The book is intended to help policymakers understand issues involved in gifted and talented education. Initial chapters review the state of the art in state and federal policies toward education of gifted and talented students and outline steps in decisionmaking regarding policy development (determining the framework, making basic decisions,…

Project Basic is a program developed by the Maryland State Department of Education to assure that students attain basic skills in a variety of areas. Two levels of tests are given in grade 7 to monitor progress, and in grades 9 to 12 to determine whether each student has met the state minimum competency level. Students must pass the higher level…

Arizona is approaching educational reform through the establishment of a teacher incentive program which completely restructures the way teachers are classified and rewarded. The Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University was mandated by the state legislature to evaluate district plans over a 5-year test period and to report…

This paper describes four successful and innovative workplace-based literacy programs in the South. The first is a joint program for city municipal workers between the U.S. Naval Air Station in Memphis, Tennessee and the Memphis Literacy Coalition (Project Literacy-Memphis, Inc.). The second is a program at North Carolina State University in…

The computer literacy and education program described in this brief narrative report was undertaken by North Carolina schools after the General Assembly provided $28.4 million in funding. The goal of the program was to achieve a ratio of one microcomputer for every 50 students to permit 30 minutes of computer access per week for each student. As…

Intended for beginning teachers in Virginia, this handbook is designed to serve as a guide for negotiating the first few years of teaching. The concept of teacher as problem solver is promoted throughout the manual. The handbook is organized around the idea that the beginning teacher's main tasks are to: (1) discover how to learn from their own…

In July of 1983, the state of Tennessee initiated The Healthy Children Initiative (HCI), a program designed to protect the health of Tennessee's children. Originally planned as a 4-year initiative, participating programs have been established on an ongoing basis. The first year's goal for Fiscal Year 83-84 was to make sure prenatal care was…

This booklet describes major issues in teaching and significant initiatives to strengthen teaching in New York State's public schools. The following topics are covered: (1) recruitment and preservice education; (2) teacher certification; (3) staff development and other improvements in the condition of teaching; (4) recognition of outstanding…

This report describes the sequence of activities that took place as the Examination Division of the New Jersey Department of Civil Service introduced a word processing system for a test item bank and for production of camera-ready test copy. The equipment selection, installation and orientation procedures are discussed. Keyboard and CRT terminals,…

The findings of a task force study of New York City's implementation of a State dropout prevention law are provided in this report. An introduction describes briefly the historical background of the legislation, called the Attendance Improvement-Dropout Prevention program, which provided $28 million in supplemental funds to school districts with…

The document represents a compilation of statistical data submitted to the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction, Division for Exceptional Children, by the 143 local education agencies (LEAs) in the public schools of North Carolina, by the Department of Human Resources (DHR), and by the Department of Correction (DOC). The document…

Texas' 20 regional education service centers provide a number of programs and services supported by designated state funds, and offer other services needed by the local districts when funds and staffing are available. This report on the status of the service center program for the 1984-85 school year describes the specific services offered, the…

An informal consortium was formed in 1983 by five postsecondary educational institutions and the educational television authority in British Columbia to cooperate in using audio teleconferencing for course delivery, and to conduct a pilot project between September 1983 and May 1984. The consortium members (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia…

New Jersey's urban initiative has two components. The first is a broad-based program that addresses critical issues common to most urban districts Statewide. The second is a comprehensive program (Operation School Renewal) that concentrates the State's resources in three urban districts. The concentrated initiative, Operation School Renewal, will…

This booklet is designed for students participating in the Utah CloseUp program. The goals of this program include teaching secondary students about the operation of state and local governments and the juvenile justice system; how laws and decisions are made and enforced in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of state and local…