Describes the provisions, development, and future of the Independent-Living Initiative. Discusses its implementation at federal and state levels, and also the plans of the state of Illinois to establish a departmentwide task force to develop a system of services for youths who will be leaving foster care. (RJC)

An approach toward integrating evaluation into a program at its inception is presented as a way to increase utility and cost-effectiveness. Examples illustrate that such integration, combining internal and external evaluation, is preferable to independent and separate evaluation in terms of the cost to stakeholders. (SLD)

Congress substituted direct federal loans for federal guarantee of private loans for postsecondary education. Budget savings were overestimated because credit risks, recognition of administrative costs, and increases in administrative and borrowing costs were ignored. Savings could have been achieved by reducing returns to private lenders and…

Two samples of Trade Adjustment Assistance Program participants before and after 1988 program changes were studied. The program served workers who were permanently displaced and suffered significant earnings losses, but there was no evidence that training affected earnings three years after initial unemployment. (SK)

This issue deals with the future of an age-based public policy. Articles discuss the history of age-based public policy; the competing bases for benefits; population dynamics; Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare; employer policies; and local and state policies. Describes California's Linkages Program. (JOW)

Proposes reasons for the precipitous drop in the number of Black farmers since the 1950s. Today, most Black farmers have very small operations and are at an advanced age. A healthy rural nonfarm economy is essential to supplement farmers incomes. The Agriculture Credit Act of 1987 offers low-interest loans to Black farmers. (KS)

This directory of supportive and rehabilitative programs for people with deafness includes federal programs; state vocational rehabilitation offices; regional and local programs; national professional organizations and centers; chapters of the National Association of the Deaf; and professional committee members of two other organizations. (DB)

Stresses the need for increased federal, state, and local support for child immunizations resulting from the alarming increases in the incidence of rubella and other infectious diseases, and endorses the Standards for Pediatric Immunization Practices recently published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association." (MDM)

Outlines the activities of the United States Department of Education and of Secretary Richard W. Riley to increase input from teachers to help revitalize education in America. Riley appointed Therese Knecht Dozier, a former teacher, to serve as a special advisor for teaching and as a liaison to and a voice for classroom teachers. (MDM)

The National Workplace Literacy Program provides grants to partnerships of business, labor, and educational organizations to develop model programs for teaching job-related basic skills. These projects are yielding information about promising practices, effective program elements, and barriers to implementation. (SK)

This history of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, established in 1917, reviews controversies over its constitutionality and control of education; criticism of its director, Charles Prosser; its contributions to vocational education; and reasons it was abolished in 1946. (SK)

Interviews with 15 participants in New Deal, a British training program for unemployed 18-24 year-olds, revealed overall skepticism about government training programs, distrust and disillusionment, little support for what the government identified as different about New Deal, and low expectations of long-term employment outcomes of the program.…

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development concentrates on three questions: how children learn to read English and other languages; which skill deficits and environmental factors impede reading development; and which instructional approaches work best with particular children. Research indicates that deficits in developing…

Three programs sponsored by the federal government--School-to-Work, One-Stop Career Centers, and America's Career Kit--make it easy to research career options, provide hands-on experiences, determine what kind of training is required and where to get it, submit a resume, and search for a job. (JOW)

Discusses how the direct-lending program, popular with colleges, may be doomed; a lawsuit and changing political fortunes pose threats to the system. (EV)