Education & Pedagogy

The term "urban education" generally refers to that education provided in inner-city schools for mainly poor and minority students. Although billions of dollars have been spent on special programs to upgrade the achievement levels of such students, urban education must be regarded as a failure, for it has left its participants without the reading, writing, listening, math, and science skills necessary for access to higher education or employment. Discrimination is evident throughout urban schools, and is shown by, or aggravated by, faulty planning, lack of interagency planning, outdated teacher and administrator training, piecemeal reform, the shortcomings of community control, and racist attitudes toward intelligence tests. Urban education can work, however, if positive attitudes and respect for diversity are coupled with the following strategies for change: coordinated planning, updated management systems, audiovisual aids, self-instructional centers, academic performance contracting for teachers, exposing youngsters to educational and cultural activities, changes in IQ testing and teacher training, curriculum reform, legal action, and self-help. (RDN)

This study addressed two research questions: (1) To what extent do teacher educators inquire and carry out research in the field of teacher education? and (2) To what extent do teacher educators identify with the field of teacher education? Responses to a survey questionnaire were received from 95 teacher educators who regularly teach methods courses. They represented a national sample of large and small institutions, Research and Development (R&D) oriented institutions, and institutions not oriented toward R&D. A total of 32 institutions were represented. In the main, the findings suggest that a small proportion of teacher educators are involved in teacher education research, and that one reason that may account for this fact is that as academics, they identify more closely with other disciplines within the broad field of education. In discussing these findings, it is suggested that deans of education might employ professors in their teacher education programs who have been trained in teacher education, and that teacher education researchers are in need of a professional association with which they can identify. (JD)

The first part of this document contains descriptions of some of the curriculum development projects initiated by the Department of Education in Hawaii in 1983-84. Included are projects in computer applications and literacy, curriculum for intermediate students, international education, and development of instructional materials for international and bilingual education. In the second section, locally validated programs on energy education and oral history activity are described. The third section describes the adult education projects in Hawaii during 1983-84. The last two sections contain descriptions of the continuing adult education projects. Each project description includes: (1) a statement of its objectives; (2) the needs which resulted in a decision to initiate the project; (3) the products anticipated upon its completion; (4) the products anticipated by the end of the 1983-84 school year; (5) the major activities expected during the life of the project; (6) the number and types of schools, teachers, and students involved during the school year; (7) the types of evaluation to be conducted; and (8) the contact persons for additional information. (JD)

This volume contains materials for use in conducting an articulation workshop to train secondary and postsecondary educators to promote equal access to vocational education. Addressed in the individual sections of the guide are the following topics: inequalities in the workplace, the role of articulation in promoting equal access, outreach, career exploration and role models, recruitment and enrollment, teaching methods, student retention and supportive services, student placement, and follow-up. Each chapter contains numerous resource materials, including handouts, transparency masters, forms, worksheets, surveys, learning activities, fact sheets, checklists, guidelines, excerpts from newspaper articles, poetry, vocabulary lists, and role play exercises. The 1984 forum agenda precedes the workshop materials. (MN)

This book provides the international reader with an overview of education for children and young persons in Sweden and indicates trends likely to develop over the next 5 or 10 years. Its main concern is with municipal schooling, which today includes preschool education, the compulsory comprehensive schools for all children between the ages of 7 and 16, and upper secondary schools, as well as municipal adult education. Encompassing the goals, content, and organization of schools, the book is designed to describe Swedish schools and their activities in an impartial way. Problems concerning the organization of school work are described, especially as they affect 16- to 18-year-olds in upper secondary school. Main sections of the book describe school reforms from 1950 onwards, municipal responsibilities, state controls, forms of education, distinguishing characteristics of Swedish schooling, social benefits and pupil welfare, administration and allocation of costs, school staff, and educational trends. Appended are lists of state-run institutions of higher education and general and supplementary study programs in higher education. (RH)

