The implementation of Part C of IDEA has continued to evolve as states have built and modified service delivery systems. The number of children served has increased dramatically with nearly 350,000 children and their families now receiving early intervention services. Meanwhile, challenges to the provision of quality services--such as securing…

Like other districts with schools that are not meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals for five consecutive years, Hawaii is restructuring its low performing schools as required by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Unlike most other districts, however, Hawaii, a single statewide district, has been doing it for five years with the support…

In the past 150 years, educational systems have expanded and become integrally linked with economic, political, and social status in modern nation-states. As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking. Evidence from averaged scores on international…

Policy analysis issues in a recent study of quality control in the basic grant delivery system are reviewed, and the validity of the findings as reported is discussed. The study's design and implementation, derivation and presentation of findings, and relevance of the findings to the study's policy recommendations are examined. (MSE)

Discusses how to set the ambient standards for water and air based on cost-benefit analysis. Describes marginal analysis, the basis of cost-benefit analysis and how dynamic cost-benefit analysis is carried out with application to the automobile pollution problem. (HM)

America 2000 tries to advance both student achievement and educational freedom (through school choice). Its newly formulated learning standards and achievement tests could benefit children of all regions and backgrounds. America 2000 will strengthen all citizens' future by creating a national mechanism for quality control. (11 references) (MLH)

An editorial and two articles on quality control in evaluation are presented. Topics covered include definition and assessment of evaluation quality and development of standards for judging quality. Programs inspections activities of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services are discussed. (TJH)

To maximize freedom from personal and political conflicts of interest, decentralized mechanisms of federal program evaluations are needed. Block grants mean that state legislatures and governors will become more responsible for oversight of funds. Three proposals are presented for helping the states deal with these increased evaluation…

Reports on a study to determine the extent to which higher education institutions do or do not have policies requiring the collection of outcomes data; how useful chairs of economic departments perceive these measures to be; and whether or not institutions plan to enhance their assessment efforts in the future. (CFR)

This paper outlines a framework for documenting the impact of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities' University Affiliated Programs (UAP) on three domains: clients and their families, systems of services or higher education, and leveraging of resources. The paper identifies characteristics associated with successful UAP development and…

Use of the bootstrap resampling technique (BRT) is assessed in its application to resampling analysis associated with measurement of payment allocation errors by federally funded Family Assistance Programs. The BRT is applied to a food stamp quality control database in Oregon. This analysis highlights the outlier-sensitivity of the…

Relevance of the intersection of sociology, statistics, and public policy to the study of quality control in three family assistance programs--food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and Medicaid--is reviewed using a study by the National Academy of Sciences of methods for improving quality control systems. (SLD)