This theme issue focuses on the drastic revision of the Texas education code undertaken during the 1995 state legislative session. "Education Policy Reform: Key Points for Districts" (Albert Cortez, Mikki Symonds) outlines critical issues in the legislation that have an impact on educational quality: charter schools exempt from state…

This document reports on data, covering 1976 through 1994, on the number of minorities interested in teaching and the soundness of the "pipeline," the paths leading minorities into higher education, teacher education, and successful placement in a classroom. The data were analyzed according to 10 indicators, arranged in 3 groups. The…

The Minnesota Department of Education has created a plan, "Unlearning Violence," to aid schools and communities in their efforts to create safe and nurturing environments for all the state's children. The goals and challenges of this plan were formulated with the involvement of over 600 citizens and an in-depth study of research related…

This report presents the Prichard Committee recommendations on professional development of Kentucky teachers. They are based on the results of a steering committee of Kentucky educators and are being implemented in a Pew Charitable Trusts project. The overall finding was that for school reform to succeed in Kentucky, greatly enhanced professional…

In December 1996 the New York State Legislature enacted sweeping changes in the structure and governance of the New York City public school system. The legislature and the Governor have shifted over one million school children, their parents, and their teachers back to a centralized, hierarchical system, in which one person, the chancellor,…

This report on gifted education is based on surveys returned by central education agencies in 47 states and Guam. The report contains informational charts which provide a broad overview of state level services for gifted students. An analysis of the data follows every chart. Included are data on: state mandates and regulations on gifted education;…

Designed to assist local school districts, this manual provides guidelines for the development of local plans for the education of academically or intellectually gifted students in North Carolina. In 1996, the General Assembly in North Carolina passed legislation removing gifted education from the law governing children with special needs and…

This report contains recommendations for changes to New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to be considered during the 1997 legislative session. It outlines the principal options addressed by the task force, the historical context of the TAP, and the cost of meeting full tuition and non-tuition allowances through state and federal grants and…

This report, the second in a series of six, presents the findings of evaluative studies of six Level I Model Technology School sites which were conducted as part of Phase II of the California Educational Technology Assessment Program. The project sites are: Alhambra City School District (two schools); Cupertino Union Elementary District and…

One hundred forty-three Eastern Kentucky University college students majoring in education and enrolled in an introductory education course were surveyed to determine their understanding of and knowledge about multicultural education and to discern the extent to which these students appreciated and valued multicultural education. The study also…

This booklet is designed to help educators recognize and report cases of child abuse and neglect that come to their attention. The first section of the booklet provides legal definitions of abuse and neglect according to Virginia law, and lists indicators of physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment. The second…

The perspectives in these essays present an examination of the Kentucky educational reform effort, with an examination of its rationale, various facets, and the reactions to its implementation. The ambitious assessment system includes multiple-choice and open-ended items, performance tasks, and portfolio assessments. The following are included:…

This special report summarizes a larger report titled "Linkages in the Delivery and Financing of Special Education Services in New Jersey" by Henry A. Coleman et al. It describes a project which analyzed the linkage between the structure of state aid for special education and the identification, classification, and placement of students…

The free appropriate public education (FAPE) of handicapped learners in the least restrictive environment as well as the Regular Education Initiative (REI) have resulted in many states requiring introductory level special education coursework for all preservice teacher education. This study was conducted to determine if minimally required…

A discussion session for urban school superintendents from Pennsylvania and New Jersey identified four educational issues, currently the focus of a good deal of political debate and activity, that illustrate the shift from local to Federal, and then from Federal to state-level influence and initiative. These are (1) centralization of control; (2)…