Although policy makers have expressed interest in expenditures by private elementary and secondary schools, nationally representative data in this area are not available. In the absence of expenditure data it may nevertheless be possible to derive national estimates of total expenditures by private schools indirectly, by using the information that…

This paper addresses the potential of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to measure education reforms in the United States through Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). How the SASS can measure reform, the type of reform it should assess, and the elements of school reform that would best serve the needs of state and federal…

A committee at Luther College (Iowa) was appointed to explore the 3-year option for a bachelors degree with regard to curriculum, finances, admissions, and student life. The committee, composed of administrators and faculty from Luther, examined 3-year programs that operate now or are being discussed at several other colleges. They found that…

Successful enrollment management depends on an information base that is comprehensive, targeted, and continuously updated to inform enrollment management policies and monitor their effectiveness. Institutions implementing enrollment management programs need to establish an initial information infrastructure, including a longitudinal student…

This paper examines alternative teacher certification, its history, research and implications, recommendations and rationale, and specific recommendations for Delaware public education policy. Chapter 1 reviews the history of alternative certification beginning in the early 1980s when regional shortages of math and science teachers drove the…

Since the 1980s there have been several attempts in the United States to depart from the single-salary schedule in place since the 1920s and to apply performance-related or merit pay (PRP) to teachers, assessed either at the school level or individually. Meanwhile, in England, a performance-management process is now being implemented that is also…

This handbook is designed to serve as a report on negotiations that took place during the 104th and 105th Congresses that lead to the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) amendments of 1997. In addition, the events and changes in the cultural climate during the 106th Congress and its impact on IDEA is also discussed,…

As states work to provide public funds for early care and education programs, they need data on the current system to better provide a system that supports parents' need to work, promotes healthy child development, and ensures the educational quality of all early education and care programs. This report provides Massachusetts' policy makers with a…

This text includes all of the plenary presentations from the 3rd European Conference of Deafblind International's Acquired Deafblindness Network. This international conference was the first to focus specifically on older people with dual sensory impairment. Presentations addressed the awareness of the needs of older people with deafblind or dual…

This paper summarizes changes in key elements of welfare policy and in closely related policies on child support enforcement and sex education and family planning programs. Drawing on a conceptual framework that highlights how incentives created by public policy can affect demographic behaviors, the paper concludes that, as Congress intended,…

This report describes some of the current efforts to improve teacher quality in the southeastern U.S.states. It speaks to the importance of states informing each other in crafting their efforts to create more coherent systems of teacher development linked to improving student achievement, asserting that everything that must be done to ensure that…

This report constitutes a step toward designing an integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil. The report contains an updated and detailed profile of the rural poor in the northeast and southeast regions of Brazil; identifies key components of rural poverty in those regions; and proposes a five-pronged strategic framework in which…

Senate Rostrum, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Newsletter, discusses issues pertaining to California community colleges and the formation of statewide policies on academic and professional matters. The April 2001 issue discusses: (1) California's Master Plan; (2) defining a "high quality education"; (3) faculty…

The New Literacy Studies (NLS) is an approach that places literacy in its wider context of institutional purposes and power relationships. The NLS has been suggested as offering a useful theoretical basis from which to proceed in developing sustainable lifelong learning in relation to literacy. The first of three issues related to this suggestion…

This memorandum from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services addresses student harassment based on disability. It begins by discussing why disability harassment is such an important issue and identifies federal laws that address disability harassment, including Section…