The Arizona Elementary Foreign Language Task Force's response to a state mandate requiring foreign-language instruction in all elementary schools is described. After a review of curricular and personnel resource needs, Northern Arizona University's teacher-training model is summarized. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/LB)

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will not ask the Supreme Court to review a lower court's decision to exempt the Michigan Education Trust from federal income taxes. The state college tuition prepayment plan was discontinued in 1991 due to legal challenges but promised to honor its commitments to 55,000 participants. The program may now be…

A student-centered evaluation of the California Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education (DATE) program shows how a state policy directed toward students at risk influences program directions and affects at-risk and thriving students. Reasons to question the validity of the risk factor model as a prevention tool are discussed. (SLD)

According to federal rules governing the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, grant applicants were required to develop plans for spending their funding allocation. This article discusses the CCDBG public hearings and the need for the public and government officials to prepare more carefully for the hearings. (LB)

Responses from industrial arts/technology education state supervisors from all states but Michigan showed the greatest technology education implementation and human adaptive systems orientation in the east central and midwest regions and more vocational orientation in the southeast and northeast. Teacher associations were important change agents.…

Describes the process used to evaluate the writing across the curriculum (WAC) program in the Minnesota Community College System, focusing on evaluation components (i.e., workshop surveys, faculty and student surveys, faculty interviews, student compositions, and subject experiments). Considers programmatic and evaluation coordination. Reviews…

Describes a survey of state library associations that was conducted to gather information about professional development and continuing education opportunities. Issues addressed include goals of state library associations, budgets for professional development, opportunities for professional development, programs and workshops, association…

Early Start is a center-based program for four-year-old children at risk of academic failure because of their home or community environment. The state-funded program successfully incorporated literacy activities into a supportive environment which informally encouraged practice with early reading and writing. (Author/JDD)

Because most states incorporate similar clinical tests in their dental licensing examinations and most dentists surveyed would like greater mobility between states without taking another clinical examination, development of a national clinical examination is desirable. Demonstration of continued competency should also be required. (MSE)

Presents excerpts from selected state-of-the-art reports on initiatives for educational technology that were received from individual states in response to a request from the yearbook editors. The 16 states represented are California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North…

This article describes available benefits and work incentives affecting supported employment placement for students with severe disabilities, including payment for necessary supports (state programs and the Department of Labor), protection of benefits (Social Security programs), and incentives to employers (the Targeted Job Tax Credits program and…

This section includes three articles that discuss programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, including a listing of state humanities councils; the Council on Library Resources; and the U.S. Department of Education Library Programs, including the Higher Education Act and the Library Services and Construction Act. (LRW)

This article examines the emergence of innovative policies in public postsecondary education systems and suggests that state postsecondary governance structures have influences on innovation that are independent of other social, educational, and economic factors. Policy implications are discussed. (SLD)

In 1987, Texas created two competitive grants programs for faculty at Texas higher education institutions, designed to help diversify the state economy. The second funding cycle of the two programs (fiscal year 1990-91) is described, including the administrative infrastructure to support proposal solicitation and grant awarding. Project…

Evaluation of strategic planning programs is illustrated using the examples of statewide forest resource planning programs implemented by state governments in 1986. Client-based perspectives were studied via a survey of 216 officials affected by the forestry planning program. Considering planning's context, process, outputs, and performance helped…