Recognizing the importance of the need for effective career planning, the United States Army, in conjunction with the Council of Economic Development, conducted a forum to focus on this issue. What emerged was a program called Planning for Life, which annually recognizes outstanding career planning programs at the state and national level. The…

In the year 2000, the Southern Regional Task Force on Child Care was formed with representatives from 16 southern states and the District of Columbia as well as appointments from the Southern Institute on Children and Families and the Southern Growth Policies Board to collaborate in developing an action plan to improve access to child care…

Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has worked to provide reliable information on the academic performance of U.S. students in various subjects. This document is the most comprehensive listing of government-funded NAEP publications. By cataloguing this collection, the directory provides something of a history of the…

The availability and quality of counseling was assessed in an effort to define a professional identity for the school counselor that better addresses student needs. Policy implications were also reviewed. Study components are: (1) counselor profile; (2) statewide counselor survey on the role of the counselor; (3) case study of 21 schools relating…

An interview with Lawrence R. Sargent, a state special education consultant, focuses on state education agency problems related to evaluation, state evaluation and monitoring of programs for mentally retarded students, and Iowa's approach to developing instructional outcome criteria as a measure of program quality. (CL)

Describes goal/objectives, course content/materials, context/users/beneficiaries, and transferability of the Maine Studies Curriculum, a state-validated demonstration project taught as part of the regular school curriculum. Also describes project evaluation (pilot testing, interpretability of measures, credibility of evidence, evidence of impact…

To clarify the New Jersey State Department of Education's compensatory education requirements, the Instruction Committee of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) submitted a list of 12 questions to the Department's Office of Compensatory Education. This article contains the Department's answers to 7 questions and the Instruction Committee's…

An evaluation of a North Carolina supervision program for juvenile offenders--the Intensive Protective Supervision Project--is presented. The program involves extensive and proactive contact between the court counselor, offender, and offender's family. Statistical and field-based evaluation suggest that the project is successful in preventing…

The Intensive Protective Supervision Project (IPSP) is a juvenile justice program in North Carolina designed to assist status offenders. Several legislative and programmatic influences antedated the current program. This article provides a brief summary of three major events affecting the evaluation of the IPSP. (TJH)

The Tennessee Career Ladder Program assesses Tennessee teachers to award merit pay to those determined to be exemplary. This article describes the first two years of the program (1984-85 and 1985-86), the procedure designed to equate standards, the implementation of that procedure, and the results of the equating effort. (TJH)

Differences between state and local special education programs and the state-federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) program are highlighted, through discussion of the history of the state-federal VR program, the differing definitions of disabilities, operation of the VR program, funding differences, and resultant differences in evaluation…

Initial findings of a longitudinal study of the efficacy of public preschool programs in South Carolina are presented. Two separate research designs were used to study 362 preschoolers in comparison with 1,662 non-preschoolers. School readiness was increased by participation in preschool when a minimum level of quality was maintained. (SLD)

Describes a statewide childhood gun safety program in New Mexico aimed at reducing the availability of loaded guns at home. Focusing on increasing safety awareness of communities, health care professionals, parents, and gun owners, the program will be continued with a new three-year funding grant. (SLD)

This survey examined benefits received by 56 vocational services customers through the Illinois Bureau of Blind Services (BBS). Consumers reported high levels of satisfaction with the services, substantial improvements in mobility and daily living skills, and a sense that the BBS had improved their overall quality of life. (PB)

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the development of safety, permanency, and child well-being indicators by using administrative data sets as well as by using these indicators as tools for evaluating Florida's Community-Based Care (CBC) initiative. Longitudinal data from 37 counties including 4 counties that implemented community-based…