This review examines factors impacting on substantiation rates for central registries of child abuse and neglect cases. Technical factors were not found to affect substantiation rates, though certain legal factors were somewhat associated with lower substantiation rates. The use of risk assessment models is recommended to improve rates without…

Defining hunger on the basis of poverty or other nonphysiological criteria is misleading. With nutritional data used by human-service agencies, suggests programs with such conception of hunger hurt the efforts at nutritional change. Uses central Mississippi as an example to propose objective nutritional definition and assessment. (TES)

State efforts to produce coordinated employment and training programs are complicated by lack of clear lines of command and complexity of intergovernmental policies. Leadership, acceptance of the legitimacy of multiple programs, and degree of coordination effort are essential for successful coordination. (SK)

This Education Policy Brief examines the research regarding the efforts occurring in the United States to consolidate school corporations or form cooperative agreements for shared services. The brief also examines those policy levers which are contributing to the elevated discussion concerning consolidation and shared services in Indiana. Based…

In their efforts to help children overcome the deleterious influences of such social problems as illiteracy, dropping out, school failure, and poverty, policymakers are turning to early childhood educators. Studies have shown that children in high quality preschool programs exceed expectations in school and society. States and the private sector…

The Research in Teacher Education (RITE) study is currently examining in depth two selected state-mandated induction programs for beginning teachers. The sample includes 16 first year teachers (along with the teachers, administrators, and other educators selected to work with them) situated in 13 schools in 4 districts in 2 states. Data were…

This report reviews recent state initiatives in education reform, including state legislation, state programs, and decisions by state boards of education. The initiatives have been organized according to the eight recommendations for improvement made by the Task Force on Education for Economic Growth. These recommendations were to (1) develop…

This process evaluation of the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Project describes the efforts of the project director and 10 regional liaisons to develop a statewide philosophy on prevention and an operational plan for directing resources in Texas toward primary and secondary prevention of child abuse and neglect. A survey was used to gather…

Summarizes the research on school effectiveness and identifies state policy implications followed by a discussion of current state education policies and their relationship to school effectiveness research. (MLF)

Reports the results of a national survey that assessed the extent of minimum competency testing in reading in 1984 and the nature and extent of remedial programs based upon minimum competency testing in reading. (HOD)

This document contains a brief summary of research on the Success for All comprehensive school reform program and the alignment document that outlines the correlation between Success for All and the objectives and outcomes described in the Stanford Achievement Test: Ninth Edition (SAT-9) as designed by Harcourt, Inc. Research has found Success for…

In fall 1998, the Maryland State Department of Education and six schools began a pilot program to evaluate the impact of serving breakfast to students in the classroom as part of the school day. Students in participating schools have an opportunity to eat breakfast in their classroom each day at no charge, regardless of family income. The program,…

Washington State faces the challenge of balancing a number of conflicting economic and political conditions that impact K-12 education either directly or indirectly. These include reduced vehicle license fees, an existing statewide spending limit, a state revenue surplus, proposals to provide property-tax relief, proposed voter initiatives to…

Information from state assessment programs may be utilized to identify the characteristics of schools performing in an exemplary fashion, so that effective practices can be adopted and implemented in other schools. Various effective school practices and findings, revealed by school studies conducted in six states, are distilled in this paper. (AEF)

Examined the relationship between state-mandated testing and teachers' beliefs and practices through a review of the literature. Findings suggest that a relationship between state-mandated testing and teachers' beliefs does exist, but testing does not appear to be an exclusive or primary lever for change. (SLD)