Education & Pedagogy

The 1983 joint meeting, attended by approximately 450 administrators, school board members, teachers, state legislators, parents, and other interested persons, was the location for the United States Department of Education's announcement of a national policy on rural education. The proceedings contain texts of the 5 major conference addresses, abstracts of 40 conference papers, and the conference agenda. Keynote speakers included United States Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Lawrence R. Davenport, and Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, Robert M. Worthington. Conference papers address administration/management (6), computers (7), curriculum development (6), finance (3), media (3), research (2), special education (2), staff development (5), and teaching/learning (6). Specific topics include school board administrator role, alternative school calendars, impact and role of microcomputers on rural schools, New Mexico microcomputer van program, improving agricultural offerings, contract vocational education, current state legislation for small and rural school finance, recruitment and retention of special education teachers, individualized staff development, Oregon rural based teacher development program, parent involvement in rural schools, and opportunities for socialization through student activities. (NEC)

This module, one in a series of competency-based administrator education learning packages, focuses on specific professional competencies needed by vocational education administrators. The competencies upon which these modules are based were identified and verified through research as being important to the success of local administrators of vocational education at the secondary or postsecondary levels. The materials are designed for use by administrators or prospective administrators working individually or in groups under the direction of a resource person. This module is designed to give vocational education administrators the background information and skills needed to select appropriate promotional activities and techniques, coordinate their development and implementation, and monitor and evaluate their success in achieving the goals and objectives established for the school's promotional program. This module contains an introduction and four sequential learning experiences. Overviews, which precede each learning experience, contain the objectives for each experience and a brief description of what the learning experience involves. Resources are suggested. The final learning experience requires the student/administrator to demonstrate an actual administrative situation in which the vocational education program can be promoted to the satisfaction of a resource person who is assessing competence in the situation. (KC)

Part of a series of position papers prepared by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), this pamphlet considers the need for extended teacher education programs. Seven alternative models of extended teacher preparation programs are described: (1) four-plus-one (B.A.); (2) four-plus-one (internship); (3) five-year (B.A. plus masters); (4) five-plus-one-year (master's degree plus internship); (5) four-plus-two-years; (6) four-plus-three-years (doctorate); and (7) three-plus-three years (doctorate). This examination discounts two commonly believed notions which have had a profound and not fully recognized impact on teacher education programs. The first is the view that teacher education programs are controlled by the entire community and not by the schools, colleges, or departments of education. The second, persisting notion is that prospective teachers do not study the subject matter that they will later teach in the other university departments of liberal arts and sciences or subject-matter discipline. In a discussion of the extended teacher preparation program, five sets of issues and problems are addressed: (1) adequacy of teacher education knowledge base; (2) additional costs associated with extension; (3) difficulties encountered by colleges and universities; (4) legal matters; and (5) relationships with external groups. (JMK)

Citing recent literature and programs, this resource review considers the factors contributing to the increased emphasis on international education in the community colleges, highlights some of the programs and cooperative efforts advancing international education, and provides a list of the resources and organizations available to help community colleges implement international education. After stressing the importance of international education for the well-being of the world community, the review provides information on the growth of foreign student enrollments in two-year colleges, the increasing importance of foreign tourists and trade to the U.S. economy, and the implications of technical assistance and educational exchange programs for community colleges. Following statements from the leadership of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC) concerning international education, a number of national and regional consortia devoted to international education are discussed. Next, selected publications examining the status and development of international education are cited, and the information resources of the AACJC and the ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges are recommended. Concluding comments urge community colleges to provide leadership in international education. A bibliography, lists of the addresses of 10 international education consortia and of other organizations and agencies providing assistance and information, and an annotated resources list are included. (AYC)

The six-chapter book highlights the main issues and findings of the 1979 New Delhi Conference on Non-formal Education for Development. Chapter 1 defines non-formal education, discusses development needs, and discusses motivation at the political, operational, and participatory level. Chapter 1 includes two case studies of non-formal education in Tanzania and Botswana. Chapter 2 describes four target groups for non-formal education: children outside school, unemployed youth, adult illiterates and new literates, women and girls. It discusses vocational training needs of women, includes case studies, and describes Jamaica's JAMAL Program. Chapter 3 discusses program planning for non-formal education, curriculum development for school-aged children, methods and media, and training for policy makers and planners. The chapter presents a model curriculum for non-formal education of village children. Chapter 4 discusses the research and evaluation of non-formal education using traditional research, action research, and participatory research. Chapter 5 uses four case studies to discuss operational problems of non-formal education. Chapter 6 discusses the coordination, resources, and financing of non-formal education. In addition to a complete list of conference papers, a bibliography includes suggestions for further reading about the subject. (SB)

