The paper reviews the Reagan administration's efforts to convert human services financing to a block grant approach and describes the response of the United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCPA). The Budget Reconciliation Act and its impact on funding for such services as developmental disabilities, vocational rehabilitation, and Title XX Social…

Unemployment insurance is a cooperative federal and state program that provides temporary, partial wage replacement to formerly employed people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. This issue brief discusses the program and its importance as an approach to ameliorate the effects of welfare reform on struggling families. The brief…

The urban policies of the Carter administration are discussed in terms of the housing initiatives underlying them. Conclusions are drawn about the actual impact of these policies upon different types of urban areas. (Author/RLV)

This fiscal year 1996 guide is designed to explain federal programs for children with exceptionalities and the needs that are met by each program. The guide begins with a budget overview; a table listing fiscal year 1995 appropriations, fiscal year 1996 authorizations, and Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recommendations for several federal…

This report discusses the impact of child care and welfare reform legislation under consideration by the Senate Republican leadership in the United States 104th Congress, based in part on a national survey of how states are coping, or not coping, with current child care needs and how prepared they are to cope with new demands for child care…

Since its inception, Head Start has used a varied and comprehensive approach to meet the needs of children in poverty. This position paper of the National Head Start Association asserts that the programs current federal-to-local guidance and funding structure under the Department of Health and Human Services is effective and argues that valuable…

Describes a study of two community colleges and ten community college administrators to determine whether federal policies had influence on these institutions. Proposes a new policy framework, based on the findings, with five dimensions: (1) federal research support; (2) federal tax laws; (3) federal student financial aid; (4) funded mandates; and…

Since the enactment of the Adult Education Act (AEA) in the 1960s, the Federal Government has played a major role in leadership and policy direction for literacy education for adults. Federal programs and policies established under the Adult Education Act have influenced who provides services, who receives them, the instructional components of…

Because of a perceived lack in the development and use of evaluation procedures for vocational education in Illinois, a new evaluation system was begun in 1984. It required that at least 20 percent of funded vocational programs be evaluated annually, in compliance with requirements of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. The evaluation…

In March 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Personal Responsibility Act (H.R. 4), part of the House Republican Contract with America. The bill would move primary responsibility for child and family programs to states and communities, reduce federal spending, and consolidate programs into block grants for child care, child…

Developed by the National Association of State Boards of Education/Louisiana Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)-Education task force, this position paper describes the potential for CETA/Vocational Education collaboration, particularly CETA-Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA)/Vocational Education coordination, in…

This volume analyzes government policies for helping students pay for education beyond high school and was developed as a result of an October 1994 gathering of policymakers, analysts, and practitioners convened to review federal student assistance and to consider policy alternatives for the Clinton Administration. Chapter 1, "A Fifty-Year…

This discussion of how the effectiveness of federal student aid can be evaluated is framed in terms of three questions: (1) Has federal student aid expanded educational opportunity; that is, has it encouraged the enrollment and broadened the educational choices of disadvantaged students? (2) Has federal student aid made the distribution of higher…

Federal regulations for the Adult Education Act and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act were revised in 1985. The following are the major changes to the Adult Education Act regulations: (1) the definition of "adult" was changed to permit services to persons under the age of 16 in some cases; (2) the definition of…

As one of a series of reports concerning state policies and practices in child care and early education, this report identifies reductions in state investments in child care, early education, and school-age care and argues that such reductions will result in many low-income working families losing the assistance they need to stay employed. The…