The Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) is committed to ensuring that decisions about children's lives are made on sound information and that state leaders and the public are fully informed. It is the public debate that has kept reform moving forward and will be necessary to ensure success. ACNJ believes that it is critically important…

Reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies is one objective of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS provides funding to states and organizations that provide abstinence-until-marriage education as one approach to address this objective. GAO was asked to describe the oversight of federally…

The Wisconsin Forces for Four-Year-Olds Project promotes a collaborative community approach to offering universal access to four-year-old kindergarten services for Wisconsin 4-year-olds. Presented in three major sections, this report offers an overview of a community approach to serving 4-year-olds, summarizes experiences in seven communities…

This document reports on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 1996-2010 for the state of Texas. At the beginning of the report is the "Vision of Technology in Education, 2002." The first section of the report addresses the need to update the long-range plan in the following areas: state legislation; federal legislation; developments in…

Despite expansions in children's health insurance programs, rates of uninsurance in California continue to be high. Noting that absenteeism due to poor health is associated with school failure and asserting that schools offer an established framework on which to build a coordinated approach to enrolling children in health insurance programs, this…

This paper discusses the rationale for enhancing the current National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) design by adding a capacity for adaptive testing. Items are tailored to the achievement level of the student in adaptive testing. The report describes a 1993 Ohio field trail of two-stage assessment carried out by the National Opinion…

This report provides descriptive information on variations in selected features of state and local early intervention systems. Information was gathered from 20 states as part of the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study (NEILS). Results indicate a considerable variation along a number of dimensions, including: eligibility criteria; type…

This study compared tenth grade scores on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) assessment in the Lafayette School Corporation in mathematics and language arts. The sample was taken from a high school with a total enrollment of 1,990 students, 296 of whom were considered special needs students. Data were gathered for the…

Noting that childhood lead poisoning is one of the most common preventable pediatric health problems, this report examines lead poisoning as a health problem to which infants and young children are most susceptible and as a housing problem directly related to a shortage of safe, affordable housing. The report details screening rates in Rhode…

The North Carolina State Board of Education developed the ABCs of Public Education in response to the School-Based Management and Accountability Program enacted in 1996. The ABCs focuses on accountability with an emphasis on high educational standards, teaching the basics, and maximum local control. This document reports the results of the…

All-day kindergarten and class size reduction are two Ohio initiatives funded through Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid (DPIA), a supplemental payment to school districts with substantial portions of families living in poverty. This report describes the extent to which districts implemented these programs and the challenges they faced during the…

As part of the ongoing efforts in the state of Alaska to improve the health and well-being of the state's young children, the Alaska Departments of Education and Early Development and Health and Social Services are collaborating to develop a plan to address the critical outcomes and strategies that will support and improve the lives of Alaska's…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that each state education agency (SEA) establish and maintain an advisory panel for the purpose of providing policy guidance with respect to special education and related services for children with disabilities. This document is a brief summary of survey information received from 48…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the use of accommodations in state assessment by students with disabilities and explored several related factors. A survey of states indicated 12 states (Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and West…

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,…