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The impact of a two-way interactive television course for rural remote teacher preparation was evaluated using a variety of measures. Areas of primary importance reported in this paper are: ▪ How did learner outcomes of rural remote students compare to on-campus students participating in the same class? ▪ What were the perceptions of rural remote students regarding instructional quality of two-way interactive television? ▪ What were the perceptions of rural remote students regarding technology? Learner outcomes for on-campus and rural remote students were equivalent. Ratings regarding the quality of instruction and technology were above average except for provision of feedback to distance learners.

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In Italy preschool attendance is not compulsory. By 1983, however, 83.8% of the 3-to 6-year-olds were attending some form of early childhood program. National legislation passed in 1971 mandates education of all handicapped children, including severely handicapped, from ages 6 to 14. Since 1971 the great majority of handicapped children have been integrated, and the number of special schools has sharply declined. Integration at the preschool level, together with the service model for therapeutic and social assistance in Arezzo, Italy, is the topic of this article. Case studies of three severely handicapped children integrated at the preschool illustrate how the model functions and how its assumptions are tested. Theory and research supporting the model are noted, as is continuing research through case studies and empirical investigations. ® The Italian system of education for the handicapped as it relates to the early childhood years is a downward extension of an integration model for compulsary school ages. Currently, there are no regulations requiring preschool programs for the handicapped. However, there is a strong emphasis upon early education and the development of preschool programs for all children. Since 1971 Italy has moved rapidly to restructure its educational programs and services for the handicapped. This has occurred because social, political, and economic forces became unified in support of professional practice committed to new directions for the education of the very young and the handicapped.

Early childhood and special education programs in the United States have roots in Western Europe and Great Britain. Many parallels now exist, and a period of cross-fertilization may be at hand. Socio-cultural forces, professional interests, and evolving practice have reached a stage at which Europe offers a great deal in the variety and quality of its programs and services. Five countries are represented in this topical issue of JDEC—Germany, England, France, Italy, and Swiizerland-each by a leading authority currently involved in both the policy and the practice of early childhood intervention. Dr. McCleary has worked closely with them in their countries and in the preparation of the articles that follow. In her overview she establishes a perspective on education in Europe generally and on specific conditions and practices at the growing-point. E The drawing-together of Western Europe into the European Community has led to an exchange of ideas, program models, and educational intervention strategies. The education sector has achieved a marked increase in cross-communication through professional exchanges, visitations, and sharing of research. Among countries and regions, however, as well as within countries, wide differences in practice remain. Especially in child-rearing, infant and early childhood education, and the care and treatment of the handicapped, practices reflect social and political value systems and a cultural life within each country that serves to maintain its individuality. Institutional structures result from national, regional, and local decisions. According to Elvin (1981), exchange and mobility between countries and individual systems &dquo;have resulted in a variety of structures in the different countries that, bafflingly, sometimes look more alike than they are and sometimes are more alike than they look&dquo; (p. ii).European education systems reveal how much education means to each society, the extent to which education is the preserver and the transmitter of a society's culture.Each country expresses in its own way its own values and aspirations in the treatment and education of its children. Each country is buffeted by wider social, economic, and political forces, many of which have close parallels in the United States. Generally, for instance, Europe is experiencing rapid social changes which include declining birthrates, mobile populations, increases in divorce rates and one-parent or two-working-parent families, economic disruption and relocation, and a host of other factors which influence education. For any of these forces, there are examples of European countries that are affected much more than the United States.