This article identifies interdisciplinary issues in the education of students with hearing loss. These include professional standards and codes of ethics, certification standards, teacher education, federal program laws and civil rights laws, increasing the equality of students with hearing impairments, and lifespan planning. A table lists 20…

Effects of Ohio's mandatory seat belt law on seat belt use, number of car accidents, and number of fatal and severe injuries were evaluated for January 1982 through March 1988. The monthly average number of accident victims was 2,002. Implications for public policy formulation and implementation are discussed. (SLD)

Reviews recent actions by state legislatures and courts in response to the problems of drug-exposed newborns. Also discusses civil and criminal court decisions regarding women who use drugs during pregnancy. State policy responses cannot be developed without a detailed assessment of the state's resources. (SLD)

Shows how political campaigning and legal action won a three-year battle (beginning in 1986) for tenure by an Asian Pacific American professor, D. Nakanishi, at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Describes the case's academic context, explains the legal alternatives, and analyzes the legal/political strategy adopted. (JB)

Research on dropouts at an urban, comprehensive New York City high school found a complex politics of "discharge" and low awareness on the part of students and parents of legal entitlement to education, which allowed 66 percent of a ninth grade cohort to dropout without comment or concern. (JB)

Describes an experiential learning activity in which a Connecticut fifth grade class designated a new holiday, Friendship Day, through an essay-writing contest. The class pursued legalizing the holiday through the state legislative process, and Friendship Day is now celebrated on the fourth Sunday in April in Connecticut. Shows how the class…

Explores the political and social reasons behind the denial of affirmative action at the University of California and analyzes the probable impact and human rights effects of the policy. Because the state has not allocated sufficient funds to improve elementary and secondary education for Blacks and Latinos, their numbers will inevitably decline…

In response to a legislative mandate to teach phonics, a rural North Carolina school district devised a plan where at-risk children received small-group instruction in phonics, reading, writing, and spelling in addition to regular reading instruction. A local university trained teacher assistants to implement the plan. Reading, writing, and…

A University of Florida instructional improvement program includes these features: competitive awards in the form of base faculty salary increases, three-year cycle for competition, focus on undergraduate teaching, and use of measures of both quantity (contact/credit hours) and quality (portfolios) of instruction. The program evolved from a…

Reviews information technology projects currently underway in Alaska, including: activities of the Telecommunications Information Council; Alaska Public Utilities Commission and the future of telecommunications policy; AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) projects; legislative initiatives; access for Native Americans and rural Alaskans;…

Reports the essential findings of one phase of the assessment studies conducted during the California New Teacher Project, suggesting some implications from that study for the impending reform efforts. The paper concludes that California lacks a coherent, rigorous system of assessments guided by a clearly defined set of performance expectations.…

When teachers become involved in induction programs like California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program, the principal's role becomes crucial. To support new teachers, principals can adjust working conditions, provide more release time for lesson planning, connect formative and evaluative assessment goals, and support collaborative…

In 1998, passage of Proposition 227 virtually eliminated bilingual education programs and called for instruction overwhelmingly in English. However, diverse student populations require diverse instructional approaches. Standards-based reform aids only students who can fully understand and assimilate high academic content. Constructivists value…

Per-pupil property valuation extremes among Colorado school districts are as varied as the landscape. A foundation plan levels funding disparities for school operations, but financing of major capital outlay projects still depends on local property taxation. Funds are needed to finance classroom technologies and Internet connections. (MLH)

An exemplary teacher who perfected portfolio writing techniques with his seventh-graders fears that abandoning KIRIS (Kentucky Instructional Results Information System) for a more conventional testing system will discourage students' riskier ventures. Talented teachers must balance teaching writing as an artistic process with meeting concrete…