This evaluation of Massachusett's Employment and Training Choices (ET) program indicates that instead of saving taxpayers money, the program has been costly and has contributed little or nothing to reduce the state's welfare caseload. ET offers welfare recipients a wide variety of employment services, including career planning and job search,…

A paper, "Young Children Face the States: Issues and Options for Early Childhood Programs," by W. Norton Grubb, is summarized in this policy brief. A discussion of the decisions that state policy makers must make and descriptions of the historical conflicts that persist within the early childhood movement and the current national status of early…

In Virginia, distance learning means the "Electronic Classroom," which is a distance education program of two-way audio and one-way video broadcast transmission of instruction from Varina High School (since September 1984) and Wise Vocational-Technical School (since September 1987). Each distance learning receive classroom is equipped…

This handbook has been compiled for coordinators of cooperative education programs at the secondary level in Maine. The handbook includes in-school classroom instruction relating to specific jobs and the world of work. Introductory material includes the Maine Association for Cooperative Education Constitution, By-Laws, and 1991 officers. The…

This brief report highlights the issues, evidence, and first steps toward including students with disabilities in educational data systems. The report notes that if students with disabilities are excluded from educational data collection systems, policy makers do not have an adequate set of information from which to make policy decisions. The…

The California Planning Commission for Educational Technology was established by state legislation (AB 1470) in 1989 to develop a California Master Plan for Educational Technology for K-12 education, the California Community Colleges, the University of California, and the California State University. The Commission discussed multiple issues;…

Demographic and economic materials relevant to rural economic development are the focus of this description of the types of information that are collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and how this information can be accessed. Information provided on demographic materials includes collection methods--the census, surveys, and administrative…

This paper focuses on the use of alternative assessments at the state level with a focus on the Connecticut experience. Judging from the size of audiences attending sessions on alternative assessments at national conferences and the numbers of articles appearing on performance assessment in recent educational journals, it is obvious that there is…

This report presents information on the status of arts education in South Dakota schools. Central to the report are the findings of a statewide survey of school districts that was conducted as part of a long-term project to advance the arts in South Dakota schools. Findings are reported in a number of areas, including budgets, staffing, course…

The kinds of school choice programs and the processes by which they became legalized in Minnesota are discussed in this paper. The first part reviews reasons for restructuring American schools. The second part describes how the Minnesota education system moved changed in the following areas: from a single delivery system to community education;…

The Ohio At-Risk Linkage Team Project focused on strengthening state and local linkages of programs and services offered to at-risk persons. The state linkage team provided leadership for local-level interagency linkage development. In April 1990 and October 1991, two workshops trained 29 local linkage teams. The resulting action plans specified…

Findings of a study that evaluated the implementation and effectiveness of 10 state-authorized parent education and involvement pilot programs in Texas are presented in this paper. Data were derived from demographic report forms, 369 parent opinion surveys, student opinion surveys, 105 teacher opinion surveys, cost surveys, and final evaluation…

This annual report summarizes activities of the Alabama Public Library Service for the fiscal year 1991. The following general areas are discussed: (1) agency services, including the effects of money shortages, children's programs, automated systems, the new state union list of serials, acquisitions, audiovisual services, and staffing; (2)…

This 1991 report from the Alabama Public Library Service includes directories of public libraries, single-county public library systems, multi-county public library systems, and multitype library systems in the state, as well as cross-references providing access by library name and librarian. Individual library statistics present data for fiscal…

This report is an interim statistical report, addressing characteristics of the Starting Points Preschool Program in Louisiana, and containing information on children who were enrolled in 1993-94. The Starting Points Preschool Program was initiated in 1992-93 through the United States Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 in order to…