A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Learning Connections

New Director

In June Dr. Carole Lacampagne was named Director of our Institute! She came to us from the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment here in OERI, where she served as senior research associate in mathematics. Prior to that she was with the National Science Foundation, where she was a visiting scientist from Northern Illinois University's Department of Mathematical Sciences. Dr. Lacampagne, who has taught mathematics from middle through graduate school, has authored numerous research publications.

New Publications

Three publications that are expected to be released later this year are the following:

Women's Colleges in the United States, will present the history, issues, and current status of women's colleges. It provides information on the foundings of women's colleges and an overview of societal trends and how they affected college women throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, as well as research findings on women's college graduates from 1910 to 1960. There is extensive analysis of statistics on 76 women's colleges including institutional characteristics, enrollment, degrees conferred, staffing, and financial resources. For more information, contact Irene Harwarth at 202 219 1756.
Thinking About Lifelong Learning: A Framework for Developing Research Priorities, will cover such topics as characteristics and motivations of adult learners, theories on adult development, how adults learn, adult literacy education, job training and reprofessionalization, personal enrichment education, and technology and lifelong learning. Federal and non-federal initiatives will be highlighted. Current research and evaluation efforts as well as areas for needed research will be presented. For more information, contact Barbara Humes at 202 219 1376.
Learning and Earning, will analyze the Higher Education Act Title II-B Fellowship Program from 1985 through 1991. It will show the types of fellows recruited for Master's, Post-Master's and Doctoral awards during those seven years, if they received their degrees, and finally, what type of employment they attained after the training program ended. For more information, contact Jan Owens at 202 219 1324.

New Research Center

We have just awarded a $12.5 million, five-year grant ($2.5 million annually) to Harvard University for the establishment of a National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy! The overall goal of the center is to improve the quality of practice in educational programs that serve adult learners with a specific focus on adults who scored in the two lowest of the five levels of literacy skills measured by the National Adult Literacy Survey, who do not speak English, or who do not have a high school diploma. An estimated 90 million Americans fall within this target group. Studies to be conducted will focus on four questions: (a) How can the motivation of individual adult learners be sustained and enhanced? (b) How can classroom practice be improved? (c) How can staff development more effectively serve adult learning and literacy programs? and (d) What impact does participation in adult learning and literacy programs have on an adult's life and how can this impact be assessed effectively? For more information on the center, contact Harold Himmelfarb here at the Institute on 202 219 2031.

Field-Initiated Studies Awards

The 1996 FIS awards have been announced! And the winners are:

California State University, Long Beach, CA $403,651 (two-year grant) Case Studies in Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Mediated Instruction and Distributed Learning PLLI Contact: Barbara Humes (202) 219-1376

Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, MA $679,717 (three-year grant) Special Mission of Community Colleges as Primary Postsecondary Career Educators of Disabled Adults PLLI Contact: Norman Brandt (202) 219-1662

Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC $895,505 (three-year grant) National Model in Applying New Technologies to Improve Teaching Methods and Lifelong Learning Opportunities PLLI Contact: Delores Monroe (202) 219-2229

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA $720,694 (three-year grant) Enhancing Faculty Contributions to Learning Productivity PLLI Contact: Irene Harwarth (202) 219-1756

Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Market-Based Adult Lifelong Learning Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Lower Income and Majority-Minority Markets $422,559 (three-year grant) PLLI Contact: Barbara Humes (202) 219-1376

Montana State University, Bozeman, MT A Study of Adult Museum Programs $381,431 (three-year grant) PLLI Contact: Delores Monroe (202) 219-2229

If you would like a description of the projects to be conducted or would like to be placed on the FIS mailing list, contact Delores Monroe at (202) 219-2207.

Let Us Hear From You

We hope you find this newsletter informative. Feel free to write us about issues in postsecondary education and about what you'd like to see in this newsletter. Carole Lacampagne, the Institute's Director, welcomes all comments and suggestions. Write to:

Newsletter
National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
U.S. Department of Education
555 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20208 5531