Undergraduate education at large research universities and the importance of assessment are considered. After summarizing some special characteristics of large research universities, two problems are addressed: the lack of purposiveness in undergraduate education, and the widespread failure to achieve the learning outcomes professed for undergraduate education. The potential of assessment to introduce more coherence and purposiveness into undergraduate education in large research universities is discussed. Limits of assessment in solving the problem are also considered, with attention to other aspects of the problem: funding for undergraduate education, and integration of undergraduate education with the other functions of research universities. Principles to guide the design of assessment activities include: (1) assessment of learning outcomes should be part of a framework that is accepted by faculty and includes deliberation about what students should learn, inquiry into what they do learn, and action to adjust educational practices; (2) the assessment framework should be accepted by students and employers; (3) assessment should emphasize continuities with learning in elementary/secondary education; (4) formal assessment should be employed; and (5) the use of intensively evaluated pilot programs should be increased. (SW)

This manual is designed to assist work experience education coordinators in combining different learning activities described in a 94-activity work experience education instructional guide published in 1981. Presented first is a list of the titles of the individual activities organized according to the following subject areas: input or evaluation activities, career development, how to get a job, how to keep a job, how to leave a job, and economics. An overview of the work experience education instructional process is provided. The remaining two sections of the guide consist of a sample class lesson plan and instructions for maintaining an individual student record. Appendixes to the manual include a list of the goals of work experience education programs cross-referenced to learning activities and evaluation instruments, a list of suggested ideas for teaching various employability concepts, guidelines for making supervision service calls, a suggested procedure for coordinating on-the-job learning activities, and a list of questions for employers concerning student progress. (MN)

Rather than approaching problems in teacher education programs in terms of an "either-or" formulation, an approach using premises on education, meaning, persons, and choice from educational and psychoanalytical theory can provide broadly conceived resolutions. This approach cuts across questions usually raised about teacher education curriculum, governance, and goals and provides a more inclusive base on which to resolve them. At the University of California at Los Angeles, a program for those who wish to teach at the kindergarten through sixth grade level is composed of four didactic courses: (1) psychological foundations of education, focusing on a developmental approach to human behavior; (2) curriculum and instruction, viewed from a psychoanalytic and humanistic perspective; (3) cultural foundations of education and the importance of the school as an institution; and (4) supervised student teaching. Much use is made of short stories, novels, drama, and audiovisual materials in the courses. Other developments, based on Kant's distinctions between constitutive (ontology) and regulatory (epistomology) principles can assist teacher educators in identifying reasons for individuals' engaged-in experiences and their underlying motives. (FG)

Some of the realities, at a state and national level, of implementing new teacher education standards that emphasize basic skills are discussed. Reported on is Kansas' response to the national trend toward teacher basic skill testing (five house bills concerning teacher education). The Kansas State Board of Education proposal for a competency testing requirement is described, as well as a one-year teaching internship, which would help teachers in areas that can not be tested, such as classroom management. Recent measures of the academic potential of teacher education majors are reviewed as are ways to reverse this downward trend. Preliminary research findings of elementary undergraduate majors at Kansas State University are discussed with regard to the relationship between a proposed 2.5 grade point average (GPA) requirement and students' performance on basic tests administered in reading and mathematics. It is noted that the trends report the existence of little relationship between students' competence in the basic skills and their college academic performance as measured by GPA. (JM)

Major issues addressed during a 1979 international meeting of experts on special education, which was sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), are summarized. In addition, recommendations are offered for UNESCO's immediate and future special education program. The following topics are discussed: early detection of handicaps, assessment and intervention; parents as partners in the education of their handicapped child; training; adapted special education; and integration of the handicapped into normal educational structures and active life. Attention is also directed to principles developed by the experts to guide UNESCO in drafting special education programs. An attempt is made to integrate theories and effective practice in the realm of special education, and ways in which practices can be adapted to areas with severe econcomic and social problems are described. Specifically, the experiences of the following countries are briefly discussed: Jamaica, the Philippines, Malawi (East Africa), and Algeria. Appended materials include a questionnaire administered to experts, and lists of participants and papers delivered. (SEW)

