This study details the enactment of attendance laws for black pupils in Missouri and describes their effect by citing examples from two counties: St. Louis County and Polk County. The study is based on a review of primary sources yielding quantitative and qualitative data reported during the first 40 years of the attendance laws. A study of…

As one report in a comprehensive study of Illinois state mandates for elementary and secondary education, this study covers the three major areas in the Illinois compulsory attendance law: students' entrance age, their exit age, and the schools' obligation to enfore truancy regulations. After brief histories of compulsory attendance laws in the…

This document presents nine conference papers that focus on the relationships that exist between society and the schools. The authors emphasize in particular the need to restructure the schools to meet the demands of a changing society. The impact of society on the individual and his development is discussed thoroughly. (RA)

Citing the problems in California high schools since the passage of a stringent compulsory attendance law, the author presses his thesis that students over the age of 16 should not be forced to attend school. (Editor)

Now that he has had the opportunity to reflect upon a report by the National Commission on the Reform of Secondary Education, the author gives us his thoughtful reflections about many of their recommendations. (Editor/RK)

Violence and the fear of violence in the schools poses a serious threat to education. Various reports on the subject are discussed briefly, and changing school attendance laws is suggested as one possible remedy. (PP)

Discusses court cases and proposed legislation dealing with such issues as school prayer and the right of parents to educate students at home for religious reasons. (JM)

The State of New Jersey mandated that local school districts establish attendance policies beginning September 1, 1981. The purpose of this study is to determine if this mandated policy has produced a significant effect on school attendance, dropout rate, and student performance. A specially developed questionnaire asked 42 principals, randomly…

From 1981 through 1983, 32 schools in 28 districts participated in the pilot study authorized by California's School Attendance Improvement Act. On the basis of that study, the first of this report's two chapters offers six steps for a comprehensive approach to improving attendance: (1) assessing actual attendance, (2) developing policies and…

(Available from Publications Clerk, Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, P.O. Box 990, Chapel Hill, NC 27514; $4.00 annually)

This paper considered different conceptions of compulsory education as embodied in the education laws of different countries. An analytical tool was developed for the comparison of these laws in order to learn the implications of the obligation they impose and the measures required for the discharge of the legal obligation. (Author/RK)

School policy on teenage pregnancy must take into account a variety legal considerations. Up until recently, the favored way of dealing with pregnant pupils or pupils who are mothers was to exclude them from school. Several law cases involving instances of exclusion and segregation of pregnant pupils are cited. The 14th Amendment's guarantee of…

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is designed to provide special services to educationally disadvantaged children attending schools located within attendance areas with high concentrations of low income children. If attendance areas are changed, the concentrations of low income children within attendance areas also…