The United States Department of Education's tenth annual report on the implementation of Public Law 94-142 contains improvements but shows overdependence on reporting numbers of students without descriptions of evolutions in service delivery, and raises questions about the effectiveness of monitoring efforts carried out by the Office of Special…

This investigation identified purposes, activities, outcomes, and barriers reported by 45 postsecondary model demonstration projects funded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). Outcomes reported most frequently at the individual, program, organizational, and community levels included student assessment, materials…

South Carolina has found that meaningful improvement in Chapter 1 schools requires taking six crucial steps: (1) set meaningful goals; (2) pay attention to school culture; (3) revamp the curriculum; (4) pick up the pace; (5) integrate learning objectives with the regular program; and (6) change teaching tactics. An insert summarizes changes…

About 1,500 schools nationwide pay an estimated $200 million in federal funds to private enterprises claiming to provide better literacy instruction than the disappointing Title I results of the past 34 years. Programs run by Kaplan Inc., Success for All Foundation, Sylvan Learning Systems, and Reading Recovery Council are described. (MLH)

Describes an approach to introducing performance measurement into a large federal health program, the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, in response to the government Performance and Results Act. Also discusses characteristics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that present unique challenges for performance measurement. (SLD)

The Internet and World Wide Web are increasingly used to accelerate progress in a variety of fields. These applications go beyond the traditional technology- or computer-related fields and have expanded to nontechnical fields, which have benefited greatly from the use of the Web as a data-gathering and management support tool. The purpose of this…

This article reports how two prominent Democrats are demanding to know more about the problems identified in the implementation of the federal Reading First program, including whether criminal violations may have occurred and what Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings may have known about the problems while she was a White House aide. In the…

This report compares actual performance with the projected levels of performance set out in the National Council on Disability's (NCD's) annual performance plan. The findings of this report show a positive link between the allocated resources and NCD's performance. NCD's assessment review showed that it was successful in meeting its goals and…

Every year, millions of high school graduates seek ways to finance the rising costs of a college education, at times falling prey to scholarship and financial aid scams. To help students and their families, on November 5, 2000, Congress passed the College Scholarship Fraud Prevention Act of 2000 (Act) to establish stricter sentencing guidelines…

In this article, the author introduces a series of practical strategies to support the development of an innovative and technology-rich curriculum. The author begins with the importance of understanding what possibilities for innovation exist given the relationship between curriculum, equity issues, and education reform. The author then discusses…

Based on interviews with Community Development Corporation (CDC) personnel from many organizations conducted at 10 sites throughout the country, this report presents an overview of CDCs and employment training, supported by detailed case studies. The report is organized in six chapters on the following topics: employment training and the changing…

This report discusses the establishment and operation of the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (DL), enacted by Congress in 1993 to partially replace the existing federal guaranteed student loan programs with a single program that would make loans directly to postsecondary students through their schools. The DL program will be phased in over a…

A community-based approach can excel at putting people back to work. The community-based strategy for helping people find and keep jobs needs to provide comprehensive and integrated services. Collaboration is likely to be the most practical means to round up those services. Community groups usually have a dual purpose in pursuing a jobs program:…

A study reviewed how states are serving teen parents in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program. Teen parents receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) during a selected month of fiscal year 1992 were randomly sampled in 16 states. A questionnaire collected data from their JOBS and AFDC case workers. Telephone…

This resource guide profiles 12 exemplary programs serving people with disabilities through interagency collaboration for transition, supported employment, and parent-professional collaboration. The guide opens with a description of the North Central Regional Information Exchange, a federally funded project that is identifying and promoting…