This issue of "Epistle," the publication forum of Professors of Reading Teacher Educators, contains three papers as well as the regular features on job openings and on miscellaneous facts. Titles and authors of the articles are: "Doctoral Education in Reading: The State of the Art," by Richard Allington; "The Virtues of Being a Toad and What That…

This booklet summarizes data on the status of planning, programming, budgeting systems (PPBS) in the United States, based on a survey conducted by the Indiana State Department of Public Instruction in June 1975. Data are presented on a state-by-state basis for 45 states; the states of Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, and Tennessee did not respond…

Reports on an Iowa survey of school compliance with state-legislated activities (in this case, a needs assessment) and of administrator attitudes toward the worth of the mandated program. (IRT)

The probable economic impact on the art market, museums, and the artist of California's "droit de suite" legislation, designed to yield to artists a portion of the resale value of their works, is examined. It is argued that only a few living artists will benefit. The statute, California Civil Code 986, is appended. (JMD)

The current status of federal law in the area of sex discrimination based on pregnancy is examined. Supreme Court decisions, including General Electric vs Gilbert and Nashville Gas Co. vs Satty, are analyzed, and relevant state laws and proposed federal legislation are discussed. (JMD)

This article reviews the development of, and controversy behind, minimum competency testing at the state and national levels. (WI)

A collage of excerpts about the Florida Minimum Competencies Testing Program. (Author/MLF)

Reviews and discusses the implications of several studies of the attitudes of teachers and administrators toward collective bargaining and themselves ten years after enactment of state collective bargaining legislation. (PKP)

As examples of the trend towards decision-making processes resting on the interaction of various legitimate public sector interests, the author considers outside forces producing operational strictures within the system, including executive orders, lapsing and allotment procedures, accounting requirements, information demands, legal opinions,…

Questions whether community colleges really exercise any meaningful degree of local control by examining bills passed in Michigan which place new forms of regulatory control on community colleges by the governor's office, legislature, state licensing agencies, labor organizations, federal agencies, or the attorney general's office. (TP)

Examines three areas in which legislatures have attempted to interfere in what courts have come to perceive as "exclusively higher education affairs" in those states with constitutionally mandated higher education governing bodies that have a legal status equal to that of the legislative and executive branches of government. (Author/IRT)

A detailed account is given of the school desegregation struggle in Boston, Massachusetts, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. (MJB)

Discusses and presents a summary outline of state activity in minimum competency testing as of March 15, 1978. (IRT)

Describes content and activities of a "student legislative practicum" designed to prepare students from North Carolina State University for participation in the annual legislative session of the North Carolina Student Legislature (NCSL). The practicum employed the NCSL experience as a vehicle for understanding the legislative process more fully.…