Speech and language are central to the human experience; they are the vital means by which people convey and receive knowledge, thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences. Acquisition of communication skills begins early in childhood and is foundational to the ability to gain access to culturally transmitted knowledge, organize and share…

This is a unique and groundbreaking collection of questions and answers coming from higher education institutions on diverse fields and across a wide spectrum of countries and cultures. It creates routes for further innovation, collaboration amidst the Sciences (both Natural and Social), the Humanities, and the private and public sectors of…

"Policy and Performance in American Higher Education" presents a new approach to understanding how public policy influences institutional performance, with practical insight for those charged with crafting and implementing higher education policy. Public institutions of higher learning are called upon by state governments to provide…

This is an opportune time for researchers in higher education to examine policy via cross-state comparative analyses. Momentous court, legislative and policy developments that impact state-level higher education policy are emerging at a rapid rate. The states have emerged as postsecondary policy innovators in the areas of student financing,…

This monograph takes the perspective that increased awareness of how active labor market programs operate in other nations can substantially improve the way in which the United States deals with worker displacement. Chapter 1 considers the costs of worker displacement and how government programs designed to reduce these costs are evaluated.…

The papers in this volume synthesize international disability policies, providing a cross-national perspective on disability definitions, the criteria for entitlement to disability benefits, and measures to facilitate a return to work for disabled individuals. Two papers, which were presented at the International Research Conference on Social…

Despite U.S. world leadership in research in child healthcare and development, in all the statistical indicators of children's well-being the United States lags well behind most advanced industrialized societies. This book discusses U.S. public policy issues concerning the healthcare and development of children under age three. Studies are cited…

The following rural sociological research needs were identified: (1) acceptance of general sociological theory and methodology for use in "Rural" research; (2) recognition of bench marks and probable base lines in rural sociological research; (3) collection of widely scattered reports for examination and perhaps respecification; (4) establishment…

Examining why the United States is one of the few advanced democratic market societies that do not offer child care as a universal public benefit or entitlement, this book is a comprehensive history of child care policy and practices in the United States from the colonial period to the present. The book shows why the current child care system…

Employer approaches to work-based training were identified in a survey of 106 private sector companies based in Scotland in 1989. The survey data were analyzed in relation to the following: Britain's economic weakness, the industrial relations and educational reforms developed by the state as a response to the weak economy, existing labor force…

This book presents the results of a study of the British work camps that were initiated in the 1920s as a result of the political need to reduce unemployment among ex-servicemen and that evolved in 1929 into a national system of residential centers to "recondition" long-term unemployed men by exposing them to hard physical labor. The…

A discussion of higher education in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland assesses policy and provision of education in the two jurisdictions and places them in their international context. The jurisdictions' demographics, trends in participation, and patterns of expenditure are examined first, in the context of both the United Kingdom and…

This volume, the second in a two-volume work, builds on an international study of the research university in Germany, Britain, France, the United States and Japan, to explore the role and function of the research university and the relationship between teaching, research and graduate study. Part 1 lays the foundation for comparative analysis by…

The aboriginal peoples of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand became minorities in their own countries in the 19th century. The expanding British Empire had its own vision for the future of these peoples: they were to become civilized, Christian, and citizens--in a word, assimilated. This book provides the first systematic and comparative treatment…

Parents around the world grapple with the common challenge of balancing work and child care. Despite common problems, the industrialized nations have developed dramatically different social and labor market policies--policies that vary widely in the level of support they provide for parents and the extent to which they encourage an equal division…