To better serve administrators, teaching staff, parents, and others active in Title VII bilingual education in a region comprised of New Mexico and parts of Arizona, Utah, and Colorado in which the principal tribes are Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo, the 1979-80 Handbook provides a complete listing and explanation of American Indian Bilingual Education Center (AIBEC) goals and objectives, a complete description of AIBEC services, and step-by-step procedures for requesting those services. The Handbook defines the AIBEC service delivery systems in terms of overall goals and objectives which involve: (1) updating programmatic needs assessment; (2) providing training, technical, and programmatic assistance coordinated with other agencies; (3) pilot testing of instructional materials; (4) maintaining and improving service area communications systems; (5) collecting and disseminating American Indian bilingual education materials via the AIBEC Materials Bank; (6) training parents; (7) assisting institutions of higher education (IHEs) in developing teacher training programs and certification standards; (8) completing comparative analysis and linguistic survey of service area languages; and (9) aiding local education agencies (LEAs) in responding to new Title VII legislation requirements. Appendices contain sample request and evaluation forms; lists of regional LEAs, IHEs, and State Education Agencies; and addresses of General Assistance Centers. (NEC)

This study provides an extensive review of the literature on distance education and of representative distance education projects and institutions in the United States and abroad, emphasizing those using telecommunications technologies. The introductory section includes a sketch of the information age and its implications for adult education and outlines the scope of the paper. The second section explains the current boom in new delivery systems, defines distance education and the distance learner, and describes how new technologies are changing the shape of correspondence study. The next section recounts the history of educational broadcasting and of public television and radio in the United States. Then, the emergence of productive collaboration between public broadcasters and educational agencies is discussed, as well as the instructional design process for telecourses, multimedia instruction, and telecommunications consortia. In the next section, distance education is characterized as an international movement, with special attention to the development and influence of the British Open University. Also discussed are methods for maintaining quality in distance education. Another section reviews research on distance learning systems and instructional effectiveness of nonprint media. Concluding sections of the monograph provide a look at the future, a glossary of terms on telecommunications technologies, a list of references, and a selected bibliography. (SK)

This set of 61 student learning modules deals with various topics pertaining to human development. The modules, which are designed for use in performance-based vocational education programs, each contain the following components: an introduction for the student, a performance objective, a variety of learning activities, content information, a student self-check, recommended references, and an evaluator's final checklist. Included among the topics addressed in the individual chapters of the modules are the following topics: consumer and homemaking education (health and nutrition, personal appearance and grooming, puberty, menstruation, the human reproductive system, venereal diseases, teenage pregnancy, babysitting, first aid, and handling emergencies); family life education (interpersonal communication, interpersonal relationships, changing lifestyles, pregnancy, the role of the single adult, preparing for marriage, birth control methods, making marital adjustments, observing family traditions, enrichment activities for the family, drugs and alcohol, separation and divorce, living with elderly persons, and adjusting to death); education for parenthood (the expectant family, labor and delivery, postpartum care, layettes, infant toys and equipment, promoting children's health and well being, toilet training, child care, and providing educational opportunities for children); and child development (infant care, children's toys, play activities for preschoolers, assisting children at mealtimes, and handling illnesses and injuries). (MN)

The study was intended to replicate the Albright-Preskill study (1981) in Pierce County, Washington in order to assess the status of collaborative individualized education program (IEP) development between vocational education and special education at the secondary level. Questionnaires were completed by 192 secondary level vocational education staff members. Conclusions were formed around the six major components of the survey instrument (sample findings in parentheses): preliminary questions (73% reported they had handicapped learners in class); background information (69.5% of the vocational education programs are concentrated in only three service areas--Business and Office, Home Economics, and Industrial Arts); program development information (75% of the vocational staff indicated no involvement in the vocational aspects of the IEP); implementation (Ss ranked instructional material modification and individual instruction in the lab setting as the highest priority areas that need to be strengthened in order to provide vocational instruction to handicapped learners); review/evaluation (59% of the vocational staff reported they had not shared process evaluation information with the IEP team); and general information (in-school, vocational education staff appear to use counselors almost as much as they do special education personnel). Five major recommendations are offered, including the formulaton and application of a country-wide process model for IEP collaboration. Appendixes, including a sample questionnaire, constitute the bulk of the report. (CL)

This booklet describes 14 bilingual/migrant educational programs that have been validated as successful by the Joint Dissemination Review Panel (JDRP) of the U. S. Department of Education. Developed by individual school districts in response to their local needs, these projects are available for adoption by other districts. Some projects receive federal funding as "developer demonstrators" to provide teacher training, materials, and technical assistance to those who adopt their programs. The National Diffusion Network facilitates the exchange of information between developers of successful projects and adopting districts. The booklet contains an alphabetical table of contents, project entries, and indices of programs by category and validated grade levels. The Department of Education can assist in a program adoption only at validated grade levels. Program entries include a brief description, audience description, validated grade levels, requirements and costs for the adopting school district, services available from the demonstrating district, contact person, developmental funding source, and JDRP number and validation date. Two or more programs address the following aspects: adult education, basic skills, career development, classroom management, dropout prevention, English as a second language, individualized instruction, language acquisition, language arts, mathematics, oral language development, parent involvement, preschool education, reading, school community programs, screening tests, staff development, and tutoring. (SV)

