The past several years have seen basic changes in policies and programs concerning poverty, work, and workforce development. The essence of the changes is putting work first, and many states and localities are building "Work First" into welfare-to-work programs funded under Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and many are adopting…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) measures the educational achievement of nationally representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Local educational agencies tend to view the NAEP as a benchmark to which the educational achievement of their students can be compared. In particular, state departments of education…

This monograph summarizes national and state level changes in employment patterns for individuals with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. It presents longitudinal data from state mental retardation/developmental disability (MR/DD) agencies covering 8 years between FY88 and FY96, and for federal/state vocational rehabilitation…

Merit aid, a discount to college costs contingent upon academic performance, is nothing new. Colleges and private organizations have long rewarded high-achieving, college-bound high school students with scholarships. While merit aid has a long history in the private sector, it has not played a major role in the public sector. At the state level,…

A sample of 1,731 North Carolina high school students who initially failed the state Competency Test registered improvements on subsequent reexaminations. The gains were apparently stable and related more to in-school factors than to individual background characteristics. (Author/PN)

Equality of educational opportunity within Minimum Competency Testing is analyzed in terms of the distribution of outcomes, availability of remediation, and effectiveness of remediation for Blacks and Whites. (Author)

Describes a statewide dissemination system adopted by the California Nutrition Education and Training Program to expand shrinking dollars for nutrition education. This system involves funding of local nutrition education projects which have been selected as "exemplary" and which then serve as models for new programs within the state. (CS)

An American Academy of Family Physicians' study of the practice location patterns of 1978-79 graduates of family practice residency programs is examined. The majority practiced more than 100 miles from their residency program. Physicians were likely to be practicing in a community similar to their backgrounds. (Author/MLW)

Allied health professionals are those (exclusive of physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses) who provide health care in support of or supplementing other health professionals. The Regional Technical Institute enables students from 26 colleges and junior colleges in Alabama and Tennessee to train in 14 allied health professions. (BR)

Provincial curriculum directors were surveyed and literature reviewed to determine which Canadian provinces have official policies on values/moral education and the extent to which the ministries are implementing these policies through the promulgation of curriculum materials and standards. Reasons for failures to encourage values/moral education…

California Assessment Program's application of matrix sampling and item response curve theory to the scaling and reporting of state assessment data is described. It is designed to express educational outcomes in an efficient and interpretable form that is both immediately informative and suited to analysis over extended periods of time.…

After a brief overview of vocational education, vocational guidance, and career education the authors examine the state department of education framework as a unit for coordinating career education and sex equity efforts in vocational education and counseling. Connecticut's strategy is described as an example. (MF)

This article evaluates the position of the Ontario Ministry of Education on moral education, particularly as evidenced in the MacKay Committee report, "Religious Information and Moral Development." Finally, it suggests some reasons why formal moral education should not continue to be part of the public school curriculum. (Author/SJL)

Section 2 of the journal covers educational programs and services for the deaf and hearing impaired from preschool schools and classes through postsecondary programs to university programs training personnel in deafness, with a separate section on programs for the deaf-blind. (PHR)