While issues of higher education access, opportunity, and impact are hotly debated on the floors of Congress and in state legislatures, it is the state's higher education executive officer (SHEEO) who is expected to be an innovative policymaker, an astute political actor, an all-seeing fortune-teller, and a rapid problem-solver. These…

There are now nearly four million children born in the United States who have undocumented immigrant parents. In the current debates around immigration reform, policymakers often view immigrants as an economic or labor market problem to be solved, but the issue has a very real human dimension. Immigrant parents without legal status are raising…

"Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life" presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints series challenge readers to question their own opinions and assumptions. By reading carefully balanced views, readers confront new ideas on the topic of interest. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited job discrimination based on age, race, religion, gender, or national origin, provided the groundwork for…

Designed to provide a basis for sound child welfare policy decisions, this book presents current state and national data, as well as data from many cities and counties, on child maltreatment. The six chapters in the book present statistics on: (1) child abuse and neglect, including child abuse fatalities; (2) out-of-home care; (3) adoption; (4)…

Six articles discuss college savings plans. "Introduction and Overview" by Janet S. Hansen addresses the affordability of college, parental responsibility for college savings, incentives for saving, and the risks and rewards of planning for college expenses. "The Need for College Savings" (Sandy Baum) emphasizes the parents'…

Conference participants examined how other states are preparing their farmers and rural communities to survive in the present "new world order," and considered whether Arkansas, one of only three states without a central agricultural agency, has the tools to forge strategies for the 1990's. "The Role of State Government in…

This monograph was written in response to the perceived need for an examination of the role of manpower programs as components of public policy. Both manpower programs and related policies are examined in the context of the overall activities and purposes of government in Ontario and in the Canadian federal system. The importance of societal…

An expert on second language acquisition examines and refutes five commonly offered arguments against bilingual education: (1) it is responsible for the high Hispanic dropout rate; (2) most immigrants succeed without bilingual education; (3) the United States is the only nation that has bilingual education; (4) bilingual education failed in…

Intended to educate school, business, and government leaders as well as the general public, this book provides a comprehensive overview of and practical guide to the family literacy movement. The book begins by tracing the history of family literacy as an idea, as individual programs, and as a public policy movement. Then it provides guidelines to…

The 16 chapters in this book are intended to stimulate thinking about approaches to dealing with the substance of public assistance policy as it bears on coordination issues, organizational arrangements for policy development and delivery, and processes for building linkages between disparate but related programs. Part I, an introduction, contains…

This report proposes that state economic development policy and resources, and state personnel, with their knowledge of and access to the business community, can contribute to the intertwined issues of competitiveness and poverty. Following an introduction, chapter 2 examines four related issues: poverty, income equity, welfare dependency, and the…

This book discusses issues involved in the current debate over the nature and effectiveness of anti-poverty programs, and examines the high economic and social costs of, and the risk factors involved in, cyclical poverty. The book offers suggestions to help solve the problems of cyclical poverty and chronic disadvantage by highlighting effective…

As federal, state, and local policy makers attend to the economic, educational, social, and health-related needs of children, they are beginning to share a vision of a "seamless web" of high-quality, comprehensive, continuous services for children and their families. It remains a challenging goal because of the complexity of children's needs and…

This book identifies factors, structures, and procedures contributing to effective statewide coordination and governance of public colleges and universities. The heart of the book consists of descriptions of representative structures in 4 states, where interviews were conducted with 114 individuals--legislators, gubernatorial staff, system heads,…