Every student absence jeopardizes the ability of students to succeed at school and schools to achieve their mission. Students who are not at school cannot receive instruction. Schools funded on the basis of average daily attendance have less resources to do the job. Some youngsters who are truant from school engage in behaviors that are illegal.…

The Ministry of Advanced Education (Ministry) provides overall funding and policy direction for British Columbia's public post-secondary education system. The Student and Strategic Services Division, Ministry of Advanced Education requested Internal Audit & Advisory Services to conduct a review of the international education programs at…

With increased attention to teacher quality and student achievement, it's important to have an understanding of literacy policy and to envision how teachers might teach literacy differently in the future. In this book, Jacqueline Edmondson addresses key questions of critical policy study to provide understanding about how and why literacy is…

The number of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) cases has fallen in the past 4 years, and there is disagreement over the cause. Credit has been given to "waiver" programs that resembled Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and to the growing economy. This sort of confusion over program effects is partly a…

Traditional educational policy analysis is typically evaluative, focusing on degrees of success or failure, often obscuring how particular forms of knowledge and power reproduce social inequity. A Foucauldian, postmodern framework is particularly appropriate for analyzing educational policy because, in part, the Foucauldian concepts of…

With the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the pace of regulatory change related to telecommunications increased exponentially. The impact on rural areas is significant; the issues specific to southern states and communities are unique. This paper begins with a chapter on the importance of telecommunications technology to rural…

This document was designed to help teams of policymakers, practitioners, and advocates implement inclusive practices in state and local school systems. It is based on a policy evaluation framework with guiding questions to be used to assess the extent to which state and local systems are inclusive in six key areas: (1) curriculum; (2) assessment;…

The Child, Youth, and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota was convened to help policymakers develop relevant public policy that is well-grounded in research and theory. The Consortium has the mission of bringing together varied competencies of the University and vital resources of Minnesota's communities to enhance the ability of…

Traditionally, the concern of education policy in the United Kingdom has been with public education systems, but a question that needs to be addressed is whether lifelong learning lends itself to the same kind of analysis. The following forces are putting traditional forms of social policy out of business: challenge to the autonomy of the state in…

Drawing on experiences from a range of fields, including public administration, policy analysis, law, teacher training, ethics, and undergraduate education, this book is intended to be a practical, process-oriented guide to teaching, writing, and learning with cases. The guide is organized into four parts: (1) "Teaching with Cases:…

The loss of small farms in the South was dramatic from 1987 to 1997, with family farming becoming an increasingly rare phenomenon. Small farms are important to the local economic base. They purchase inputs locally, keep the tax base low, and reduce the need for public services. Diversity among farm managers is increasing in the South, with greater…

This work provides school change leaders with tools, techniques, tips, examples, illustrations, and stories about promoting school change. Tools provided include histograms, surveys, run charts, weighted voting, force-field analysis, decision matrices, and many others. Chapter 1, "Introduction," applies a matrix for asking questions…

This report identifies barriers in federal assistive technology (AT) policy to increasing the availability of and access to assistive technology devices and assistive technology services for people with disabilities. The report is the result of a review of the professional literature, a review of federal policies and two stakeholder surveys, one…

This newsletter is devoted to identifying and promoting strategies to reduce the young child poverty rate and to improve the life chances of young children living in poverty. The Spring 1998 issue includes articles on state investments to enhance the well-being of young children and families, and child poverty rates in a booming U.S. economy. The…

Compares the rationale and regulatory requirements for daycare put forth by the Department of Health with those currently operating with the Department for Education and Employment for schools and nursery education in the United Kingdom. Suggests that these two policy frameworks are based on different assumptions about practice and lead to major…