Whenever performance assessment has been introduced into statewide testing programs, various potentially paralyzing difficulties have been encountered surrounding test accuracy, reliability, validity, or suitability. Programs in some states have been discontinued or placed in jeopardy. It is uncertain whether educators can overcome these problems…

Higher education's presence in school reform is limited because many university people equate reform with lowered standards and instrumental knowledge, view portfolios as complicating the admissions process, and have low expectations for the secondary school system. Oregon's Proficiency-based Admission Standards System (PASS) is a state-mandated…

Studied how 25 New York school districts that applied for funding for corrective actions against low performing schools planned to take action. Also examined the extent to which school choice could be implemented in these districts. Overall, districts seemed unable to implement school choice effectively and did not describe effective corrective…

Compared the willingness of states to invest in higher education and institutional sectors by studying state expenditures and fiscal tax effort. Findings show significant disparities in the ways states finance higher education and its sectors. Poorer states tend to exert more tax effort in public higher education, while wealthier states are less…

As states struggle to close deficits, direct taxpayer support to private colleges and student aid programs are in jeopardy in many states. Provides examples of reductions in state funds to private colleges and discusses the likelihood that increases in student grants will not make up the difference for private colleges. (SLD)

Reports the results of a survey conducted shortly after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through its U.S. Library Program, awarded a statewide grant of computers and software to public libraries in Louisiana, to gather data about the grant's impact on library staff. A copy of the survey is appended. (Author/LRW)

Studied 18 states with high-stakes testing to see if their programs were affecting student learning, analyzing results from additional tests covering some of the same domain as each state's own test. Findings suggest that in all but one case, student learning is indeterminate, remains at the same level, or actually decreases with the…

Examined the relationship between school system financial and demographic data and student achievement in the science section of the 1998 Tennessee statewide Terra Nova tests. Results indicate that while many schools had science scale score achievement higher than expected based on system demographics, others should examine a variety of…

The survey of state Medicaid programs concerning reimbursement policies and per diem rates for private Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded for 1978-86 focused on: reimbursement methods; trends in reimbursement rates; and factors affecting reimbursement, including economic factors, reimbursement policies, eligibility policy, bed…

Shares insights concerning preparation needed for using Computer Management of Instruction (CMI), the general structure of a CMI system, and some system features a user might encounter. Describes the development of Arkansas' Computer-Assisted Instructional Management system for mathematics instruction. (RH)

Examines research about serious childhood injuries. Describes a state program that tries to ensure the safety of children in family day care homes. (PCB)

The article advocates extension of "permanency planning" in out-of-home placements to include children and youth with developmental disabilities. Though some states currently operate programs according to the principles of permanency planning, significant changes in existing federal policy are recommended to require permanency planning…

The study evaluated the extent of gender inequity in vocational rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, through analysis of data on input, program, and output dimensions over a 13-year period, 1972 to 1984, for state rehabilitation agencies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. (Author/DB)

Reports the status of alternative certification policies for school administrators in the United States using descriptive research methodology. The article is based on a 1993 survey that identified 12 states with alternative certification policies, the reasons they were established, and how policies compared and contrasted. (Author/SLD)

This study found that states with low percentages of students identified as learning disabled (LD) used a diagnostic method for determining a severe discrepancy, whereas few states identifying the most students used such a method. Use of a method to determine a severe discrepancy may reduce inappropriate labeling of students as LD. (Author/JDD)