The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 sets the basic standards for disclosure of data in educational records. The manner in which data are to be classified within the records is to be determined by local policy. This article describes the Massachusetts regulations on student data classification. (Author/GC)

This article reports on the Massachusetts experience, during the past two years, with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 on school records. It may help student advocates anticipate resistance to the law's implementation and plan appropriate action to assure that its benefits become a reality. (Author/GC)

The "state action" concept broadens the Fourteenth Amendment to restrict certain objectionable private activity. In an effort to clarify the requirement of state action as it has been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court, the author examines the various state action theories as they have been applied to activate Fourteenth Amendment…

An outline of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights desegregation actions from 1969 to 1986 is presented. (MLW)

Views the avoidance of difficult management decisions and the failure to direct change as major internal threats to the community college. Identifies external threats including intrusion from business and the state. Discusses the state's role in providing colleges with access to modern management/financial techniques and up-to-date equipment. (LAL)

An understanding of the technical aspects of comparable worth and the role of job evaluation should help college presidents and administrators to influence legislation effectively or to prepare for comparable worth in ways that preserve the integrity of their institutions. The Washington State case is discussed. (MLW)

The Education Commission of the States has identified several crucial factors that ensure successful school improvement programs, including political support, pressure for improvement, belief in students' learning ability, high-quality programs, state-level implementation strategies, and adequate resources. State agencies must also promote school…

A renewed emphasis on arts education has come after a period of neglect during the 1980s and early 1990s when the arts were often slighted as school budgets grew tight and as educational priorities shifted to the basic academic subjects. Recently, results of several research studies have confirmed the advantages of student participation in arts…

This summary of legislation, with a special focus on maternal and child health and primary care, describes nearly 600 laws and resolutions pertinent to these issues passed by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in the 1996 legislative sessions. The summary includes health care reform and access issues, managed care and…

In the past, rural America often relied on Washington for policy responses to its challenges, but federal policy has been slow to adapt to the broad changes taking place in so many rural communities. New approaches to rural policy have taken root in some states. Georgia's OneGeorgia Authority will oversee a series of economic development programs…

Using recent economic data on state spending and information about childhood brain development, this Kids Count mini-report offers a snapshot of where Arkansas stands on early education and spending on such programs. The report examines the next steps, challenging conventional wisdom in order to explore the best path for improving child outcomes…

This booklet is designed to provide the citizens of Maine with general information they can use to help with the problem of youth suicide. It serves as part of the state's public education strategy to teach the citizens about suicide prevention. The booklet contains information concerning myths about suicide, the risk factors, warning signs, and…

This paper discusses the designs and effects of emerging state-level accountability systems. It claims that in a few years' time, state-level policymakers will be faced with recognizing that a substantial number of schools in their states will have failed to progress toward academic standards at the rate their reform plans demand. The paper has…

In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court directed schools in 30 poor urban districts to adopt a comprehensive school reform program by the 2000-2001 academic year. Part of this program involved delegating resource-allocation decisions to the school level, thereby increasing schools' effectiveness and productivity by bringing the perspectives of…

This report profiles legislative action affecting pre-K-12 education in the 50 states during the 1997-98 school year. The information was collected from Lexis-Nexis, legislative staff, state newsletters, school board/teacher associations, and various media. The resulting report, compiled by the Education Commission of the States Information…