluation of the LEA's use of those resources available in the community, such as businesses, labor unions,…

This comprehensive admissions model is designed to assist school personnel on both the secondary and postsecondary levels in the State of Missouri with the admission and selection of students for vocational programs. Presented in flow chart form with an accompanying outline to describe its various steps, the model addresses the following stages of…