This document describes Rhode Island's School Accountability for Learning and Teaching (SALT) process. It defines SALT's vision, outlines Article 31 (which requires schools to engage in self-study and goal setting and sets rigorous requirements for schools), and explains how SALT concepts mirror and respond to Article 31 demands. SALT's vision is…

Surveys of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin school board members indicate significant impact of state collective bargaining legislation on perceived ability of board members to perform legislatively prescribed duties. (Author/JBM)

Discusses rapid growth of underground educational movements, particularly of unapproved home schooling and fundamentalist Christian schools. Reviews existing state regulation of private education, its constitutional and policy implications, and offers alternative recommendations concerning compulsory attendance laws. An appendix lists basic…

Tennessee's master plans for education would create four professional levels of employment for teachers and administrators in that state. The plan is described, arguments for and against it are summarized, and a counterproposal of the Tennessee Education Association is given. (PP)

Reviews the impact on education of the first year's application of Massachusetts' Proposition 2-1/2, examines local factors linked to retrenchment policies, and considers the law's distributive impact among variously sized population centers. Analyzes projections of the law's second-year urban impact and its implications for educational equity in…

Presents the full text of Arkansas Act 590 (1981) requiring balanced treatment of creationism and evolution in public schools of this state. Includes, among others, requirements for balanced treatment, prohibition against religious instruction, requirements for nondiscrimination, definitions of "creation-science" and…

A checklist for museum compliance with federal, state, and local laws covers administrative organization, general endowment and restricted funds, trustees, staffing and employment practices, volunteers, acquisition and disposition, exhibition programs, visitors and membership, auxiliary activities, building, and miscellaneous regulations. (MSE)

Reviews the major points of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenge to the Arkansas bill "Unbiased Presentation of Creation Science and Evolution Science Bill." (SK)

Analyzes the current evolution/creationism controversy by reviewing court cases and what scientists and educators are doing to prevent creationism from being taught as science or included in school curricula. Includes viewpoints of scientists, educators, and creationists. (JN)

Description of a course involving students in the Michigan state political process. The students investigated a legislative bill intended to reduce throwaway drink containers by summarizing relevant literature, conducting consumer surveys, and performing self-initiated projects. Journal available from Faculty of Modern Studies, Oxford Polytechnic,…

South Carolina's Educator Improvement Act provides for a "cradle-to-grave" system of training, certification, employment, and evaluation of teachers. The author fears this type of legislation is the precursor of a nationwide shift in the locus of policy making. (Author/WD)

While private institutions flourished in Massachusetts, it is suggested, there was little interest in developing state-supported institutions of higher education. The comprehensive overhaul of an uncoordinated network of 28 institutions on 30 campuses governed by six autonomous boards is described. (MLW)

The response of the University of Hawaii to a legislative mandate to improve inservice teacher education is described. Cooperation between the university and that state's department of education has evolved into inservice programs involving teacher institutes, workshops, and summer programs. (JD)

Membership in the worldwide community means that students must possess globally competitive skills. In 1993, the author and the Colorado General Assembly worked to pass a comprehensive educational reform strategy that established "model" content standards in mathematics, science, geography, history, reading, and writing. Uniform…

There are often insufficient protections in public schools regarding students' health records, their storage, and access to them by other school personnel. Explores some of the causes in current law for this dilemma and offers some suggestions aimed at clarifying acceptable options for school health care providers. (120 footnotes) (MLF)