A series of recommendations is presented for reducing default rates in the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program. First, a summary is provided of trends toward the increasing dependence of students on loans to finance their college education and the large and growing default rate among borrowers. Next, four issues are discussed: Should lenders…

To determine the extent of state-mandated staff development activity in the states, a study involving the chief education officer from each of the 50 states was conducted, and the results are reported in this paper. The study and report focus on the following: (1) states mandating staff development programs; (2) states planning legislation…

A State Issues Clearinghouse was established by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Combined Task Force on Governmental Relations to monitor and track state activities that impact upon teacher education. This report presents the results of the first survey of the fifty states undertaken by the Clearinghouse. The nine policy…

This report examines State level strategies designed to promote local desegregation efforts as reflected in pupil reassignment plans, housing desegregation, community involvement, and changes within schools. The case histories and results of successful desegregation litigation in thirteen States are discussed. Also presented are the following task…

Almost seventy years passed before vocational education was recognized in 1977 as a state function in North Carolina's public secondary schools, community colleges/technical institutes, and teacher education programs. Although the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act initiated vocational education, North Carolina education was primarily a local matter until the…

PROCEEDINGS OF A 1967 TEXAS CONFERENCE ON IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEXICAN AMERICANS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS REPORT. SPEECHES, COMMENTARIES, A PAPER, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND RESOLUTIONS ILLUSTRATE THE STATED GOALS OF THE CONFERENCE--(1) TO IDENTIFY AND DEFINE BARRIERS FACED BY MEXICAN-AMERICANS IN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES IN TEXAS, (2) TO…

The great disparity in the geographic and specialty distribution of health manpower, particularly physicians, and strategies to resolve the maldistribution problems are addressed. Rural areas do not have an adequate supply of qualified health manpower, and almost one-third of the nation's critical health manpower shortage areas are in southern…

Higher education bills and appropriations to higher education approved by the 1976 Virginia Assembly are summarized. This session was the first in which the Council of Higher Education, operating under the expanded responsibilities granted to it by the General Assembly in 1974, provided formal recommendations on institutional budget requests to…

This research brief lists and indexes materials on State education legislation and activity by subject and State. The information was obtained from answers to questionnaires sent to State education agencies, legislative service agencies, teacher organizations, and school board associations. Other information was obtained from materials sent during…

During the past five years, postsecondary student assistance programs administered by the Office of Education have enabled an estimated nine million students to receive a postsecondary education who might otherwise have been unable to do so. These programs include the Federally Insured Student Loan program, the National Direct Student Loan…

This report, by reviewing the contents of specific state statutes and regulations, extends the discussion of actions by state legislatures and education agencies to reduce class size. Data are drawn from primary sources and from email or telephone interviews with state department of education officials. Following the design used in the original…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) established 2 flexibility demonstration programs--State- and Local-Flex--that allow up to 7 states and 80 school districts to redirect up to 100 percent of certain NCLBA programs funds. The General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked to determine factors that affect states' and districts' decisions about whether…

This paper estimates the effects of state-imposed curriculum mandates on the test scores of public-school students who took the SAT in 2001. By 1998, 14 states had mandates that high-school students should take an economics course. For these states, the proportion of public-school students taking high-school economics was around twice that of…

Healthy, properly nourished students who feel safe are better able to concentrate on their work, attend school on a regular basis, and perform well in class and on tests. Despite such research findings, however, discussions about improving student achievement often occur separately from discussions about schools' roles in addressing health and…

The conflict between institutional mission and finance is stressed in this article based on a Brookings Institution study. This tension promises to grow as academe adjusts to a drop in the traditional college-age population, and as the promise of expanding adult markets is either realized or falls short of expectations. (MLW)