This report discusses the 2023-24 Accomplishments and 2024-2025 Priorities and Ongoing Responsibilities for the departments of the New York State Education Department: (1) Office of Counsel; (2) Government Relations; (3) Finance; (4) Public Affairs; (5) P12 Instructional Support; (6) P12 Operational Support; (7) Higher Education; (8) Adult Career…

In California, the desire to do something about child abuse, fanned by repeated and often sensational media coverage, has led to an understandable but counterproductive overreaction on the part of professionals and citizens reporting suspected child abuse. Child protective agencies receive an average of one report a minute. There are over 300,000…

The Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984 require that every state not qualifying for a waiver appoint a commission to look at the success of the state's child support enforcement program in securing support and parental involvement for all children needing such services, whether they were eligible for public assistance or not. This…

Minimum competency testing (MCT) programs for students are growing in popularity and being adopted by many states. In order to determine the extent of the MCT movement, researchers at North Carolina State University surveyed state departments of education in all 50 states. In updating these data for 1986-1987, it was found that 64 percent of the…

This document reports the proceedings of a 1985 conference on preventing the legal problems that could grow out of the implementation of career ladder and merit pay programs for teachers. The contents of the report include a welcome by Preston C. Kronkosky; an overview by Virginia Koehler of the goals, characteristics, and demands of career ladder…

This handbook clarifies how to meet legal requirements when the same student population qualifies for both bilingual and special education programs. Legal streamlining of existing California-mandated requirements for bilingual and special education is emphasized. The handbook begins with a discussion of the difficulties encountered when providing…

Precedents from litigation on state graduation assessments provide insight into the potential legal arguments challengers may raise with regard to mandated content and performance standards for all students. Clearly documented, fairly administered procedures that adhere to professional recommendations will be the hallmark of defensible standards.…

This study represents an attempt to discern what responsibility the State should assume for regulating the education of the young, and what is the most defensible approach to fulfilling that responsibility. Analyses of this type could be timely, especially in the light of the spreading "alternative schools" movement; growing recognition among…

The Arkansas school finance equity suit titled "Lakeview vs. Tucker" was heard in 1994, and the state funding formula was declared unconstitutional. With much difficulty, a new law was passed to combine a number of previously categorical funds into the instructional budget. However, the constitutionality of the new law remains in…

This report provides Minnesota legislators with background information on establishing state educational standards and periodic testing to measure student progress. Scientific management, the accountability movement, and the basic education movement were educational trends of the 1970's providing pressure on states to set standards to improve…

This report is the third of four volumes presenting results of the Comparative Study of Case Review Systems Phase II--Dispositional Hearings, focusing on implementation of the dispositional hearing requirement of P. L. 96-272, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. This volume of the study presents the results of a state statutory…

States use many high-stakes assessments to make decisions about individuals. These tests may be criticized by those who believe that their purpose or application is discriminatory. Because litigation is time consuming and costly, it is advantageous for states to plan assessments carefully to maximize legal defensibility. This handbook is designed…

Legal issues of minimum competency testing derive from federal and state constitutional, statutory, and regulatory provisions, and from common law. Constitutional provisions for equal protection, due process, and freedom of belief and privacy, are primarily federal; education provisions are state mandated. Only four court cases have directly…

About half the states in the U.S., either by legislative or administrative action, have moved toward the imposition of statewide performance standards in their elementary and secondary schools. Typically these standards pertain to the basic skills--reading, mathematical computation, and written and oral expression. Almost all of these programs…