Today, state education agencies (SEAs) and their leaders face unprecedented demands. What was once a low-profile job of managing federal aid, providing curricular guidance, and ensuring compliance with various legal obligations is now a far more visible and politically fraught task. The new roles required of state education agencies due to the No…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. A formative evaluation of the Smart Start process, to inform the current state-level decision-making processes for future Smart Start efforts, was devised from a…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under six years and their families to ensure that all children start school healthy and prepared to succeed. Local Smart Start partnerships spent much of their first year formulating long-term plans,…

Respondents from 49 state education agencies completed a survey describing state-level implementation of transition services for youth with disabilities. All states used technical assistance and cross-disciplinary training as their primary systems-change strategies and the majority of states viewed these strategies as effective. Relatively few…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years and their families to ensure that all children enter school healthy and prepared to succeed. This study acquired a baseline measure of the quality of child care in the 12 pioneer Smart Start…

This report summarizes the efforts made to provide linker training to educational personnel at the local and regional levels in West Virginia. The workshop evaluation follows a review of: (1) the rationale for the National Institute of Education's funding of regionally located Research and Development Exchanges; (2) the workshop planning procedure…

Describes the results of telephone interviews with 10 former directors of state systems-change projects focused on supported employment in the context of the rapid growth of supported-employment programs for people with severe disabilities. Results are discussed in terms of the ongoing nature of dynamic change in social systems. (Author/DB)

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years and their families with the aim of ensuring that all children enter school healthy and prepared to succeed. This study examined child care centers in Smart Start counties, focusing on the…

This is the second of three volumes that constitute the final evaluation report of Project STAR (State Technical Assistance Resources), an undertaking of the Maryland State Department of Education designed to help 36 elementary schools improve their reading programs. This volume is divided into five parts. The first part contains a discussion of…

This study attempted to describe and explain the different approaches taken by policymakers in a diverse group of states, as they seek to implement Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provides federal mandates and aid to assist states in planning and developing comprehensive multidisciplinary, interagency, coordinated…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. Interviews were conducted to ascertain the impressions, attitudes, and advice of 55 key participants in the 12 pioneer Smart Start counties. The interviews were…

Smart Start, North Carolina's early childhood initiative, seeks to improve early childhood programs and ensure that all North Carolina children enter school healthy and ready to learn. This study evaluated outcomes related to Smart Start program inclusion of young children with disabilities: (1) access to inclusive programming; (2) quality of…

This is the first of three volumes that constitute the final evaluation report of Project STAR (State Technical Assistance Resources), an undertaking of the Maryland State Department of Education designed to help 36 elementary schools improve their reading programs. This volume is essentially descriptive and is divided into seven parts. The first…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under age 6 and their families. The aim of the program is ensuring that all children enter school healthy and ready to learn. This study examined parent and business involvement in local Smart Start…

A policy study (1992-94) investigated how three exemplary states have implemented transition services for youth with disabilities. Document evaluation and interviews (N=74) with key policymakers and implementors resulted in identifying seven themes that contributed to the successful initiation and continuation of transition policies, practices,…