In "Redefining the School District in America," Nelson Smith reexamines existing recovery school districts (RSDs)--entities in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Michigan charged with running and turning around their state's worst schools--and assembles the most comprehensive catalog of similar initiatives underway and under consideration…

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream:…

On December 11, 2003, the Reading, Pennsylvania, School District, on behalf of "their students and their schools," filed a "Petition for Review" with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. In filing this petition, Reading became the first school district in the nation to sue a state education department over the No Child Left…

Presents examples of what state government initiatives can do to jump-start a school district's educational technology plans. Examines effective state initiatives from Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. (GR)

Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs)--agencies between the state and local level--are an important resource for helping local educators cope with a variety of pressures from an increasingly complex environment. They do so by performing two functions. Political linkage provides knowledge about the impacts of mandates on specific districts…

Recounts the history of Pennsylvania's attempts to invoke large-scale changes in language-related instructional curricula. Discerns patterns among school districts in terms of literacy instruction as well as in factors that seem to be associated with successful change processes. (RS)

This paper discusses intergovernmental relationships between education service agencies (ESAs) in Pennsylvania and the agencies they serve, namely, the state department of education and local school districts. Some suggestions made are that ESA policies retain flexibility and that local control be retained in ESA programs, for example, through…

A descriptive study provides information in seven sections on regional educational service agencies (RESA's) in Pennsylvania (where they are called Intermediate Units or IU's). The information is derived from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, various IU's, and initial introductory interviews with current and former state department staff.…

Pennsylvania's school districts and area vocational-technical schools are required to submit long range plans to the Pennsylvania Department of Education every 5 years. These plans are intended to direct resources toward improvement of educational programs and services, school management, and student achievement. The planning process is to include…

The report, most of which consists of graphs, charts, and tables, compares the services, resources, and expensitures for the school years 1975-76 and 1976-77 of intermediate units providing special education services for handicapped children in the State of Pennsylvania. Included are such things as listings of the different types of programs each…

This annual report reviews challenges and benefits of family literacy programs and presents a summary of outcomes for 2004-2005. Family literacy comprises four components that build on each other to improve parents' and children's achievements: (1) Adult education, including adult basic and secondary education and ELL; (2) Parent education; (3)…

This booklet briefly outlines the procedures to be followed by Pennsylvania school district administrators and state department of education officials in determining a school district's eligibility for state funds when the district operates its schools during a teacher strike. In order to qualify for state reimbursement, a school district must be…

In 1993, Project FORUM issued a report (Ahearn, 1993) that provided information on resources available to states and districts in accessing Medicaid reimbursements for services for students with disabilities, a relatively new source of funding at that time. It is now over 10 years since Medicaid funds were approved for use for special education…

Data collected by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) in its 1980 Needs Assessment Project was reduced to eight marker variables for use in subsequent individual state factor analyses. These variables concern (1) high need family situations; (2) effective career education/guidance; (3) increased school capacity for working with families;…