Discusses the legal issues involved in setting content or performance standards. Recommends establishing clearly documented procedures that adhere to professional recommendations and are administrated fairly. Addresses such issues as parental rights, assessment security, nondisclosure agreements, and specific alternative assessment techniques for…

Reviews political science literature on changing state politics. A statistical analysis focuses on the relationship between changing legislative structures and higher education for all 50 states. Presents a case study of Pennsylvania that suggests a possible causal relationship between changing political structure and limitation of public…

Examines the legal and ethical framework within which the National Center for Education Statistics must work to resolve the tensions between obligations to disclose information and obligations to protect confidentiality. Discusses some approaches to reconciling the sometimes conflicting demands of applicable legal and ethical guidelines. (164…

Provides tips for children's advocates to assure that managed mental health care is implemented in a manner which best meets the needs of children, families, and care providers. Explains managed care through specialized mental health and substance abuse services. Discusses elements necessary for early intervention and the need to address risk…

Reports on current educational issues in Quebec (Canada). Briefly covers some of the major issues addressed in the Estates General, the commission study on the future of education in Quebec. A Montreal School commissioner challenged the government's numbers concerning dropouts. Decentralization, whole language learning, and school rankings also…

Explores the interface of technology and education for human development in southern Africa. Uses the case of Mozambique to describe the challenges presented by the global marketplace and local policy. Outlines the vision of the New Partnership for Africa's Development Centre (SARDC) to reduce the digital divide for Africa. (CAJ)

Briefly summarizes a number of salient points outlined in, "The United States Copyright Law: A Guide for Music Educators." The book delineates the principles of fair use and copyright protection and how they relate to school and other music programs. Most school use falls under fair use. (MJP)

The Supreme Court will not hear the Brown University (Rhode Island) appeal in "Brown vs. Cohen," letting stand rulings that the university had violated Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments by cutting financial support for women's volleyball and gymnastics teams. Advocates for women's athletics see the court's refusal to intervene as…

Federal budget-balancing legislation includes tax credits and deductions, worth $40-billion over five years, to help people pay for college. Provisions include tax credits, deduction of student loan interest and some employer-paid tuition assistance, penalty-free individual retirement account withdrawals, student loan forgiveness, institutional…

This article describes policy provisions supporting educational services for children with disabilities in New Brunswick. Following an overview of the legislative provision and a description of the distinct Francophone and Anglophone sectors, two external assessments of the New Brunswick provisions are examined and factors generating total…

This article begins by describing the principles and beliefs in Nova Scotia that guide educational services for children with disabilities and then discusses findings from a special education implementation review that indicate progress has been made in implementing changes in many special education policy areas. Implementation recommendations are…

Summarizes and provides a quick reference to information from papers and participant discussions from the Symposium on Graduated Driver Licensing held November 5 - 7, 2002, in Chatham, Mass. (Contains 14 references.) (AUTHOR/WFA)

Examines the federal, state, and local policies that guide approaches to sex education in the United States today (comprehensive curricula versus abstinence only), examining recent research into community-level experiences and practices as well as emerging evidence about the effectiveness of different types of sex education curricula. (SM)

Discusses access to information concerning environmental issues in Canada and the United States. Highlights include the cross-disciplinary nature of the field; sources of environmental information, including scientific and corporate sources and reviews; government literature; the Canadian Access to Information Act; electronic databases; and the…

This article describes how parents may use individualized education program reviews, prehearing conferences, and mediation to resolve parent-school disputes in accordance with Public Law 94-142's due process hearing system. Specific guidelines for meetings with school personnel are offered. Examples are given of prehearing conferences and parents'…