The evaluation design described was used to aid the governing board to reach a policy decision about expanding the California Early Childhood Education program (renamed the School Improvement Program) in the Lafayette School District. Descriptions of procedures, question formats, audiences involved, and results are included. (MH)

State policymakers have the following options in attempting to ameliorate the high school dropout problem: (1) additional money; (2) general aid or targeted aid; (3) incentives or mandates. Research findings on the effect of each of those options are summarized and suggestions for state policies are made. (PS)

Vermont experienced a rapid expansion of federal childhood funding and programs (accompanied by their voluminous and sometimes contradictory regulations), and identified the need to unify the system after recognizing that the complexity of the early childhood education service delivery system was bewildering for parent-consumers. This report…

This paper presents guidelines for maintaining and extending educational opportunities in a society which is changing rapidly from one based on industry to one based on information and discusses the problems involved. Education, it is argued, must be restructured, the role of state policy and decision makers must be reconsidered, and a new set of…

These combined proceedings summarize presentations of two conference programs designed to address state-mandated student achievement issues. Dr. Terrel Bell delivered the keynote speech at a teleconference focusing on a broad perspective of competency testing. He discussed testing problems, as well as positive aspects such as comparison, diagnosis…

This report, which documents compliance of Texas vocational education programs with civil rights legislation in 1992-93, details the activities conducted by the Texas Education Agency to comply with Office of Civil Rights (OCR) guidelines under the Texas Methods of Administration plan. Presented in the first section are the following:…

This report presents the opinions of the public on aspects of vocational and technical education in Minnesota as expressed in two public hearings. The report begins with an introduction that states the purpose of the public hearings and describes the format of the two meetings--one in the Twin Cities and one in Duluth. The following section is a…

This report recommends a statewide plan of action to ensure that Pennsylvania schools provide quality school health education programs. It is the culmination of a process undertaken by the Quality School Health Education Project, initiated in response to the Year 2000 national health objective on school health education. The project identified…

This report summarizes a project undertaken to differentiate between career education and vocational education, to end confusion among educators, legislators, and the public about similarities and differences of the two, and to examine the various points of potential linkage between them. Part 1 enumerates the needs that this project tried to…

A Texas State Job Training Coordinating Council task force developed a series of recommendations regarding improving Texas' current employment and training system to prepare the state's residents for the "smart jobs of the future." A formal literature review was conducted, and regional forums were held and attended by a wide range of…

This document consists of the first two volumes of the 1997 annual report on Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system. Examined in volume 1 are the following topics: strategic directions for 1997; overview of the VET system's operation and the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) agreement; key initiatives in 1997 (the…