This publication provides a comprehensive view of kindergarten through community-college education in Iowa. It describes input indicators (which are somewhat fixed by outside constraints), process indicators (over which school districts have some control), and outcome indicators (which result from planned district programs). Information for…

This report analyzes 1990-91 "report card" data for Tennessee's schools, making comparisons to earlier studies when appropriate. Of particular importance are the analyses of the relationships among 15 school district characteristics and mean student outcomes (scores from Tennessee's Comprehensive Testing Program and the Tennessee…

Serving as a bridge between research in the cognitive sciences and educational policymakers and practitioners, the first part of this report reviews recent research on thinking and learning. Findings emphasize work on higher order learning, the role of knowledge in learning, and the development of a disposition for thinking. Topics detailed…

Information about two possible actions as followups to school choice is provided in this paper, with attention to the concepts of teachers in private practice and charter schools. The movement of teachers in private practice involves educators as entrepreneurs who contract with school districts. Benefits include a high degree of accountability and…

Working with state education agency staff and higher education faculty, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) attempted to assemble information about current state-developed teacher evaluation systems and future directions for teacher assessment. SREB states were trying to determine whether: (1) the same evaluation systems were being used…

The Hawaii Legislature asked the Office of the Auditor to examine two major Department of Education computer projects--a financial management system (FMS) and a student information and program management system (SIPMS). It also requested guidelines for use in evaluating funding requests for future projects. A 1-year implementation delay in the FMS…

After describing recent school reforms in Hawaii, this paper discusses the state's efforts to ensure greater accountability and to deal with two issues: student evaluation and the measurement of indicators used in state-by-state comparisons. During the past few years, Hawaii has been involved in many reform initiatives, including implementating…

This report is one of three resulting from a 50-state survey on the development of family policies through the implementation of Public Law 99-457 (Part H) and presents first year findings on policy development in six states. The ongoing 3-year case studies are intended to examine those factors that influence progress in the stages of policy…

This report identifies state initiatives, policies, and programs in the area of adult learning undertaken in 10 selected states during 1979 and 1980. The methodology used to compute the state data is described. Profiles are then provided for the surveyed states: Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina,…

Analyzes competing definitions of equal educational opportunity and determines that some state courts are required to give affirmative content to the term, but the Fourteenth Amendment is interpreted only as a limitation on state action. Relates this discussion to the inconclusive history of Defunis v. Odegaard regarding racially conditioned law…

A review is made on the impact of educational policy making and institutional change in New York State during the governorship of Nelson Rockefeller. The study reveals how the governorship had been made an instrument of public policy, working with a strongly led Board of Regents and the educational establishment in transforming the State…

This document contains the text of the Model Interstate Income Withholding Act, which deals with two of Congress' key goals in enacting the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984: establishing a system for quick, efficient collection of support obligations throughout the country by the use of income withholding systems and improving the…

School desegregation, the legal vehicle to end racial discrimination in U.S. society, may be viewed as a three-generational issue. The first generation is confined to ending physical segregation of students by race, whereas the second generation targets racial and gender segregation within classrooms and other practices (i.e., suspensions,…

This report analyzes problems in New York State efforts to reduce unwanted adolescent pregnancy and its associated problems. Following an executive summary and introduction, the report consists of five sections. Section 1 details the framework and background for the Task Force recommendations. Section 2 provides an overview of current efforts to…

The Task Force on College Quality was charged with gathering research, reviewing literature and drawing on testimony on assessment of college effectiveness and state policies on improving higher education. Three papers are presented: (1) "College Quality: Measuring What Students Learn in Higher Education" (Jean G. McDonald); (2)…