Special education is under fire from within and without. Full inclusionists and detracking advocates want to abolish all "separatist" special education settings and "unjust" disability categories, tests, and placements; politicians and school administrators deplore special education's high costs. However, mainstreaming efficacy…

Although the United States government invests vast sums of money in the war on drugs, the availability of drugs and the number of persons using illegal drugs are still serious problems. Information that Congress can use in improving drug control strategies is provided here. Some of the report's highlights include current research on promising…

This policy update provides an overview of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program as it applies to youth with disabilities at the time of their transition from high school. The paper defines "disabled individual" and "substantial gainful work," outlines how income and resources are identified for determining…

While most categorical programs are subject to problems stemming from local, state, and Federal overlap, the problems produced by these parallel structures in bilingual education appear to be dissipating through local capacity-building, increased state legislation for bilingual education, and Federal awareness of its role and support for state and…

In the absence of Federal job initiatives, over 14 million people cannot find full or part-time work. According to a report issued by the Full Employment Action Council and the National Committee for Full Employment, they are casualties of shifts in the economy and of deficit spending that favors the affluent and the military over the poor and the…

Meta-analysis, meta-evaluation and secondary analysis are methods of summarizing, examining, evaluating or re-analyzing data in research and evaluation efforts. Meta-analysis involves the summarization of research findings to come to some general conclusions regarding effects or outcomes of a given treatment/project/program. Glass's approach…

The federal government's interest in gifted education is traced from the Education Amendments of 1969, and the effects of social forces, such as Sputnik, the "Great Society" ideal, and the economic requirements for trained, qualified, and creative personnel, is examined. Increased emphasis on gifted/talented education at the state level is noted,…

This document details the changes that have occurred in the 95th Congress with respect to compensatory education and explores the implications of those changes with respect to Federal policy for compensatory education programs. The 93rd Congressional hearings on Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are reviewed. Also described are…

For more than 35 years the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has been the nation's major instrument of support for research in mental health. The yield from this ongoing research effort has been substantial, with a substantive increase of information about the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental illness as well as the factors that…

In recent years, the controversy surrounding testing has grown, and the charge of bias is the most often cited criticism of testing and assessment. A review of the literature indicates that psychometricians and other researchers speak of bias as a property of the test or of items in the test. Conversely, test critics speak of bias as a quality or…

Reviews "Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980" by Charles Murray. Murray believes federal social welfare programs sap the moral fiber of poor Americans by eliminating a negative incentive for them to work at low paying jobs. Criticizes Murray's position, citing the importance of positive as well as negative incentives for…

Critically reviews "The Public Interest on Education" (Glazer, 1984), a collection of articles which appeared in "The Public Interest" between 1974 and 1981. States that this work usefully illustrates the neoconservatives' disenchantment with a variety of federally-instigated school reforms. A shortcoming of the book is its failure to focus on the…

Reviews the first 50 years of the U.S. Employment Service. Describes the role and functions of the Employment Service and shows how the service could become more relevant during an age of computerized employment service operations involving highspeed electronic communications and retrieval systems. (JAC)

The development of an alternate model of colonization--one that allowed greater autonomy and self-determination for the Native American people--may explain the greater degree of success on the part of the Catholics in the field of Indian education than that of the Federal government. (Author)

The U.S. is one of the few economically developed nations without a national policy supporting children and their families. This paper suggests that the U.S. has a unique national ideology, based on the Calvinist ethic, that results in opposition to all government-supported welfare programs. (CB)