In late 1999, philanthropist Susie Buffett wanted to make the smartest possible investment to improve public education in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. She and her then-foundation president, Dan Pedersen, spoke with Superintendent John Mackiel regarding how he would choose to use private funds to enhance opportunities for Omaha's 46,000…

A modern-day movement is transforming the way that communities and justice systems think about and respond to crime and wrongful occurrences. This response implements a holistic continuum of services, providing for prevention, intervention, diversion, commitment, probation, reentry, and aftercare. This approach--known as restorative justice--seeks…

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) program is an oral assessment designed to measure the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades. EGRA's purpose is to document student performance on early grade reading skills in order to inform ministries…

Discusses the development of a telecommunications program at Madonna College (Michigan). Using this program as a model, offers procedural guidelines on how other institutions can utilize local cable television systems for extended delivery of curricula. (JN)

Children of immigrants are an important and growing part of American society, and they have an increasingly vital role to play in the future of this country. Those arriving in the U.S. as immigrants or refugees, as well as those born here to at least one immigrant parent, currently make up more than 20% of all children and youth in this country.…

Louisiana's statewide provisions for education of gifted and talented preschoolers are reviewed, and difficulties encountered in serving 300 gifted young children are addressed. Among the administrative burdens cited are narrow identification criteria and the combination of limited financial and personnel resources resulting in the availability of…

This booklet presents a series of worksheets to assist in the development and implementation of a well integrated set of policies for gifted/talented programs. Each worksheet covers an issue to be considered in policy development, with blank space allotted for specifying positive and negative points, a suggested policy, needs, and a timeline.…

Outlines activities planned by the 69 local development districts in the 11 member states to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Summarizes the results of a questionnaire sent to all local development districts to determine the commission's most important accomplishments and remaining needs. (NEC)

Nearly two decades of research has taught some powerful lessons about how to design and implement meaningful and effective professional development for teachers. This newsletter examines the characteristics of high-quality professional development and offers some suggestions for improving its impact and effectiveness. For reform efforts centered…

The paper reviews factors affecting development of early intervention programs for all handicapped infants including changing political and economic conditions and programmatic issues (setting, staffing, identification). Finally, the provisions of P.L. 99-457 creating a discretionary infant intervention program are outlined. (Author/DB)

The California Postsecondary Education Commission's annual review of California public higher education discusses three major topics: program planning; approval of new programs; and the review of existing programs. The section on planning covers planning procedures of the segments, a 1991 list of projected programs, trends in subject areas and…

Included in this document are the texts of the Older Americans Act of 1965, the Older Americans Act Amendments of 1984, the Older Americans Amendments of 1975, and the Comprehensive Older Americans Act Amendments of 1978. The text of the Older Americans Act of 1965 contains seven titles: (1) Declaration of Objectives and Definitions; (2)…

The monograph offers an overview of the history of health care for children with disabilities. Health goals for the disabled child are considered and a systems model discussed that views health care services as part of the child's total service needs. Routine and specialized health care needs of disabled children are covered, and service areas…

The manual is intended to help school administrators regionalize special education services. The procedures described are modeled after those of a regional effort in Maine to address the needs of moderately and severely handicapped students. Four major steps are outlined: (1) establishing communication to clarify issues, gather information, and…

Results of a survey of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Dependent Schools on the status of gifted/talented (G/T) programs are summarized. Charts depict the number of pupils in G/T programs, ranking among states, the percentage of public school enrollment and ranking, and the total state fund figures for G/T…