School choice reforms are increasingly common across the U.S. This symposium summarizes and presents the most recent research on the social effects of private school choice programs and public charter schools. All three papers consider heterogeneity in effects that can and should inform policymaking. The first paper, "Charter School Entry and…

Designed to propose ways for the Colorado Department of Education to provide leadership in the implementation of a statewide educational telecommunications network, this study examines ways in which telecommunications can be used by the state department of education, school districts, libraries, and other informational or educational agencies to…

Describes OhioLINK, a statewide information network that was developed to cost effectively link and enhance the information resources of Ohio's academic institutions. Highlights include cooperation; funding; the governing structure; and sidebars that discuss the results of a survey of statewide networks. (LRW)

The equitability of current New Jersey State programs supporting higher education is the primary focus of this study. Taxpayer equity is defined as the distribution of higher education costs on the basis of ability to pay and commensurate with the distribution of higher education subsidies. The net effect of all state programs on each income group…

A database was assembled from data collected on all people served by the Developmental Disabilities divisions of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, including state institutions and state-funded programs (n=5,928). Information included provider expenditures associated with each individual, allocations made by individual reimbursement rates,…

Synthesizes discussions that occurred among a consortium of professionals responsible for the evaluation of early-intervention programs and highlights issues emerging from state-level evaluations of early-intervention programs in the context of six different areas: measures, outcomes, service integration, eligibility, funding models, and cost…

This report is the result of a 1995 national mail survey of state special education administrators concerning mechanisms used by states to fund special education services for school-age children with disabilities and the costs to provide these services. All 50 states and the District of Columbia responded to the survey. Part 1 contains three…

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of a Minnesota panel commissioned to find ways to: increase awareness of appropriate technology for persons with disabilities; provide access to appropriate technology-based products and services; and fund research and development in this field. The executive summary provides a definition of…

The mental health policies of the past 20 years and the evidence of unserved populations suffering from serious mental illness constitute a public health crisis. Currently there are at least 3,000,000 people in the United States suffering from mental disorders. A fully developed continuum of care is needed to respond effectively to the diverse…

This report investigated the financial expenditures of states for services for individuals with developmental disabilities and examined the factors that influenced the level of expenditure. Eight multiple-regression models are presented which explain 70 to 88 percent of the variation in states' total expenditures. In addition to the obvious…

Support for primary-age, at-risk children is examined in the context of renewed national interest in intervention programs for this population. This report describes alternative approaches to identifying characteristics of at-risk students and then presents a summary of states' definitions of "handicapped" or "disadvantaged."…

This report responds to a legislative mandate to examine the funding of the Statewide Nursing Program at the California State University, an external degree program of advanced training for practicing nurses. Included in the report are: (1) a brief history of the program; (2) the State University's rationale for offering it; (3) a description of…

Of Utah's 181,428 adults without a high school diploma, 27,770 (14,201 males and 13,569 females) were enrolled in an adult basic education (ABE) or General Educational Development (GED) program in FY 1992-93. Of those persons, 15,238 demonstrated improved basic skills for personal satisfaction and increased self-confidence, 6,492 completed ABE,…

Remote education has arrived in Connecticut and is promising to expand, as this discussion of its development, progress, and difficulties demonstrates. In June 1993, state legislation mandated a feasibility study of ways to bring about bidirectional educational programming among Connecticut's 26 cable-franchise operators. Cost allocation for the…

Two documents are presented here. One is a report of the Texas state health department concerning the immunization needs of the state's population, the extent of federal, state, and private financial support for public vaccination programs, legislation and current efforts to extend immunization to all children, and future directions for…