Highlights lessons learned from a small, grant-funded teacher improvement project in Guinea that went nationwide, including: it is possible to make such a system work on a national scale in a resource-scarce country; effective initial and continued training is critical for all participants; it is difficult to provide close-to-school assistance…

This paper reacts to testimony on early childhood special education research before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education (EC 632 080). It notes the real technical and practical difficulties of developing valid assessments and research on the effectiveness of interventions. It urges greater attention to identifying…

Studied teacher evaluation practice in 27 North Carolina school districts 14 years after the initial implementation of the North Carolina Teacher Appraisal System. Findings show more inconsistencies in practice and less support for the system than would be desirable. (SLD)

Notes that bullying behavior is thought to be one of the major causes of violence in schools. Suggests that implementing programs to improve student behavior associated with character traits is a task worth undertaking. Proposes that everyone in the school community should be involved. Concludes that with these improvements in student behavior and…

Reviews the literature on the roles of community-wide collaboration in substance abuse prevention. Three broad strategies through which collaboration may have its effects are identified. Alternative theories of effects, means of measurement, and results and conclusions from studies of collaborative interventions for prevention are discussed.…

Explores the operational definitions of community-based literacy learning, first by discussing literacy as situated activity and then by proposing three separate orientations to the concept of community as it relates to the literacy curriculum. Discusses three different orientations to community that appear in the literature on literacy reform:…

Discusses trends in early child development (ECD) programs. Considers future trends in evaluation research in terms of seven prototype designs expected to be widely used in the 1990s. Examines recent developmental theory and its implications for evaluating ECD programs. Lists principles that ECD programs need to follow if they are to convince…

Investigates research evidence that has been cited as supporting long-term benefits of preschool education. Compares preschool education with Britain's 11+ exam program. Proposes a theoretical framework for study of preschool programs that sees preschool not as an isolated educational strategy but as one element in children's transition into…

Reviews research that presents the criteria by which adult literacy program effectiveness can be assessed. (MG)

Describes Career Decision-Making Course, designed to help high school students develop decisional attitudes and competencies that increase readiness to deal with career choice tasks and facilitate behavioral responses that meet these tasks. Reports results from field test of course in which, compared to controls, tenth grade students who…

Describes reading camps in Hungary, which numbered around 140 in the late 1980s and lasted from 10 to 14 days each summer. Notes that these camps arouse interest through a series of conversations between equal partners. (RS)

Programs to encourage dropouts to finish school need to overcome the roadblocks of credits, time, and support services. Highlights nine specific hallmarks of effective dropout prevention programs gleaned from a study of 479 programs titled: "School Dropouts: Survey of Local Programs." (MLF)

States that small-group instruction has been used for many years, but introducing cooperation into small groups of learners has given a new twist to an old strategy. Reviews the literature and research on cooperative learning in the context of mathematics instruction and explains what it is, how to implement it, and when to use it. (Author)

Randomly assigned 1,218 smokers to cells in 4 (nicotine gum delivered ad lib, fixed regimen nicotine gum, placebo gum, no gum) x 3 (self-selected relapse prevention modules, randomly administered modules, no modules) design. Subjects receiving nicotine gum were more likely to be abstinent at 2- and 6-month followups. Fixed regimen accounted for…

This special report looks at what is wrong with traditional accounting for training and offers a new model--the consensus accounting model--to help measure the costs and benefits of training. (60 references) (Author)