Analyzes certain related historical developments, recent events, and current trends in order to measure their impact on education governance at the federal, state, and local levels. (Author/IRT)

This article suggests that current teacher licensure standards and processes need revision, and recommends new State certification agencies whose main concern would be to return authority to local districts to develop their own standards. (JH)

New accreditation regulations in Texas require competency-based education programs for all districts. All districts must be accredited to receive state aid, which makes up 85 cents of every dollar spent locally. (Author/IRT)

Neither hyperrationalist nor decentralist reform strategies will seriously improve educational quality. Successful reform strategies incorporate three dimensions: the authorized movement, regional or localist responses, and conversation, involving changes in school rhetoric. States must create a context for developing organizational competence at…

Outlines California's major educational reform legislation during 1980's and describes a Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) study of policy implementations. Results show that nearly all schools correctly implemented key provisions of S.B. 813, that state level reform can be effective when accompanied by cohesive local strategizing,…

Summarizes responses from directors of early childhood education in all 50 states to a survey asking for information about their kindergarten and prekindergartern programs and about future prospects for expanding early childhood education. (Author/MLF)

Local school boards have been bypassed by state-generated educational reforms and often impede progress toward decentralization. The Twentieth Century Fund/Danforth Foundation Task Force on School Governance advises states to abolish existing school boards and replace them with local education policy boards responsible for setting policy…

Reports on an Iowa survey of school compliance with state-legislated activities (in this case, a needs assessment) and of administrator attitudes toward the worth of the mandated program. (IRT)

Analysis of the distribution of authority between state and local levels of schooling shows that local battles over change will accomplish, at the very best, local or marginal gains. Significant change comes at the state and federal levels. (Author/IRT)

Analysis of changes in the graduation requirements, credit requirements, and curriculum in high school English in California since the adoption of minimum competency testing by state law during the 1976-77 legislative session suggests that statewide legislative mandates can have significant impact on school district programs and priorities. (PGD)

School boards epitomize the U.S. tradition of representative local government. A 1992 National School Boards Association statement recognizes four major school board functions: envisioning a community's future educational program, establishing facilitative organizational structures and community environments, ensuring performance assessment…

Recent studies show that urban school boards are inadequate policymakers and reform catalysts. Lay school boards are not structurally suited to govern effectively in an increasingly divisive society facing unprecedented economic and social challenges. States are chiefly responsible for current local governance problems and should lead reform…

Emphasizes the development of an effective planning capability in the state. Describes the policy challenges posed by enrollment decline, then analyzes the content and process of Minnesota's response, focusing on legislative enactments aimed at improving school district planning. (IRT)

Reviews the impact on education of the first year's application of Massachusetts' Proposition 2-1/2, examines local factors linked to retrenchment policies, and considers the law's distributive impact among variously sized population centers. Analyzes projections of the law's second-year urban impact and its implications for educational equity in…

South Carolina's Educator Improvement Act provides for a "cradle-to-grave" system of training, certification, employment, and evaluation of teachers. The author fears this type of legislation is the precursor of a nationwide shift in the locus of policy making. (Author/WD)