This set of policy statements is intended to provide guidance to those who evaluate and select assessments, prepare students for those assessments, administer and score the tests, and interpret and use assessment results to make decisions about students and schools. The focus is on large-scale assessments that have consequences for students and…

Designed to guide and structure the needs assessment of Pennsylvania children with special health care needs, this document describes six specific steps in planning and conducting a needs assessment. The steps include: (1) stating the goals of the needs assessment, including fulfilling legislative mandates, identifying geographical areas that have…

The Australian Language Levels Project (ALL) is involved in the development of the guidelines for curriculum activities in both Languages-other-than-English (LOTE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL), in Australia. The ALL Project developed two kinds frameworks that contain guidelines with a degree of flexibility needed to be adapted to…

This document reports on the efforts of big cities to confront the new politics of child and family policies in the United States. A 35-member Roundtable was convened in 1995 to analyze the initial impacts of the new federal legislation and assess consequences for urban children. Part I contains some brief remarks about the plight of big cities…

To explore the issue of school finance reform, a series of community forums held across the state were carried out, the results of which are presented. The paper provides some major findings: a basic school finance system already exists, namely, property taxes supplemented by equalized state aid; the magnitude of the school property tax means…

This study examined the variety of service delivery models used to provide services to preschool children with disabilities in nine diverse communities across three states (Colorado, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania). Information was derived primarily from interviews conducted with community preschool program administrators, service providers, and…

Researchers have long been interested in why some children have behavioral and developmental problems while others appear to develop "normally." A substantial body of research supports the notion that a child's early experiences--from birth to school entry--can influence significantly later cognitive, behavioral, educational, and…

This paper highlights eight states that have implemented alternate assessments for children with disabilities who cannot participate in their state and district-wide assessment programs. The alternate assessment systems in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia are briefly described, along with their…

This book examines the effectiveness and distributive ramifications of the institutions of German skill provision as they functioned at home in the 1990s and as they served as a template for reform in other industrialized countries. The volume relies on multiple sources of data, including in-firm case studies, larger-scale surveys of companies,…

This literature review discusses the importance of technology to support teachers' professional development. Section 1, "Technology and Professional Development," highlights technology capacity of America's schools; barriers to effective technology use and professional development (e.g., lack of teacher training and lack of hardware and…

This book contains 15 articles on older workers and the challenges of health insurance, Social Security, retirement, job loss, and working until older ages. Following an introduction by the editors, the articles are organized in five sections that also include commentaries on the articles. The following are included in Section 1, "Charting…

This technical assistance document is intended to offer Oregon districts and agencies guidance in understanding and implementing the regulations dealing with behavioral supports, interventions, and disciplinary actions for students with disabilities who are eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is comprised of…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally-funded project that investigated how the inclusion of students with severe and other disabilities merges with larger efforts of educators, administrators, and parents to restructure and reform schools, and how to influence the directions of that merger. The project explored how…

The Office of Institutional Research (OIR) at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) conducts analytical studies and provides information in support of institutional planning, policy formation, and decision making. This OIR report, prepared in conjunction with the Financial Aid Office, analyzes dependent students who applied for financial aid…

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) believes provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to prepare qualified technicians and skilled and semi-skilled workers should be an essential component of the development agenda of all countries. It is about to draft a plan of action for the…