Education & Pedagogy

An overview of the Pierce County Vocational/Special Education Cooperative is presented along with data on the employment level, quality of employment, and attendance in postsecondary education settings of graduates of this program (N=120), a preintervention group (N=120), and a comparison cohort (N=564). Significant differences are noted in favor of the intervention group. (Author)

Places the financial pressures faced by students, their parents, and colleges and universities in paying higher education costs within the context of long-run, pendulumlike swings in society's interest in promoting access to higher education and enhancing its quality. Higher education is in a transitional period and moving toward improving quality. Includes 13 references. (MLH)

Challenges the following assumptions: (1) parental choice will motivate schools to improve programs to compete more effectively for students; (2) private not-for-profit schools will respond to marketplace incentives; (3) research indicates an advantage of private over public organizations; (4) public choice theory promotes school improvement; and (5) choices are equal for all families. (AF)

Survey respondents from Holmes Group institutions (n=19), when compared to their non-Holmes (n=25) counterparts, were more in agreement that current standards in teacher education programs are inadequate; furthermore, they were more in favor of extended programs, increasing the number of liberal arts courses, and increasing the amount of field experience. (IAH)

Examines ways in which ecological factors have influenced education among Russia's northern nationalities. Considers differences in socialization resulting from northerners' traditionalism and unique attachment to their environment. Makes preliminary conclusions about educational outcomes in the north, including formation of a national intelligentsia, education's increasing importance in determining values, and comparatively low educational effectiveness. (CH)

A review of the history of vocational and postsecondary technical education in the United States and the Soviet Union demonstrates how historical background, social values, environment, and institutional characteristics affected the development of two different systems. The seemingly fragmented pluralist model in the United States appears more integrated and effective than the rational, planned model of the Soviet Union. (SK)

Tracing the history of federal education policy in the 1960s and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) reveals shared assumptions about poverty and the government's role. These assumptions made educational reform essential to the Great Society, even though the federal commitment did not become local priority. (SLD)

Discusses a survey involving over 800 Soviet secondary school students. Reports that 55.9 percent were satisfied with labor instruction, production practice, and productive labor. Reviews other findings. Considers needs to improve career guidance and cooperative education programs. Advocates early adolescent participation in school-labor associations. Encourages development of an individual work ethic. (CH)

Examines the history of higher education for African-American Mississippians from the nineteenth century, focusing on the 1987 "Ayers v. Mabus" desegregation case, which charged the maintenance of separate and unequal systems of higher education in Mississippi. Finds that desegregation is a remedy for segregation but not for educational inequality. (JB)

Recommends that drama be included in early childhood education, emphasizing preschool education. Cites research linking drama with enhanced language acquisition in children, ages 3-8. Emphasizes drama's effectiveness as a multisensory learning medium. Notes programs offering drama training for teachers. Suggests changes in teacher education and certification requirements. (DB)

Discusses a study which examined state use of prereferral intervention for students with handicaps, determining whether specialized training in prereferral is provided in states promoting it. Survey results indicated that 34 state education agencies promoted prereferral intervention, and 49 percent of those implementing it were trained in classroom intervention strategies. (SM)

Examines the impact of Texas' student competency testing (done before admission to teacher education programs and teacher certification) on faculty ethnic composition. Statistics indicate only 5 percent of American teachers will be minorities in 2000. Recruitment and retention of minorities in teacher education and development of nondiscriminatory tests are priorities. (SM)

Chronicles the development of distance education in library and information science from the pre-Dewey era to the present, including correspondence study, extension efforts, and telecommunications delivery. The literature and research on this topic are reviewed, and the Library and Information Science Distance Education Consortium, a group of professional organizations and 15 library schools, is described. (58 references) (SD)

A new longitudinal study reveals that the negative association between hours worked and grade point average is weaker for high schoolers in cooperative education (co-op) than in "outside" jobs. High school co-op leads to higher wages soon after graduation. However, students who curtail their education to pursue full-time employment could negatively affect future earnings. (23 references) (MLH)

Summarizes data extracted from a national survey of Canadian provinces concerning educational policy towards arts education. Discovers greater centralized control in the more populous provinces with the remote areas ceding authority to local boards. Different provinces appear to conceive of the arts in significantly different ways. (MJP)