The primary uses of teacher assessment at the local level are to improve instruction, inform tenure decisions, and fulfill contractual requirements; in most districts, teacher assessment has little influence on educational practice. Principals can substantially enhance the success of teacher assessment by understanding its purpose, considering…

Reviews California legislation related to work safety and injury prevention as they pertain to farmworkers. Describes types of work injuries and illnesses and supplies the state's statistics for their occurrence. Provides a source for identifying workplace hazards and devising safety measures and training programs. (KS)

Analysis of Utah's four major pieces of legislation related to educator evaluation illustrates some of the evaluation complications that can occur when the legislation lacks clarity, simplicity, and compatibility with regard to purposes of evaluation. (MLF)

Examines adequacy and stability concepts found in education finance reports and Oregon reform efforts and legislation, highlighting funding for safety net districts. The concept in the governor's commission report are largely undefined, making operationalism and measurement difficult. A centralized, comprehensive database would aid future research…

Examined demographic profiles of older wards and their guardians and adjudication process, as experienced by older persons placed in legal guardianship. Found that family members' petitions for guardianship were seldom challenged by older person and goal of most guardianship cases was to preserve older individual's estate. Suggests that state…

The paper addresses (1) lawsuits stemming from fraternity hazing incidents and their potential liability; (2) defenses raised by fraternities, universities, and individual defendants and the success or failure of those defenses; and (3) responses to the hazing problem (state legislation and specific university and fraternity anti-hazing policies).…

Looks at labor legislation enacted by states in 1993 in terms of wages, family issues, child labor, equal employment opportunity, employee drug and alcohol testing, employee leasing, resident preference, and whistleblowers. (JOW)

Describes how students at a California high school developed and wrote a bill, currently being carried in the state legislature by the students' state assemblywoman, which would make multicultural studies a graduation requirement. (SR)

Over 166,000 students attend charter schools. President Clinton has called for the creation of 3,000 charter schools by 2000. This article examines effects of "weak" versus "strong" charter-school laws, discusses charters' pros and cons, explains funding challenges, and reviews preliminary findings on charter schools'…

Illustrates trends and issues associated with public policies promoting early childhood program accreditation. Describes differential rate policies in Florida, New Mexico, Kentucky, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oklahoma; support provided for accreditation in Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Texas, and Wisconsin; and linking…

Identifies major subjects of state labor legislation in 1998: increases in minimum-wage rates, prevailing wage changes, child-labor revisions, workplace surveillance regulations, and bans on employment discrimination. Offers a state-by-state summary of labor legislation. (JOW)

To educate themselves, a group of 16 Massachusetts school leaders has devoted an afternoon monthly during the past year to examining, describing, and wondering about student work. The Collaborative Assessment Conference protocol has revealed that educators hold different, often contradictory, assumptions about teaching and learning. (MLH)

North Carolina charter schools are operated by private, nonprofit corporations with federal, tax-exempt status and multicharter licenses. The application process is easy, the political climate under Governor Jim Hunt is progressive, and public employees are not unionized. On balance, the system seems both flexible and accountable to taxpayers.…

Under Rhode Island's new School Accountability for Learning and Teaching (SALT) program, the state gathers information from such sources as statewide performance assessments, in-depth community surveys, and computerized, comparative analyses of school expenditures. Article offers basic guidelines for program evaluation. (MLF)

Uses panel data on 1982 to 1996 state appropriations to examine the sensitivity of results from the legislative-demand model to changes in statistical methodology employed. Signs and significant levels of variables used in this model vary widely when least-squares and fixed-effects methods are used. Expected relationships between state…