Papers on the collection and processing of official or government documents which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "The Definition of Official Publications" by E. Johansson (United Kingdom), which provides a proposed definition and a 1979 IFLA discussion paper on…

Written for Iowa's school psychologists, the report examines current issues in mental retardation including the problem of definition, court actions affecting the schools, and trends in educational programming, evaluation, and diagnosis. Considered are reasons why mental retardation is difficult to define (such as the lack of an acceptable…

Much research and many publications have dealt with the concepts of rural-urban differences, but the controversy regarding the conceptual clarity of the variables remains. Assuming that these variables need clarification, this paper: (1) examines some of the conceptual and methodological problems involved in rural-urban differentiation, (2)…

The traditional dichotomies of urban and rural may no longer be valid. Investigating whether or not there are socially significant areal units to redefine rural and urban areas, the report described one attempt to delineate such units and to test them for sociological utility. Counties were placed in homogeneous social units based upon the…

This handbook has been prepared as a vehicle or mechanism for program cost accounting and as a guide to standard school accounting terminology for use in all types of local and intermediate education agencies. In addition to classification descriptions, program accounting definitions, and proration of cost procedures, some units of measure and…

This reprinted paper was originally published in 1981 and addresses issues of classification of children with disabilities in the United Kingdom. It considers several "within-child" and several interactive models in special education and concludes by encouraging the stating of children's special educational needs rather than…

A review of 2001 state policies on gifted education found that states varied on their definitions of giftedness. Twenty-seven mandate full or partial gifted education, 9 require an individualized education program for gifted students, but only 4 require gifted students and children with disabilities to be identified, located, and evaluated…

The first of two linked articles discusses leadership and associated concepts. Outlines and illustrates a mapping typology built around five knowledge domains (conceptual, critical, humanist, evaluative, and instrumental) and seven factors (purpose, focus, context, method, audience, communication, and impact). (Contains 9 notes and 93 references.)…

This study of 1,657 children (ages 7-16) found that although children with dyslexia had higher intelligence quotient scores than poor readers, the 2 groups did not differ in performance on reading, spelling, phonological processing, or most language and memory tasks. The performance of both reading-disabled groups was significantly below that of…

This commentary discusses whether the American Association on Mental Retardation should change its name. The history of the term "mental retardation" is reviewed and it is argued that any new term will take on similar risks. The need to involve self-advocates in any terminology change is stressed. (Contains 5 references.) (CR)

This commentary discusses whether the American Association on Mental Retardation should change its name. It argues that the term "mental retardation" should become an historical artifact of the evolution of our thinking about children and adults with developmental disabilities. The plurality of the term "developmental…

This commentary discusses whether the American Association on Mental Retardation should change its name. It reviews some of the assumptions, assertions, and dynamics that occur in the current language wars and presents principles for the selection and use of language. The need to use clearly understood terms is stressed. (Contains one reference.)…

This report contributes to the comprehensive evaluation of the Common Core of Data (CCD) program by providing an analysis of CCD definitions in order to identify potential classification problems. At the time of the evaluation, the CCD program consisted of four surveys. The focus of this evaluation is on the "Public Elementary/Secondary…

Multicultural education has become a controversial topic in recent years, and in the midst of such controversy, there has been little agreement on a precise conceptualization of multicultural education. It is apparent that it takes many forms. A typology is presented that divides multicultural education programs into three categories according to…

After a pilot study identified possible responses that children and adolescents give when defining concrete and abstract nouns, a study investigated the development of concrete noun (specific objects) and abstract noun (concepts) definitions given by 10, 14, and 18-year-olds, as well as whether abstract and concrete nouns are defined in a parallel…