This booklet provides parents and students with answers to their questions about ISTEP+ (Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus), which measures tenth-grade student achievement in English/language arts and mathematics. After a letter from Suellen Reed, Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction, the booklet discusses what…

This report addresses the four research objectives that were established by the Massachusetts Primary Prevention Group (MPPG) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's HIV/AIDS Bureau. The objectives were to: (1) review and summarize literature that formally evaluated HIV prevention interventions; (2) describe how currently funded…

Researchers assembled a database of current and projected information on the following: welfare recipients; other female participants in the labor market; employment, occupational availability, and job openings; and occupational characteristics. The database was used in a multistep process to project the number of women forced to leave welfare…

The recent defeat of New York's statewide School Facilities Bond Act did not eliminate the pressing need for additional funds for school capital needs. This report discusses ways in which the state can meet these needs, shows how "backdoor" borrowing is not an acceptable method of financing school facilities needs, and describes methods…

To help New York's State Department of Education assess public school districts' energy conservation activities, the results of an audit of school districts' energy conservation activities are presented. The audit shows that most school districts have made some efforts toward energy conservation and that the Department does provide some assistance…

The Even Start Family Literacy Program addresses the basic educational needs of parents and children of low-income families by providing a unified program of: (1) adult education and literacy programs for parents; (2) early childhood education for their children; and (3) assistance for parents to effectively promote their children's educational…

This report provides an overview of programs and services in New Jersey for single parents and displaced homemakers. The first section contains a 3-year comparison of secondary and adult female and male occupational enrollment by cluster and gender. It shows enrollment patterns in selected program areas and highlights the occupational clusters…

The sweeping changes of welfare reform embodied in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, and which created the Child Care and Development Block Grant, raise many questions about how states will implement subsidy programs to help an increasing number of low-income families meet their child care needs. At the…

In March 1995, the Mississippi State Department of Education implemented the Home Ties program as a 5-year pilot program at five sites, using federal funds made available through a sub-grant from the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) and matching funds appropriated by the Mississippi legislature. The program provided intensive,…

This document is comprised of six issues of the Child Care Bulletin, a bimonthly publication of the National Child Care Information Center. The January-February issue focuses on involving communities in child care planning. Topics discussed in this issue include: community mobilization strategies, assessing needs and establishing goals, and…

This paper describes the experiences of the Colorado Digitization Project (CDP) related to accessing a diverse set of primary resources held by many different cultural heritage institutions. The CDP is a collaborative initiative involving Colorado's archives, historical societies, libraries, and museums. The CDP's goal is to create a virtual…

This digest examines the rural teacher shortage from a policy perspective and suggests strategies to address the problem. The rural teacher recruitment and retention problem varies across states. An adequate number of teachers are trained each year nationwide, but the problem is with distribution. Recent research on rural teacher recruitment and…

This book offers parents and community members a clear picture of the Kentucky school improvement design through a solid and user-friendly explanation of the basics of the plan. The chapters are: (1) "What Is This Book For?"; (2) "What Is Our School System Working To Achieve?"; (3) "What Do Our Students Need To Know and Be…

This report provides information about trends in educational telecommunications for 1996-97. The first section, "An Overview of Educational Telecommunications in the USA," presents a summary of trends in the following areas: the growth of telecommunications and distance education; leadership and governance in telecommunications development; the…

Work-based learning is a national educational initiative to provide avenues for all students to connect their educational goals and skills to occupational opportunities. The initiative's goal is to ensure a seamless transition from high school to meaningful, high-quality employment or further education. Mentors involved in work-based learning help…