A report to the Mayor from the Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education, focusing on improving public postsecondary education in the District of Columbia, is presented. The three issues involved are: (1) many postsecondary education services are being offered by many different agencies and institutions in the city, but there is no one central entity charged with coordinating and developing them; (2) policy and plans for public postsecondary education have been developed in an ad hoc fashion, and they have generally not evolved within a comprehensive plan that would allow orderly and productive change; and (3) one major concern for most of those who testified before the Commission was the plight of children who are dropping out of the educational system at an early age. Challenges addressed include preventing dropouts, providing opportunity ladders up from poverty, making occupational and social mobility possible, reducing income and class differences, responding to the District's employment needs, and succeeding through education. Recommendations by the Commission include establishing an education commission or board to coordinate education policy development, reorganizing the postsecondary functions that are now within several agencies into one statewide office, developing a comprehensive system of public postsecondary education under the Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia, and developing a plan to publicize the achievements of the District's educational institutions. Contains about 105 references. (SM)

Proposals for restructuring and integration of special and general education, known as the regular education initiative (REI), represent a revolution in the basic concepts related to the education of handicapped students that have provided the foundation of special education for over a century. Education policy, as presented by Presidents Reagan and Bush, has consisted of: fostering an image of achieving excellence, regardless of substantive change; federal disengagement from education policy; and block funding of compensatory programs. All three strategies are viewed as having a negative effect on programs for special needs students. Thus, the REI is considered a flawed policy initiative which focuses on a small number of highly emotional issues such as integration, nonlabeling, efficiency, and excellence for all. Further objections to the REI are that it does not have the support of critical constituencies, rests on illogical premises, ignores the issue of specificity in proposed reforms, and reflects a cavalier attitude toward experimentation and research. Several changes in direction are recommended for the achievement of meaningful reforms; these include obtaining the support of critical constituencies, increasing attention to the effectiveness of educational strategies rather than the place in which they are implemented, and focusing efforts on incremental improvements in the current system. (Author/JDD)

Analyzed was the effectiveness of communications practices used between a sample of 141 directors of special education in Tennessee and "involved others," which included 141 school board chairpersons, 141 superintendents, 48 other central office program directors, 48 principals, 48 regular education teachers, 48 special education teachers, 48 aides, and 48 parents. Questionnaires elicited perceptions concerning communication in special education programs and measured the extent of knowledge of special education laws, regulations, and best practices. Analysis of responses received from 78% of the first group and 53% of the second group produced the following findings: (1) both local special education directors and involved others identified face-to-face personal discussions as the preferred means of communicating special education information, followed by telephone discussions, then small group meetings; (2) teachers and principals also favored letters/memos, bulletins, and calendars as communication methods; (3) most of the involved others had little knowledge of special education laws, regulations, and best practices; (4) the central office program directors had the most knowledge; school board chairpersons and parents had the least; and (5) there was a significant relationship between the knowledge possessed by the involved others and communications effectiveness, attitudes, and levels of interaction. (Author/JDD)

Specific issues to be resolved, prior to including federal programs information on school and school district universe files, are identified and discussed as part of the Education Data Improvement Project of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Goals of this Project are to describe state collection of data elements currently in the common core of data of the National Center for Education Statistics and to present recommendations to make the common core of data more comprehensive, comparable, and timely. These profiles represent a sampling of individual state data collection practices in isolation from other states. They are continually being revised. Analysis will result in matrices comparing, state-by-state, the practices reflected in the profile. Profiles contain information about six federally-funded programs: (1) Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act; (2) Bilingual Education; (3) Migrant Education; (4) Special Education; (5) Vocational Education; and (6) Food and Nutrition Services. They include the state definitions of the programs and a summary of data that the states currently collect. The profiles and recommendations to improve them are summarized in three tables. Five additional tables give the state-by-state components of definitions used in the school and school district universe files. (SLD)

This study investigates ways in which distance education could make a greater contribution toward solving the education problems in the Republic of South Africa. The nature of distance education and the types of distance education institutions are examined, and typical characteristics of distance teaching as compared with contact teaching are also considered from an institutional point of view. Seven South African learning needs which may be addressed by distance education are identified: (1) general literacy; (2) language training; (3) conceptual development (compensatory teaching); (4) inservice teacher training; (5) adult education beyond literacy; (6) training of industry trainers; and (7) common occupational and general life skills in the work situation. Particular attention is given to the educational needs of the black and colored populations of South Africa. In addition, the existing distance education infrastructure in South Africa is described. Ten specific recommendations are made, some in relation to the specific areas of learning, and some with regard to the standing and practice of distance education in South Africa. The text is supplemented by 14 tables and three diagrams, and nine appendices provide further details on the issues raised in the text. (40 references) (Author/EW)