A project was undertaken to develop a concise restatement and rationale for the basis of a federal role in vocational education and to provide the back-up data supporting the cooperative relationship between the federal role and the subsidiary roles in vocational education. The project's activities were achieved by the work of an eight-member study team that developed a final report concerning the basis for a federal investment in vocational education. Delivered along with the report was a 10-page annex that summarized recent literature on the topic of federal involvement in vocational education. The success of the project is evident from the fact that the project report was in use even before it emerged in its final form. The report has already been utilized to elaborate the federal role in vocational education, to provide a basis for omitting vocational education from the Vocational Education Consolidation Act, and to establish a rationale for reauthorizing legislation. (Author/MN)

This document summarizes the recommendations adopted by the participants of the International Conference on Environmental Education (New Delhi 1981) and presents the "Delhi Declaration on Environmental Education" arising out of discussions at the conference. In addition to a list of general recommendations, lists of other recommendations are presented, focusing on (1) formal education needs (school level, university level, research, and curriculum development); (2) non-formal education (general, training, mass media, role of non-governmental organizations); (3) strategies at national, regional, and international levels; and (4) action plans. In the "Delhi Declaration," individuals, groups, communities, national governments, and national/international voluntary agencies are called on to promote the cause of environmentally acceptable and sustainable development through all-round environmental education campaigns and appropriate action plans. Additional points of the declaration are also presented. The document also includes the inaugural and president's addresses, synopsis of conference trusts, and in appendixes, the organizing committee, conference program, and lists of overseas and Indian participants. (Author/JN)

The political and educational rationales for bilingual education in the United States and the implications of transitional and maintenance programs are examined. Following a period of adherence to English-only instruction which resulted in academic failure for minority children, support grew for the concept of bilingual education. The provisions of the 1968 Bilingual Education Act, the revised Act of 1974, the Lau versus Nichols decision, and the Lau regulations are described. The underlying assumptions, goals, and methodologies of transitional and maintenance bilingual education are compared. Transitional bilingual education utilizes native language instruction only as a remedial approach to the learning of English, while maintenance bilingual education recognizes the value of minority students' cultural and linguistic resources and seeks to develop skills in two languages. Although the transitional and maintenance models are similar in their goals and methodology, their underlying philosophies are mutually exclusive. In conclusion, it is important to determine which aspects of each model are most beneficial to the student and implement the most effective combined approach. A list of references is appended. (RW)

This document is a monograph in a personnel development series addressing issues that are pertinent for policy-making personnel concerned with personnel preparation for moderately and severely handicapped populations in the area of vocational preparation. The discussion is divided into three major sections. Section 1 addresses the state of the art in personnel development and includes definitions of terms; information on personnel training programs; personnel certification; research in personnel preparation; current problems, issues, and trends in personnel preparation; and personnel needs. Section 2 provides a series of suggested program guidelines for personnel development with program details for planning and operating preservice and inservice programs. In section 3 five programs are described that have been identified as exemplary in preparing personnel to serve the severely handicapped. Appendixes include performance procedure and professional behavior standards checklists and an annotated listing of suggested readings. (YLB)

These conference proceedings deal with the role school psychologists can play in the design and delivery of vocational education programs for handicapped persons. The papers describe the general state of the art for vocational education programs as well as specific programs such as career planning, programs funded by CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act), individual educational plans developed by parents and teachers, and vocational assessment procedures. School psychologists are urged to develop specific competencies in career development, vocational education programming, assessment strategies, and counseling techniques for the handicapped. New university training programs are suggested in the field of vocational school psychology. The need for appropriate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and parent participation is also emphasized. Additionally, a conference summary is provided along with two appendices containing the conference program and a bibliography on vocational school psychology. (JAC)