This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Laurence Armand French, Laura Dickson, Amy Esler, Deb LaPointe, Joan L. Buttram, Victor Saenz, Anne M. Smith, Nina Shokraii Rees, David Alan Sapp, and Heidi Frank.
(2000). School Choice 2000 Annual Report. The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder. During 1999, the school choice movement succeeded in winning the enactment of an education tax credit program in Illinois and two new charter school laws, in addition to the sweeping (although subsequently overturned) school choice plan in Florida. Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Texas also attempted to enact school choice legislation. In addition, a survey found that 1.25 million low-income parents would take advantage of scholarships to attend a better private or religious school if given a choice. None of the lawsuits against school choice was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, although many are pending. Public opinion shows continued interest in school choice, especially at the grass-roots level among African Americans, but the development that could significantly affect the future of the movement is the presidential election. Research has shown that school choice works, but many challenges lie ahead for the supporters of school choice. Two charts show governor support of school vouchers and school choice and charter school programs at a glance. [More] Descriptors: Charter Schools, Educational Vouchers, Elementary Secondary Education, Free Choice Transfer Programs
(2000). Entrepreneurship Education. In 1983, an entrepreneurial engineering class was developed at the University of New Mexico. The course meets for 3 hours 1 evening per week for 15 or 16 sessions. Lectures, reading assignments, group work, interactive class discussions, and presentations by practitioners are used to help learners students develop the research and practice skills needed to produce start-up business plans. The course has evolved based on student and instructor evaluations. The businesses proposed by course participants have targeted industrial, commercial, consumer, and government markets and have been based on the development and sale of products such as the following: hardware, software, systems, chemicals, biomedical products, biologicals, consulting services, and instrumentation. Class members have included engineering students (juniors and seniors), faculty, professional engineers and scientists, and retirees. Many class members have been professionals whose advanced degrees did not prepare them for entrepreneurship. Some course completers have started their own businesses or used the techniques taught in the course within larger businesses. Some businesses planned in the class have incorporated and had sales. One course participant started a company that now has offices in other countries. (An abbreviated copy of a syllabus recently used for the class is appended.) [More] Descriptors: Business Administration, Business Education, Business Skills, Case Studies
(2000). Appeals Processes for Students Who Fail Graduation Exams: How Do They Apply to Students with Disabilities? Synthesis Report 36. This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated state appeals processes for students with disabilities who fail state-mandated graduation exams. State Web sites were studied to determine the extent to which there are other options for demonstrating skills, to check the availability of these to students with disabilities, and to collect information on appeals processes and the availability of waivers. Findings indicate that of the 19 states that require graduation exams, 10 require students with disabilities to pass the same graduation exams as students without disabilities in order to receive a standard diploma. Only six states had appeals processes (Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Ohio), and these processes varied considerably from locally set procedures to relatively specific requirements. In one state, the appeals process is viewed as the avenue for students with disabilities to have access to accommodations. In most states, there is no evidence that students with disabilities have been considered. Further, states do not have data on the number of students involved in appeals processes, much less data disaggregated for students with disabilities. (Contains 15 references.) [More] Descriptors: Academic Accommodations (Disabilities), Achievement Tests, Disabilities, Due Process
(2000). Who Are Our Learners? What Do They Expect from Us? An Evaluation Tale. This paper argues that one of the keys to an effective distance learning system is an effective monitoring and evaluation system. The evaluative process enables college faculty and administration to identify and address problems distance learners are experiencing. Distance learning instructors at Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (New Mexico) developed a distance learning course evaluation survey for support personnel and instructors in order to address questions such as: Are course materials and objectives clear? Did the college provide the support students needed? Did course design meet the student's need for interaction with instructors? What course changes are necessary? A subcommittee consisting of faculty and staff members from several departments was charged with creating and administering a student survey and disseminating results. Distribution number is not reported, but the author comments that response rate was low. Findings indicated that: (1) 85% of distance learners were female; (2) 46% were between 31 and 49 years old; (3) 63% were White; and (4) 77% worked full time; (5) 50% would not have taken a course if distance learning had not been available. The paper concludes with a description of problems encountered with the survey, and future implications. [More] Descriptors: Access to Education, Community Colleges, Computer Mediated Communication, Distance Education
