School records; teacher, parent, and child ratings; and children's drawings about family, school, and the program were evaluated for low-income, at-risk children in a school-age child care program and compared to a control group that made no drawings. The drawings provided qualitative data that enriched program evaluation. (SK)

Counselor educators need to explore methods for enhancing students' career counseling knowledge and competencies. Suggestions are offered for conducting an advanced career counseling practicum as one such opportunity. (KW)

This eight chapters of this special issue introduce the use of a template to specify program components as a new tool for program evaluation. The template articulates the components needed for program delivery and provides a systematic method for assessing program implementation. (SLD)

Provides ideas, methods, and techniques to prepare teachers to teach a basic business course. Includes mini-lesson plans. (JOW)

Summarizes the research on the condition of literacy and concludes that the poor performance of the last century can be traced, in part, to faulty teaching methods, oversimplified textbooks, and the false diagnosis of innate learning disabilities. (TB)

Many participant-satisfaction evaluation forms used in staff development programs are ritualistic contrivances that are poorly designed and administered. This article describes five rules for generating evaluation forms based on clarity, a decision focus, brevity, anonymity, and respondents' opportunity to make additional suggestions. Careful…

This article finds that two aspects of phonological working memory, phonological coding and phonological recoding, appear to be important elements in the relationship between phonological working memory and phonological awareness. It suggests an approach to training in phonological awareness and reports an intervention study in which phonological…

Argues that social language should be delayed in a second language course until a core of factual language has been built up. The article presents an account of verb-form clustering and of some of the problems caused by discrete treatment of verb forms. It also suggests how to implement verb clustering within the context of syllabus design. (11…

This study reviews characteristics of child language intervention approaches described as "naturalistic." An analysis of 34 interventions for young children with developmental delays found that the procedures used in "naturalistic" language interventions varied extensively. Results indicate a lack of agreement on what…

As in a US study, the most problematic factors affecting delivery of special education programs in nonurban areas of New Zealand were recruitment and retention of qualified staff, resistance to change, and long distances between schools. Lists 19 problems in special education service delivery, suggested solutions to 12 specific problems,…

Argues that writing about physics forces students to come to grips with the material and with what they do and do not understand. Describes the use of writing in an introductory course. Discusses benefits of a decentralized "writing across the curriculum" program. (JRH)

To ensure that all teacher candidates were computer competent before entering preservice education, one university assessed students' computer skills and determined the type of assessment they preferred. Surveys indicated that students preferred hands-on assessment of computer skills, so the school developed a technology portfolio to assess…

Undergirded by a constructivist framework, the Foxfire teaching approach helps teachers and students develop ownership for learning. The paper summarizes the 11 Foxfire core practices and describes a Foxfire course for teachers. Teachers' responses to the training demonstrate that having the approach modeled is a powerful tool for changing their…

Presents a history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), focusing on procedural changes from 1969 to date and questions whether NAEP results should be used for accountability purposes. It recommends that NAEP should be insulated from reform efforts and that NAEP's monitoring of population levels of educational achievement…

Describes development of a rubric for assessing class discussion. Discusses procedures, student roles, and assessment in a "scored discussion." Notes that students find the process to be both demanding and informing. (RS)