The cost of four years of undergraduate education, including living expenses, now averages nearly $80,000 at public colleges and over $100,000 at many private institutions. Tuition and fees have risen steadily since 1980, fueling concern that college is becoming prohibitively expensive for many families. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO)…

In 1991, Massachusetts passed an interdistrict choice law that gave parents the option of enrolling their child in any district they selected. Six years later, David Armor and Brett Peiser conducted a study to examine the social, racial, and financial impact of the choice program on participating districts, and to determine if the thesis behind…

This report represents the Educational Priorities Panel's third look at school districts educating the majority of African-American and Latino students in the state. The intent this time is to look at the broad picture. The NYS Education Department reports student test data for these students, but the Department's funding analysis does not. The…

This manual provides administrative guidelines for programs for gifted students in Missouri. An introduction cites the relevant state special education law, defines "giftedness," and stresses that differentiated educational programs are intended for only 2 or 3 percent of the school-aged population whose development requires…

This annual report contains six essays on current issues in higher education and a faculty salary report for 1996-97. The essays include: (1) "Faculty Salaries, 1996-97" (Suzanne B. Clery and John B. Lee), which notes that faculty salaries increased 3.1 percent for the year although the gap between the best- and lowest-paid faculty…

This report describes a study of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), a reform effort tying academic achievement with district funding. The purpose of the study was to determine which variables best explained and predicted MCAS test scores (scores had been rising). One such variable was accountability. The report states the…

This document consists of the six issues of the "Abbott Bulletin" published during 1998. The "Abbott Bulletin" is a one-page per issue newsletter that reports on developments in response to a set of rulings by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Abbott v. Burke case. In its fifth ruling in the Abbott case in May 1998, the Court…

This report highlights research that examined education finance data for the 1998-99 school year, the year prior to the introduction of finance reforms in New Hampshire, and the 1999-00 to 2001-02 school years, the 3 years following the introduction of reform. Following are some of the conclusions about New Hampshire's education finance reform.…

This study examined the effects on special education enrollment of state funding systems and high stakes testing. The study evaluated special and general education enrollment for each of the school years 1991-92 through 2000-01. Data were also collected on high stakes testing in each state and on funding systems, including the common bounty system…

State policies greatly affect the decisions rural districts make about building or renovating school facilities. State, federal, and local mechanisms for funding school facilities are briefly described. Some states require a specific percentage of growth or decline in student population or a minimum number of students as a prerequisite for…

This bulletin summarizes issues related to rural education in two parts. Section I, Problems Concerned with Rural School Support, covers: (1) The schools and the economic situation; (2) State aid and equalization of opportunities, including interest in school support and efforts toward improvement, sources and distribution of State school funds,…

The lack of satisfaction with the political process as the means of reaching informed public policy judgments about higher education is seen to be manifested in the intermediate agencies created by every state. Important choices remain between the concentration of authority in centralized governance systems and the decentralization of authority.…

A study analyzed state funding policies for serving limited English proficient (LEP) students and related patterns of state aid allocations to school districts. State efforts were often poorly conceived or applied, and often inadequate. Only New Jersey and Florida met all study criteria for adequacy, "rationality," and equity of funding,…

Presents results of the annual survey of state education departments, which is conducted to provide an assessment of interest in and commitment to educational computing in elementary and secondary schools. Highlights include state funding; requirements for computer courses; hardware and software policies; additional technology usage; and teacher…

Seven common criteria for establishment of a new community college in the United States are outlined. They include local population and demographic factors; community interest; funding availability; appropriate state regulation; assessment of existing educational opportunities; and geographic location and logistics. (MSE)