A project conducted in Tennessee from 1984 through 1989, Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (Project STAR), serves as a context for a discussion of educational research. The decisions required in major research projects and the problems in carrying out research are seldom discussed in conferences that present research results as completed efforts.…

This digest provides an overview of the opposing sides in the Official English debate--Official English and English Plus. Proponents of Official English seek to make English the official language of the United States through passage of a constitutional amendment. The movement is spearheaded by two groups, U.S. English and English First. Official…

This report attempts to assess the impact on affordable higher education in California of the state's "three strikes" law enacted early in 1994. The report estimates that, as written, the state would not only have to use all expected increased revenues but also find additional amounts to maintain the increased prison population. It…

In December 1991, the South Carolina Supreme Court ordered the State Board of Education to stop using the Education Entrance Examination (EEE) for licensing parents who want to teach their children at home. In ruling that the test's validation process did not meet a standard of reasonableness, the Court established a significant precedent for test…

In rural Oregon, the one-school, 240-student K-12 Perrydale school district faces the possibility of consolidation with another school district. Oregon's Ballot Measure 5, passed in 1991, reduced property taxes to equally low levels around the state, drying up much of the locally raised money that is the lifeblood of school districts. In addition…

New Jersey's Higher Education Restructuring Act of 1994 expands and codifies certain authorities of trustee boards, creates a statewide coordinating board called the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, and creates the Presidents' Council which consists of the presidents of the 46 institutions of higher education which receive state funding.…

This report describes the 1994 activities and recommendations of the committee charged with studying the budget, programs, and policies of North Carolina's 12 Smart Start early childhood education and development demonstration projects. Smart Start is a high quality early childhood education and family services initiative involving public and…

This report reviews current state policy and practices in the disciplining of students with disabilities, as they are expressed in state documents including statutes, regulations, and other types of written records. Federal law, regulations, and case law are summarized in the report's introduction and background. Findings are presented in terms of…

Recognizing: (1) that home schooling members have increased dramatically in the last decade, with Florida having the highest home schooled population in the country, (2) that home schoolers are among the heaviest users of the public library, and (3) that home schooling needs have not been fully understood, the University of South Florida School of…

This paper examines the politics of special education finance reform in three states (Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) that have enacted substantial legislative change within the past 5 years. These case studies were extracted from presentations made by the three state directors of special education at a 1994 conference. Each case study includes…

This report describes the process and outcomes of implementing Oregon state legislation (Senate Bill 814 in 1991), which restructured the state's special education funding system. The new system provides districts with grants that are twice the regular per student allocation for every identified special education student up to 11 percent of the…

A major component of the legislative function of the Board of Governors (BOG) of the California Community Colleges (CCC), as mandated in Assembly Bill 1725, is the adoption of an annual state and federal legislative program. This program formalizes the legislative thrust of the BOG and is intended to set forth systematic legislative and budgetary…

This report responds to a North Dakota legislative mandate to study the state's early childhood tracking system for children who are at risk for developmental delays. Introductory sections summarize critical definitions and relevant federal legislation (specifically Part H of Public Law 99-457). The North Dakota program is then reviewed. Nineteen…

Views about corporal punishment in schools are changing. Some seek a return to accountability, authority, and increased order in schools, while others seek to make schools a sanctuary from social violence, especially violence against children. Local school boards often are criticized as being too lenient or too severe, and more state legislatures…

This policy plan presents Connecticut's revised Statewide Educational Goals for Students for 1991-95. The plan includes goals of what students are expected to learn as well as how the education system can be held accountable to the public. The plan contains eight goals. Goal one is that students will be motivated to learn and to meet the higher…