As more colleges move to "test optional" admissions policies, the debate over the utility and interpretation of standardized-test scores continues. In this article, the author interviews Daniel Koretz, a professor of education at Harvard University and author of "Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us". Koretz…

Discusses ways in which the legal bases for child welfare systems can be reformed, in terms of the current methods by which cases enter the child welfare system, and ways that placement is decided and individual cases are moved through the system. (CMG)

This paper focuses on the challenges that states face as they implement the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, particularly those related to the identification and assistance of schools in need of improvement. Studies are underway that examine the implementation of some NCLB sanctions, such as the supplemental…

The authors suggest that the Rules and Regulations of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for the development and implementation of child identification systems present severe policy problems for state planners. (Author/CL)

Profiles the first eight states, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New jersey, New York, Oregon, Wisconsin, to receive federal school-to-work grants and looks at how they are doing. (JOW)

This issue brief explores the problem of child pornography and teenage prostitution and examines some of the strategies federal, state, and local governments employ to address these social problems. After a brief review of Congressional actions and Supreme Court decisions, state statutes affecting pornography and prostitution are reviewed, and…

Conference proceedings are summarized from a 1979 national conference on regulations for Title VII of the Rehabilitation, Comprehensive Services, and Developmental Disabilities of 1978 (P.L. 95-602) which provides for a three part program in independent living for disabled persons. Conference participants represented a wide variety of…

The authors suggest that it will take a new dimension of teamwork under the Perkins Act to meet the challenges of the coming decade. Vocational education can be improved, they say, by close collaboration among the new state councils on vocational education, the state boards, the newly required technical committee, and a host of other groups. (CT)

This is a congressional hearing on H.R. 11, a bill to extend several expiring education programs. The focus is on the Adult Education Act, a program that provides grants to states to help provide basic skills to illiterate adults and adults without a high school diploma. The text of H.R. 11 is provided. Testimony includes statements, prepared…

The new Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments require states to begin annual testing in grades 3 through 8 in reading and mathematics by the 2005-2006 school year. Only 16 states currently have grade-by-grade tests in reading and mathematics, and only 9 of those have tests aligned with their standards, as the law requires. The rest of…

This is a congressional oversight hearing on the vocational rehabilitation program in Pennsylvania. It looks at the present program in light of the Federal statutory requirements and legislative intent. Testimony includes statements, prepared statements, letters, supplemental materials, etc., from a state senator, a Representative in Congress, and…

This section includes three articles that discuss programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, including a listing of state humanities councils; the Council on Library Resources; and the U.S. Department of Education Library Programs, including the Higher Education Act and the Library Services and Construction Act. (LRW)

The latest round of proposed state and federal welfare reforms has major implications for state work force development systems. These systems will face new demands generated by the need to help welfare recipients find jobs before they reach the time limits on aid and the need for states to meet the new work participation rates for federal welfare…

Central to sociology is the assumption that virtually all forms of social action and public policies have unanticipated consequences for their actors and social systems. Sociologists seek to explore these unanticipated consequences and delineate how they will affect people, policies, and practices. This essay focuses on the unanticipated…

Statutory requirements in federal vocational education legislation with which state and local agencies must comply are exclusively process oriented. Most reactive, federal legislation encourages rigidity and inflexibility, since (1) laws, rules, and regulations are rigid with respect to processes and procedures that must be used; (2) the nature of…