(2000). SIFT-OUT: Training for Systems Change in Early Intervention. Final Report. This report summarizes the activities of the SIFT-OUT program, a federally funded project designed to prepare teams of university faculty, family members, practitioners, and agency representatives from six states, to serve as leaders in providing early intervention training in their states. A total of 166 state-level early intervention leaders with personnel preparation responsibilities and 92 interdisciplinary team members from Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina participated directly in SIFT-OUT activities. Documented benefits of participation included: (1) statistically significant increases in faculty knowledge and skills in early intervention content and training strategies; (2) greater faculty commitment to participation in community-based inservice and technical assistance activities; (3) preservice and inservice training that is of higher quality; and (4) increased linkages among state agencies, institutions of higher education, and consumers for personnel preparation at the state level. Leaders in the six participating states have identified the SIFT-OUT project as a catalyst for positive changes that will endure, changes such as: family involvement; increased interdisciplinary preparation; establishment of standards; and increased campus-community collaboration. The report discusses the project's accomplishments, dissemination activities, challenges, evaluation results, and impact. An appendix includes preservice and inservice personnel preparation quality indicators. (Contains 37 references.) [More] Descriptors: Disabilities, Early Childhood Education, Early Intervention, Higher Education
(2001). Starting a Second Chance Home: A Guide for Policymakers and Practitioners. This guide outlines 10 basic steps for policymakers and practitioners interested in creating Second Chance Homes in their areas. Second Chance Homes provide stable, nurturing environments for teen families with access to child care, education, job training, counseling, and advice on parenting and life skills. The guide is based on interviews with program administrators in the five states with established Second Chance Home networks, on surveys of 36 Second Chance Home providers nationwide, and on interviews with current and former Second Chance Home residents. The chapters are: "What Are Second Chance Homes?: 'I Want the Best for My Daughter.' Katherine's Story"; "Step One: Defining Goals for Second Chance Homes. Putting the Pieces Back Together: Emerline's Story"; "Step Two: Recognizing Your Community's Needs"; "Step Three: Deciding Which Families To Serve. Serving Dads Too: 22 Park Avenue, Portland, Maine"; "Step Four (for Providers): Structuring Your Program. A Second Chance for Teen Moms in Foster Care: The Florence Crittenden Agency, Knoxville, Tennessee"; "Step Five (for Policymakers): Determining the State's Role. A Safe Haven: Jessica's Story and The Comprehensive Model: The Massachusetts Teen Living Program"; "Step Six: Getting Teen Parents in the Door. A Continuum of Care: Rhode Island's New Opportunity Homes"; "Step Seven: Selecting the Services You Will Provide. A State Responds to Welfare Reform: The Nevada Second Chance Homes Program"; "Step Eight: Finding Allies in Your Community. The First Statewide Network: New Mexico's Teen Parent Residence Program"; "Step Nine: Estimating Costs. The Power of One: The Wayne County Supportive Housing Program"; and "Step Ten: Evaluating Your Success. A Long Term Investment in the Future: Jaime's Story." Two appendixes present survey respondents and a sample assessment form for potential Second Home residents. [More] Descriptors: Adolescents, Early Parenthood, Family Programs, Parenting Skills
(2000). UCAN: A Four-State Rural Systemic Initiative. UCAN Measures of Progress toward Full Implementation: A Guide for Schools/Communities Involved in Reform. The Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico-Rural Systemic Initiative (UCAN-RSI) supports standards-based reform in mathematics, technology, and science education for rural students in its states. This guide provides UCAN schools and communities with a set of measures that describe the location of a school/community on the developmental continuum of reform. The guide aims to give change agents an accurate view of where they are in relation to where they want to go. In a set of tables, each component of the educational infrastructure is described as it would appear at five stages of the reform continuum: traditional system, awareness and exploration, transition, emerging new infrastructure, and performance-based system. The following infrastructure components are described: curriculum standards and accountability, curriculum content and instructional methods, teacher quality and ongoing professional development, policymaking process, policy alignment, converging resources, resource reallocation, partnerships and public engagement, public and political support, student achievement data collection, and achievement data reporting. A brief guide for overall rating of school implementation of reform is presented, followed by two forms for generating summary profiles. [More] Descriptors: Change Strategies, Educational Assessment, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education
