Discusses joint efforts by Native American tribes and the Minnesota state legislature over the past 20 years to assure that educational services are provided to American Indian students at all levels. Highlights the case of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, describing the college's foundation and finances. (MAB)

The effects of presenting a choice of writing tasks on the quality of essays produced by eleventh graders were studied with 34,200 students in Georgia. The choice condition had no substantive effect on the quality of essays, but race, gender, and the writing task variable did. (SLD)

A discussion of state grant programs for college students outlines the relationships between program goals and effects and the difficulties in designing appropriate and successful programs. Guidelines for assessing these interrelationships are offered to help policymakers design grant programs that can most efficiently and effectively achieve…

A national survey examined the extent to which secondary schools, colleges, and universities are exchanging information on student progress. Twenty-three states reported having some form of statewide feedback system in place, whereas 12 other states reported that some type of system is under consideration. (MDM)

Relationships among state identification rates for serious emotional disturbances and economic and demographic variables were explored. Variation in per pupil revenue explained about one-fourth of the variance in identification rates. States differed significantly based on region, elementary and secondary expenditure, per pupil revenue, and per…

Policy questions related to outcome assessment, such as determining the critical outcomes of schooling and how indicators can be measured, are analyzed. State and local efforts in special education outcome assessment are described, and policy considerations for designing an outcome system that includes students with disabilities are examined. (JDD)

A survey of 62 Minnesota directors of special education examined 20 issues of school choice pertinent to school districts. Issues listed as important by the most respondents were excess program costs, the effects of enrollment options on the planning process, and the billing of resident districts for special education services. (JDD)

Examines developments in networking for K-12 education, including the High Performance Computing Act of 1991, national telecommunications proposals, growing participation in the National Research and Education Network (NREN), state networks, technical issues, and the Consortium for School Networking. Stages toward the goal of developing…

The impact of the 1985 Illinois seat belt law is explored using Box-Jenkins Auto-Regressive, Integrated Moving Averages (ARIMA) techniques and monthly accident statistical data from the state department of transportation for January-July 1990. A conservative estimate is that the law provides benefits of $15 million per month in Illinois. (SLD)

This article describes progress made by states and U.S. territories in implementing the Part H program for handicapped infants and toddlers and the Section 619 preschool grants program, both authorized by the 1986 Amendments to the Education of the Handicapped Act. Challenges faced by states include financing, personnel supply and standards, and…

Service-planning issues necessary for successful implementation of an indirect needs-assessment model to estimate geographical differences in the prevalence of needs for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services are discussed. The issues include selection of need categories as target groups, estimation model selection, and understanding…

The Training Resource Unit is a New South Wales (Australia) community services initiative that provides services such as direct client training, career training, and consultation to individuals with severe intellectual disability and severe challenging behaviors. The service is provided in the person's place of residence, workplace, or school…

Lists the speakers and summarizes the issues addressed for 12 panel sessions on topics related to networking, including libraries and national networks, federal national resources and energy programs, multimedia issues, telecommuting, remote image serving, accessing the Internet, library automation, scientific information, applications of Z39.50,…

Offers a critical review of eight articles and two journal issues dealing with school indicators of student success or failure; state models for school improvement and accountability; teacher burnout as an outcome of paperwork burdens; the impact of reform efforts; class size; trends in educational evaluation; mastery testing; departmentalization…

Discusses the concepts, costs, and benefits of bulletin board services (BBSs) as a distance learning strategy for staff training and communication. The New York State Independent Living Bulletin Board System (NYS IL BBS) for caseworkers monitoring at-risk youth is described as an example of how to plan bulletin board content. (Contains six…