The 49 member colleges in the Illinois Community College System provide annual reports on improvements in productivity to the state community college board. This document summarizes the improvements reported by the colleges for fiscal year (FY) 1997. Following a brief introduction, the first section reviews special focus issues for FY 1997 related…

Since the passage of legislation requiring Illinois colleges to develop plans for increasing the participation and advancement of underrepresented groups, the state's community colleges have used both special population grant funds and local college funds to address the needs of these groups. This report summarizes statewide initiatives and…

This annual children's programs budget report provides a baseline of expenditures for state programs serving Oklahoma children and their families. The current report covers expenditures for fiscal years 1993-1995, current budgets for fiscal year 1996, and budget requests for fiscal year 1997. The introductory section briefly describes a history of…

Compiled from information contained in the Program Year 1994-95 Annual Narrative Performance Reports submitted by states to the U.S. Department of Education, this paper shares selected information on recent developments in volunteerism in adult education. The paper is organized into three sections. Selected states are highlighted in each section.…

Compiled from information contained in the Program Year 1994-95 Annual Narrative Performance Reports submitted by states to the U.S. Department of Education, this update shares selected information on recent developments in family literacy programs. Section 1 provides information on new or existing collaborations in these states: Colorado,…

Authorized by the National Literacy Act of 1991, state literacy resource centers (SLRCs) are charged with assisting local public and private nonprofit efforts to enhance literacy. SLRCs have developed innovative approaches to their mandate to stimulate the coordination of literacy services. They have encouraged government and industry…

The 1996 hearing of the Minnesota State Council on Vocational Technical Education included testimony from 13 individuals representing state agencies, local education agencies, professional and public policy organizations, and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Testimony indicated that secondary and postsecondary vocational and technical…

Norm-referenced tests (NRT) help compare the performance of one student with the performances of a large group of students, while criterion-referenced tests (CRT) focus on "what test takers can do and what they know, not how they compare to others" (Anastasi, 1988). Both types of test can be standardized so that scores can be interpreted the same…

This report explores the efforts of the Colorado Department of Education in its Chapter 1 programs in 1994. Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is the largest federally funded program designed to provide services to elementary and secondary school students. Chapter 1 provides financial assistance to meet the special educational…

Noting that there is a significant gap between the number of young children eligible for Medicaid and the number actually enrolled, this report describes a year-long effort to promote collaboration between local Head Start grantees and county Medicaid offices in New Jersey. The primary goal of the project was to define and implement policies and…

This practice test for the Ohio Ninth-grade Proficiency Tests consists of items similar to those that appear on the proficiency test. The writing section contains a prompt that asks the student to write about a hero or heroine. The reading test contains questions based on four reading selections and other reading skill questions not based on a…

In response to congressional approaches to welfare reform, this report describes a study of the extent to which child care needs of welfare recipients in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program are currently being met, whether any barriers exist to meeting the child care needs of JOBS participants, the effects of child care subsidies…

The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report challenged schools, parents, and businesses to help all students develop competencies in the basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities required for work in the current and future workplace. In response to this challenge, vocational-technical programs were…

This paper examines problems faced by youngsters at risk of failure in school, and discusses methods for helping them succeed in educational programs. At-risk youngsters confront many problems in school and in mainstream society, and are frequently misidentified, misdiagnosed, and improperly instructed. Problems faced by at-risk youngsters…

Since 1988, Vermont has been developing an innovative performance assessment program that relies substantially on portfolios of student work. This interim report presents findings about the reliability of scores from the first statewide implementation of the portfolio program in the 1991-92 school year. The focus is not on program impact as an…