The updated technology plan for the state of Texas makes requests of the Texas Legislature; states actions to be taken by the Texas Education Agency; and makes recommendations to other entities including other state agencies, regional education service centers, local school districts, institutions of higher education, communities and the private…

Although states must certify that they have requirements to protect the health and safety of children in child care in order to receive Child Care and Development Block Grant funds, neither the scope nor stringency of these requirements has been stipulated. At the request of Congressional members, this report identifies the most critical…

This report explores changes in school policies and practices resulting from an externally mandated, high-stakes testing program. It is based on a study that investigated one Minnesota school district's transformation following the passage of a 1993 law mandating a results-oriented graduation rule. The paper outlines the role of testing programs…

Recognition of the link between child care and the success of welfare reform has given rise to questions about how states are spending child care funds provided through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). At the request of members of Congress, this report from the General Accounting Office…

From paper presented at annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools on December 29, 1969, on behavior of state and local officials of five Midwestern communities in reaction to the 1962 school prayer decision of the Supreme Court. (IR)

Financial pressures and the possibility of a major desegregation suit have dominated the 1980-81 academic year for Tennessee's public colleges and universities. The higher education community is moving toward managing the decline with limitations on enrollment and by eliminating unnecessary duplicated academic programs. (MLW)

State funding mechanisms are seen as coming under scrutiny because they don't accurately reflect enrollment decline effects on overall costs. Ohio has worked out a method of relating funding formula to actual costs and Florida reduces funding by half the average cost for enrollment declines. (Author/MLW)

Although many states have been moving toward central boards, the opposite is true in Florida. The reasons why Florida's ten regents have come under attack from legislators are outlined, and a feud between the governor and the legislature over building a quality higher education system is discussed. (MLW)

Three forms of coordination (a coordinating council for institutions having separate boards, a board of regents for institutions retaining separate boards, and a single board for a system of universities) in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana are examined to determine the impact of coordination on institutional autonomy. (MLW)

State program review, generally asosciated with efforts to assess quality and enforce accountability, has also encouraged the states to look beyond traditional measures in evaluating their support for and investment in higher education. When access and finance issues meet head on, quality concerns may give way. (Author/MLW)

State policymakers' attitudes toward time-shortened degree programs were investigated through a questionnaire sent to legislators and directors of statewide governing or coordinating boards. Credit by examination and early college entrance are seen as among the best methods of time shortening; reducing requirements, among the poorest. (Author/LBH)

Major programatic reforms or significant changes in roles and relationships within the educational system are unlikely to emerge given the lack of attention to the actors, process of implementation, and underlying values of the reform movement. The article's focus is state-level reform initiatives. (IAH)

Due to massive reform initiatives, American states have become major policy makers for public schools. Examines, from a state and a political-influence perspective, the causes, processes, and consequences of the decade-long "education excellence" movement. Places events in historical context, draws upon research findings, and applies an…

Highly prescriptive curriculum, testing, and teacher evaluation policies, such as those in New York State, actually impede teachers from teaching responsibly and effectively. These policies insist that teachers demonstrate a set of uniform behaviors unrelated to effective teaching for particular students. To work toward a new reform paradigm,…

If outcomes-based education is the darling of education reformers, it is the devil to conservative parents, taxpayer groups, and legislators who oppose it. Despite some initial successes in several states, critics charge that the states pushing OBE have no evidence that it works. Costs are another factor. So far, the ultraconservatives are…