The report by the President's Committee on Mental Retardation reviews the current state of knowledge in the area of biological and environmental prevention of mental retardation and describes programs on the frontiers of research or service delivery. Section I examines programs that are effectively preventing mental retardation through biomedical…

Despite the many criticisms that have been made of vocational education teacher preparation, the field has many strengths that can serve as a base on which to build excellent programs. Six examples of excellence are pointed out: (1) important vocational teacher competencies have been identified and verified; (2) high quality performance-based…

This paper provides an overview of educational, legal, and philosophical aspects of integration of Massachusetts students with disabilities. It discusses effective practices based on current research, the experience of parents and practitioners, and model programs. Introductory sections consider the importance of the integration concept and offer…

Reviews 36 studies of both model demonstration projects and large-scale public programs to examine the long-term effects of these programs on children from low-income families. Results show early childhood programs can produce significant short-term benefits on intelligence quotient, and important long-term benefits on school achievement, grade…

Meeting highlights and a background briefing report are provided from a policy seminar, one in a series of monthly staff seminars titled "Family Centered Social Policy: The Emerging Agenda." The highlights summarize remarks by three panelists. Alan Hershey describes the Teenage Parent Demonstration in New Jersey and Illinois and…

The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has launched a five-year initiative that will support state efforts to build comprehensive early childhood service systems. This initiative--the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative--provides planning and implementation grants to the state and territory Maternal and…

This document explores selected issues related to connecting welfare reform initiatives and the literacy movement and provides basic information about literacy education and its economic impact. Literacy is defined, and similarities and differences between adult basic education, adult secondary education, and English-as-a-Second-Language programs…

This paper presents a historical overview of the field of bilingual education and vocational education. The extent of the need for bilingual vocational education is described along with the status of current programming. The description of the state of the art includes program design, assessment practices, instructional materials, personnel, and…