(1998). Project BESTT: A Training Model for Rural, Multicultural, Bilingual Special Education. Rural schools along the New Mexico-Mexico border face unusual challenges in meeting the special education needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) population. This population includes Anglo Americans, Mexican Americans, Mexicans, and American Indians. Few school districts have an integrated or coordinated bilingual special education program, and many school personnel working with CLD exceptional children have only provisional endorsements in special or bilingual education. Project BESTT (Bilingual/ESL Special Education Teacher Training project) provides an innovative approach to this problem. Current project participants are 30 special education, regular education, and bilingual education personnel, primarily from minority backgrounds, who are working toward a Master's degree in bilingual special education at Western New Mexico State University. In view of the bilingual, tricultural flavor of the region, a major project goal is to promote cultural sensitivity among trainees. The project seeks to provide nearby school districts with a trained cadre of bilingual special education personnel, and in the long run, to refine and disseminate this preservice Master's degree program in bilingual special education. Steps in program development and strategies to ensure graduates the necessary competencies to work with CLD children are briefly outlined. Contains 23 references. [More] Descriptors: American Indian Education, Bilingual Special Education, Cross Cultural Training, Diversity (Student)
(2000). Education as Apprenticeship for Social Action: Composition Instruction, Critical Consciousness, and Engaged Pedagogy, Networks: An On-line Journal for Teacher Research. For one professional teacher of writing, language is one of many locations in which political struggles exist, and the classroom is a site from which he and his students can actively examine culture, developing strategies of language use that can facilitate social change. Critical and feminist pedagogies are two closely related ways of teaching from which socially created power structures can be examined so that society can move towards new ways of thinking and towards a new consciousness. Davis, Resta, Miller, and Fortman (1999) encourage instructors in their informative years of teaching (i.e., beginning teachers) to conduct a type of action research in their own classrooms to discover ways to develop more effective classroom practices. This article is about such research. The article begins with how critical and feminist theories informed the author/educator's teaching of first-year composition at New Mexico State University, a land-grant institution. It then describes the specific classroom strategies that he adopted based on his reading of these two theories. Finally, it explores the student outcomes attributed to the implementation of these theories during the spring 1999 semester. [More] Descriptors: Action Research, Classroom Techniques, Critical Pedagogy, Freshman Composition
(2000). Retaining Minority and Women Engineering Students: How Faculty Development and Research Can Foster Student Success. In the context of studies of retaining minority and women students in engineering, this study explored how students perceived that they learned best, how they interacted with other students and faculty, and how students interacted differently during class and between classes in pursuing their engineering studies. The sample was 515 undergraduate engineering students in 3 colleges in New Mexico. Exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were performed in responses to a paper and pencil student survey. Analysis of this data suggested that interactive learning styles differed among respondent subgroups, including male and female, white and minority, and freshmen and seniors. The interactive learning style of students learning by themselves contributed most to the success of four of the six respondent groups. Learning with other students contributed most highly to minority student success, while learning with faculty in an informal environment outside of class contributed most to freshman success. Traditional instructional strategies appeared to support the students who are most commonly successful in engineering programs, but these strategies may not provide the support more diverse students need to achieve positive student outcomes. (Contains 1 table and 10 references.) [More] Descriptors: Cognitive Style, College Students, Engineering Education, Females
(2000). Best Practices in School-to-Careers: The Retail Industry. This booklet, which is part of a series demonstrating the scope of employer involvement in school-to-careers, highlights the efforts of three retail employers and two "intermediary" organizations connecting workplace experiences to classroom learning for secondary education students. The introduction presents a series overview and lists the names, locations, and featured practices of the employers and organizations. The next sections examine the retail industry; reasons why school-to-careers is an ideal strategy for addressing retail industry skill needs; sales and service skill standards; and how the employer participation model works with students and teachers. These employers and intermediaries and their best practices are profiled: (1) the READY Program (Chicago, Illinois), which is helping employers provide a spectrum of opportunities for young people; (2) Sears (Albuquerque, New Mexico), which is helping prepare and hire from a trained pool of students; (3) Winn-Dixie (Jacksonville, Florida), which is highlighting career pathways from entry-level to vice president; (4) JCPenney (Dallas, Texas), which is taking part in curriculum development; and (5) Lancaster County Academy (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), which is serving all key partners. The following items are also included: (1) an annotated list of eight organizations and resources; (2) a glossary; and (3) a discussion of steps to build on the National Employer Leadership Council's agenda. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, Advisory Committees, Annotated Bibliographies, Career Awareness
