Urban Impact is a Title II Teacher Quality Enhancement Act partnership grant supporting the development of new strategies and structures to strengthen the preparation and development of beginning teachers in urban settings in Tennessee. This study evaluated the success of Urban Impact in establishing professional and social supports for the first…

To ensure that educational tests do the least harm and bring the greatest good to the education of elementary and secondary school students, it is important that parents, teachers, educational administrators, and policy makers be actively involved in test construction and use. The purpose of this Statement is to provide a checklist of some…

A study of the aftercare services offered juvenile delinquents after residential placement was conducted in New York State. The emphasis was on the Juvenile Aftercare Services program, which serves the majority of youth being conditionally released into the community. Based on findings from the study involving interviews and site visits, 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…

Alabama's Commission on Higher Education has the statutory responsibility for overall statewide planning and coordination of higher education in Alabama, the administration of various student aid programs, and the performance of designated regulatory functions. This annual report from the Commission includes: (1) a list and photographs of the…

The entire issue is devoted to speeches and reports from the 1970 AEL meeting. The largest consists of descriptions of programs in the member states--Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. (RT)

Describes school improvement programs established by universities, state agencies, and school districts. All are based on effective schools' research. (Author/JM)

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…

This article traces the development of community education in Hawaii, focusing on efforts to disseminate the concept, to gain state support, and to secure funding. Part of a theme issue on community education. (SJL)

Details the history of California's experience with large-scale writing assessment. Describes the introduction, development, and scoring of the California Assessment Program, later renamed the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Discusses controversies over removal of certain writing prompts and objections to CLAS. Notes that funding for…

Statewide achievement testing programs in public schools are examined from a historical perspective over 150 years. Written tests, standardized tests, intelligence tests, and test batteries are considered. A survey of present programs demonstrates a wide variety that is attributable to the ad hoc origins of these programs. (SLD)

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)

How the performance appraisal system for school psychologists in North Carolina was developed and implemented is described. The evaluation system was developed with consideration for those to be evaluated and with respect for the needs of individuals as well as organizations. (SLD)