During the past year, Wisconsin state legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state's largest and poorest school district. Ultimately, the only legislation enacted was a bill that modestly…

The Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) State Grants Program is currently operating professional development grants for California teachers at 40 sites statewide. This is as large a cadre of projects as the California Postsecondary Education Commission has operated since the ITQ Program began with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.…

The guide is designed as a tool that can be used to write a proposal for funding from Public Law (PL) 89-313 (which amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965). Grant awards under PL 89-313 are available to eligible State-operated and State-supported agencies serving handicapped children. After an overall needs assessment, the…

The accomplishments of the first year of project FOCUS, one of five national demonstration efforts funded under the Women's Educational Equity Act, are presented. There are four parts to the report. Part 1 gives an overview of the project. After conducting a needs assessment, the Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District undertook four central…

Many considerations are involved in obtaining and using federal funds for language arts programs. Before attempting to explore funding, educators should know the basic language arts programs available in their district and what kinds of programs are fundable by particular sources. They should then develop a written program statement that includes…

The National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children (NACEDC) is required to review and evaluate all federal compensatory education programs and report its findings and recommendations to the Congress and the President. This work is directed to members and staff of the Council and describes proposed activities for the 1977…

To assist school districts, this document presents the guidelines and evaluation methods used by the New York State Education Department (SED) to identify and validate exemplary school district practices that can be adopted by other districts. The handbook integrates the three phases of the validation process, comprising the district's preparation…

To clarify the New Jersey State Department of Education's compensatory education requirements, the Instruction Committee of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) submitted a list of 12 questions to the Department's Office of Compensatory Education. This article contains the Department's answers to 7 questions and the Instruction Committee's…

Historically, faith-based organizations (FBOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) have been involved in the provision of social services, such as drug treatment, job training, community redevelopment, housing, and education. However, FBOs and CBOs have not often participated in U.S. Department of Education (the Department) grant programs. In…

The Dade County Public Schools (Florida) Department of Basic Skills (DBS) computer education program was evaluated. Education Consolidation Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter II funds were sought for maintenance of existing school computers; establishment of software consortium; and the acquisition of additional microcomputer equipment. The project…

The Chapter 2 (Educational Block Grant) program of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA), which became effective on July 1, 1982, aims to improve elementary and secondary education (including pre-school education) for children attending both public and private schools. Two major goals are the following: (1) to provide flexibility…

The State of New York Education Department requires that school districts submit applications demonstrating their efforts to provide remedial instruction to all students in need. The program plans reported in the applications should reflect unified procedures for needs assessment, evaluation, and data analysis. The reporting procedure should…

Filled with practical advice and workable techniques and strategies to help bilingual program directors deal with the problems they face, this handbook brings together ideas and suggestions from Title VII program directors, state coordinators, and superintendents with experience in bilingual programs. The handbook, written in question and answer…

Universities can help elementary and secondary schools undertake school improvement programs under certain conditions. First, it should be recognized that programs are most effective when individual schools rather than whole systems are the objects of the improvement efforts. Second, it should be understood that university-sponsored school…

This study analyzes the attempts of the state of California to select and promote new educational practices under the auspices of ESEA Title IVC. First, the strategies adopted in California for selecting and promoting new programs are outlined in order to raise the question of the effectiveness of these procedures. Next, the research design is…