(1968). Indian Education in New Mexico. The percentage of Indian children in New Mexico public schools is increasing, but dropout rates remain high and a low level of academic achievement by Indian children persists. An effort should be made to increase Johnson-O'Malley funds for Indian students, and more detailed accounting procedures should be required to ensure that these funds are used exclusively for Indian children. Schools of Education should include courses in linguistics to prepare teachers to teach English as a second language. Indian education must be based on a philosophy that respects and recognizes cultural differences. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, American Indians, Cultural Influences, Educational Finance
(2000). The Interview Process. SPEC Kit 260, SPEC Kit. This SPEC (Systems and Procedures Exchange Center) Kit reports results of a survey of ARL (Association of Research Libraries) that examined the nature and structure of the interview process at large research and academic libraries in the United States and Canada. By determining the nature and structure of the interview, it is hoped that candidates will have a guide from which to draw in their preparation for an interview. Libraries will benefit from better-prepared candidates and from exposure to procedures and practices of other institutions. A copy of the questionnaire with tabulated results is presented. The following representative documents from participating libraries are included: (1) interview schedules form the University of Alabama, Brown University (Rhode Island), Colorado State University; (2) interview policies and procedures from the University of Delaware, McMaster University (Canada), and the University of New Mexico; (3) interview questions from the University of Houston, Indiana University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology; (4) collateral information supplied to candidates from the University of California-Irvine, North Carolina State University, and Rutgers University (New Jersey); (6) announcement of candidate presentations from the University of Colorado, University of North Carolina, and Pennsylvania State University; and (6) forms to evaluate or rank candidates from the University of Colorado, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University. (Contains 15 references.) [More] Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Employment Interviews, Higher Education, Librarians
(2000). School-Based Collaborative Teams: Evaluating Process and Student Outcomes. This paper discusses the Collaborative Action Team (CAT) process, which was initiated by the U.S. Department of Education, and which encourages the development of partnerships among families, community members, school personnel, and students in communities with histories of ongoing and underserved needs. CAT is based on a set of core principles and includes four stages of team development: Team Identification, Team Mobilization, Project Development, and Project Implementation. The core principles are representative membership, shared leadership, consensus decision-making, and action focus. The article focuses on whether collaborative partnerships among the school, home, and community can be developed and sustained as a result of the CAT process. CAT participants from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas were included in the study. The findings show that over 90 percent of the sites under review had completed the majority of activities in the first stage of the CAT process. Teams were comprised of representatives from the home, school, and community, though family members other than a parent, teachers, higher education staff, and civic organizational personnel were less likely to be a member of the CAT. Overall, the results show that the development of school-based collaborative efforts is a time intensive, multifaceted endeavor. (Contains 16 references and a table that includes demographic information.) [More] Descriptors: Decentralization, Decision Making, Educational Administration, Educational Change
(2000). Report on the Early Implementation Survey Results for the Southwest Region. The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program is a federal initiative to introduce and reinforce comprehensive reform programs in schools. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory developed a survey to gather information from CSRD-awarded schools in the southwestern United States on their initial progress in implementing the CSRD program. This report examined the results of the implementation status at two different times for all CSRD schools in the region. Surveys were collected from 244 schools at the first administration and 237 schools at the second administration, with respondents ranging from 310 to 2,282 in the 5 states (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas). In general, the perceptions of respondents toward the implementation of the CSRD program were positive, although findings suggest some areas that may benefit from further attention. Teachers and principals were seen as the stakeholders who were involved both in planning for implementation and implementation. Finding also indicated that school-level, but not district-level, policies and communication were facilitating the program's implementation. Findings in the area of leadership suggest that school leaders are doing a skillful job in setting a positive tone for change, promoting vision for the program, facilitating structural changes, providing resources and training, and promoting student learning and achievement. Findings also suggest that professional development issues require further study and an increased focus. Nine appendixes contain the survey and survey results for the five states. (Contains 18 figures and 54 tables.) [More] Descriptors: Administrators, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, Instructional Leadership