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A description of a recent report issued by the US-based Alliance for Childhood indicates the main criticisms made of the use of ICT in primary education. These criticisms are considered and the arguments developed in the report are examined. The effect of the report's publication is also discussed, as is the media response in the US and beyond. As a partial answer to the report's claims regarding creativity and computers, two practitioners provide case study evidence of the ways in which ICT has been used to develop innovative classroom activities. The paper concludes with a call for enlightened discourse in this area rather than polemical stance-taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes self-selection of returning immigrants. We propose an empirical model for this purpose, and apply it to Israeli-born immigrants who arrived in the United States during 1970-79 and returned to Israel during 1980-89. The results, based on analyses of the 5 per cent Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) of the 1980 and 1990 United States censuses, suggest that those who return from the United States to Israel have reached a higher level at school than those who remain in the United States. However, the income analysis suggests that, at each schooling level, those who returned to Israel would have been less successful in the United States labour market than Israelis of similar schooling (and other measured characteristics) who remained in the United States. These results were corroborated using Israeli census data that include information on returning Israelis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the results of a recent two-part survey of how engineering economy is taught in U.S. universities. A mail and email survey of faculty and staff that teach engineering economy was conducted in 1995 through 1997. For the survey's two parts, this produced 45 and 28 complete responses, respectively. Three categories of questions were asked pertaining to I) the faculty that teach it, 2) the course content and mechanics itself, and 3) the students that take the course. This paper also includes results from a previously unpublished survey done in 1989. All of these results are compared with two similar studies done in 1984 and 1989. Potential pedagogical implications are summarized as they relate to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering economy teaching in U.S. universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to learn about mainstream and residential school programs for deaf students in the United States from the perspective of the deaf person, and to present the experiences of clients of educational services in their own words. Data for this paper were collected through open-ended; in-depth interviews with 25 graduates from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID at RIT). The comments of informants suggest that there are advantages and disadvantages inherent in each educational model. For example, the selection of one model over another may involve `trading' academic for social opportunity. In particular, it is suggested that both kinds of school experiences play a critical role in the socialization of deaf people and the development of deaf community. It is recommended that further research be conducted to leant more about the perspectives of deaf people on educational services and to explore with them the long term as well as the immediate impact of different kinds of school environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the position paper of the Association for Childhood Education International on standardized testing of young children in the U.S. History of testing programs; Information on the types of tests used; Reason why the association is against the need to test every child in the remainder of the elementary years; Proposal made regarding the use of classroom-based assessment.

