The article provides a review of state services for young handicapped children. Section one contains a description of legislation for preschool handicapped education. Part two describes federal programs that relate to special children from birth to mandatory school age. Teacher certification requirements are reviewed in the third section. The…

The article outlines the process used in Oregon to initiate a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) in special education. Factors contributing to the CSPD success include extensive involvement of a wide array of people in the process, clear responsibility outlines, and workable size of the cooperative personnel planning council. (CL)

Reviews the history of initial teacher licensure testing in the United States and summarizes issues and problems, focusing on Massachusetts, a state that has only recently begin initial licensure testing. Provides information on past practices and a table of current state approaches to teacher licensure. (SLD)

Research has shown that preschool education is a sound investment--academically, socially, and economically. Offers some options for integrating the existing patchwork of U.S. public and private programs into a uniform system that provides a high-quality early education to all young children. (Contains 13 references.) (MLF)

Studied the implementation of a state-funded restructuring initiative that intended broad changes in teacher roles aimed at higher student achievement. Multiple data sources from three schools indicate that the observed changes in professional roles were not well enough established to affect core educational practice in the long run. (SLD)

Studied teacher evaluation practice in 27 North Carolina school districts 14 years after the initial implementation of the North Carolina Teacher Appraisal System. Findings show more inconsistencies in practice and less support for the system than would be desirable. (SLD)

Responses from 45 of 50 state correctional education directors indicated that, following the ban on Pell Grants for inmates, 25 states still offered college programs, with funding from state and federal agencies, corporations, foundations, universities, and inmates. States most likely to have college programs had higher total population and higher…

The California Relay Services (CRS) is a statewide 24-hour dual-party relay system which is designed to bridge the communication gap between the hearing-impaired and the normal-hearing community by using communication assistants to relay calls between those without Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDDs) and TDD-users. (DB)

Findings from an outcome evaluation of the California AIDS Education and Prevention Program, the largest of its kind in the country, are presented. Specific programs suffered from design defects that made it impossible to accurately determine their effectiveness. Attitude and behavior change was not properly addressed by the programs. (TJH)

Describes the provisions, development, and future of the Independent-Living Initiative. Discusses its implementation at federal and state levels, and also the plans of the state of Illinois to establish a departmentwide task force to develop a system of services for youths who will be leaving foster care. (RJC)

The attempt by D.Edwards and C. B. Cummings to adjust state mean Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores for differential participation rates with a "fuzzy truncation model" satisfies three criteria the authors previously defined but falls short for two. Omission of sensitivity studies mars the otherwise exemplary study. (SLD)

Two surveys of educators examined the status of gifted programs in Connecticut during 1989 to 1991. The 1991 results indicate that increasing numbers of programs for the gifted are experiencing jeopardy resulting from the state's fiscal crisis. The number of program eliminations increased by 63% and program reductions rose by 11%. (Author/JDD)

The objective inmate classification system in use in California's prisons is described. Evaluation of 14,091 cases suggests that the system reduces the rate of increase in the incidence of serious prisoner misconduct. Empirical evaluation of the system is recommended, and implications for correctional programs and public policy are discussed. (SLD)

Describes activities sponsored by some of the 28 state Centers for the Books, affiliated with the national Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, that were created to stimulate public interest in books, reading, and libraries. Highlights include electronic bulletin boards, satellite conferences, and children's book fairs. (LRW)

A new approach for examining the quality of judgments from standard-setting judges using a Binomial Trials Model (BTM) is presented and illustrated with 26 judges from the Georgia High School Graduation Test. Results suggest that the BTM provides information not available from other methods. (SLD)