The market alternative in education is gaining ground in policy-making circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Parental choice and school competition are seen as ways of achieving reform and raising standards while at the same time reducing State intervention into education planning. This paper interrogates the arguments made for markets and against public monopoly schooling,, and it is argued that on both counts of advocates are partial and flawed. The failure to address the bases and effects of inequalities of the market are given particular attention. It is argued that markets in education provide the possibility for the pursuit of class advantage and generate a differentiated and stratified system of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate on teacher quality and quality in teaching and teacher education has been as vigorous in Australia as it has been in the UK and the USA In Australia, however, reform in teacher education has been subsumed within a national metapolicy of corporate federalism which is an amalgam of beliefs or discourses including neo-corporatism, economic rationalism, corporate managerialism and human capital The paper analyses the most recent document on reform of teacher education in Australia (the Ebbeck Report) and shows how its policy formulation is influenced by the discourse of corporate federalism It also shows how micro-economic reform in this sector is related to reforms in other sectors of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is an announcement about several meetings to be held concurrently in the year 1979 in various cities of the U.S. The Economic and Business Historical Society issued a call for papers for the April 1979 meeting at Lake Tahoe-Reno. A dissertation session is also planned. The Society meets concurrently with the Western Social Science Association. The Fourth Midwest Marxist Scholars Conference will be held on March 9-11, 1979 at the University of Cincinnati on the theme "The U.S. Educational System: Marxist Approaches;' The focus will be on education as an institution and on Marxist approaches to research and teaching in various academic disciplines. The Department of History and the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University announce a national labor history conference that will be held in October 1979. The American Council of Learned Societies had published a brochure on "Aids to Individual Scholars," which deals with competitions to be held in 1978-79. The ninth annual Institute for Historical Editing will take place in July 15-27, 1979, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Developments in American policy, research and professional development to promote social and emotional learning in schools have drawn on work carried out by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), encouraged by the popular and political catalyst of Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence. Based on CASEL’s exploration and articulation of the implications of emotional intelligence for schools, this article defines ‘social and emotional learning’ as part of character development and draws on empirical studies of successful implementation to outline principles of effective intervention. In a context where, despite political rhetoric about a flourishing and progressive education system, a seemingly intractable achievement gap affects particular social and ethnic groups, the article evaluates key influences and ongoing barriers to successful realisation of the goals of social and emotional learning in American schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although issues of inclusion, diversity and achievement have become a powerful agenda for change in teacher education policy in England, bilingual pupils are still conceptualised in policy terms as a problem. This absence of linguistic integration in English teacher education is in tension with the increasing number of school pupils speaking a diversity of languages at home, and contrasts with policy towards bilingual pupils in other parts of the United Kingdom, in Europe and in the United States. The standards for qualified teacher status only require trainee competence to be demonstrated in understanding pupil language backgrounds and in providing support for those learning 'English as an Additional Language' (EAL). The authors' research investigated the way teacher education policy in England ignores the positive attributes of bilingual learners and the resultant lack of debate about the preparedness of trainee teachers to work effectively with bilingual pupils. This article presents key findings from their work with secondary schools in the south of England. They interviewed trainees, teachers and Local Education Authority (LEA) officers, administered a questionnaire to trainees and analysed policy documents. The findings indicate teacher education in England pays bilingualism lip service at best, persisting with a policy discourse emphasising the problem of EAL. The research raises important questions concerning teacher education policy in relation to bilingualism, and highlights the significance of school contexts in relation to effective teacher preparation. The article concludes by arguing for policies to improve teacher confidence and competence in England's increasingly linguistically diverse classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In a post-war frontier area in north-western Nicaragua that was severely hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, local stakeholders embarked on and facilitated multi-dimensional development initiatives to break the cycles of poverty. Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the process of priority-setting, and the strategies, guiding principles, activities, achievements, and lessons learned in these local development efforts from 1990 to 2014 in the Cuatro Santos area, Nicaragua. Methods: Data were derived from project records and a Health and Demographic Surveillance System that was initiated in 2004. The area had 25,893 inhabitants living in 5,966 households in 2014. Results: A participatory process with local stakeholders and community representatives resulted in a long-term strategic plan. Guiding principles were local ownership, political reconciliation, consensus decision-making, social and gender equity, an environmental and public health perspective, and sustainability. Local data were used in workshops with communities to re-prioritise and formulate new goals. The interventions included water and sanitation, house construction, microcredits, environmental protection, school breakfasts, technical training, university scholarships, home gardening, breastfeeding promotion, and maternity waiting homes. During the last decade, the proportion of individuals living in poverty was reduced from 79 to 47%. Primary school enrolment increased from 70 to 98% after the start of the school breakfast program. Under-five mortality was around 50 per 1,000 live births in 1990 and again peaked after Hurricane Mitch and was approaching 20 per 1,000 in 2014. Several of the interventions have been scaled up as national programs. Conclusions: The lessons learned from the Cuatro Santos initiative underline the importance of a bottom-up approach and local ownership of the development process, the value of local data for monitoring and evaluation, and the need for multi-dimensional local interventions to break the cycles of poverty and gain better health and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on an article about educational assessment, "Using Employer Input to Assess Graduate Marketing Education Effectiveness: A Working Example of Curriculum Development," by Pam Scholder Ellen and Bruce Pilling of Georgia State University. The paper discusses the results of a poll and provides recommendations on how graduate marketing education can be enhanced. In particular, the paper provides a summary of skill sets that employers in the Atlanta, Georgia area fee are most in demand.

This note outlines the type of papers which the U.S. periodical "The Sociological Quarterly" wishes to publish. The periodical is a general sociological journal, and as such does not place any quotas on the number of papers it shall publish in any specific area. It nearly always considers scholarly sociological research and writing done by sociologists as being within the journal's acceptable limits. The note airs a special call for articles on the teaching of sociology as well.

Focuses on concerns over the deterioration of older books printed on acid paper in the U.S. Implications for the cultural memory of future generations; Endangered states of the collections of the U.S. Library of Congress; Comparison of the data management capability of the U.S. and European countries.

The article announces the launching of the "Education for Chemical Engineers" (ECE), an online journal from the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), with the aim of becoming the principal international journal for chemical, process and biomolecular engineering education. ECE has been declared the official journal of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. Doctor David Shallcross of the University of Melbourne, Australia, is the editor of the journal supported by an international editorial board. The journal has already established a global subscriber base and published papers from Europe, Australasia, and North America.

The article examines papers on case and experiential learning methods to teaching marketing in the United States. "Experiential learning = Hands-On + Minds-On," by Mark Young, describes a process to boost the learning potential of experience by integrating it with activities that require reflection on the experience. On the other hand, "Teaching Retailing and Merchandising: An Experiential Approach," by Victoria Seitz and Nabil Razzouk, discusses an exercise, called the Store, that extends learning very near to reality.

Reports on developments in the computer industry in the United States as of spring 1991. Houston Advanced Research Center's upgrading of its supercomputing capacity with the installation of the next generation of NEC's SX supercomputers; List of teachers receiving cash awards for papers in which they shared innovative uses of technology in the classroom from the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education.