Law and court decisions concerning cost as a factor in determining an appropriate special education program or placement are reviewed. The historical context is briefly considered, including numbers of students needing and receiving special education services for 1976-77 and 1992-93 as well as public expenditures for special education in 1987-88…

This publication addresses basic issues related to the concept of transition as it is applied to students with disabilities in California. Following a pretest (and its answer key), the document uses a question and answer format to discuss common concerns about transition, normalization, the school role, the "Bridges" model developed by…

Designed for use by local academic senates at community colleges in California, this paper describes faculty involvement in governance at the colleges, cites areas of faculty responsibilities, and provides suggestions for increasing faculty participation. Following introductory materials, a brief history is provided of community college faculty…

This report summarizes the key laws, policies, and regulations and current or persistent issues associated with Tennessee public education. Two major questions directed the inquiry: What were the principal educational policy developments in Tennessee in the 1980s and 1990s? and What major educational challenges and issues currently exist in…

This workbook pulls together materials intended to help train individuals who are deaf-blind or have other severe disabilities with the transition from school to the adult world. Topics covered in the main body are: legislation concerned with transition services; appropriate procedures and getting started; transition planning process; questions to…

Focusing on the Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act (SRKCSA) of 1990, the First Amendment, and judicial issues related to disciplinary counseling, this document discusses legal issues for student development personnel not engaged in instruction and therefore falling outside of traditional academic rulings. The first section describes the…

Pregnant and parenting teenagers account for a sizable and growing proportion of the population served by public schools. Pregnant and parenting students face significant barriers to academic achievement, largely because traditional school environments often conflict with the competing demands of pregnancy and child rearing. Moreover, the children…

A Senate committee received testimony supporting reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Education Act as part of reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In the previous week, the House of Representatives had narrowly defeated an effort to delete the Native Hawaiian Education Act from ESEA reauthorization. The Native…

Three House of Representatives' subcommittee hearings were held in March, May, and July 1996 to evaluate the goals, priority setting, and advisory mechanisms of federal programs in agricultural research, education, and extension. To become competitive in global markets, farmers will need to rely on the research community to provide up-to-date…

This report outlines key issues and provides a baseline for an examination of the progress of states, districts, and schools toward realizing the objectives of the restructured Title I program. The fundamental goal of the new Title I is to help children who are at risk of school failure improve their academic achievement. The National Assessment…

The impact of recent changes in the welfare and work force development systems on adult basic education programs and their students was examined at a literacy education provider in Somerville, Massachusetts. The study found that the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) program had previously had no difficulty in attracting…

A study obtained early information on the effects of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 on states' efforts to develop and implement effective systems of school-to-work transition. Systems in eight states were studied: California, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. State leaders understood the need…

Within the public elementary/secondary school systems of the United States there is tremendous diversity in educational funding provided by the federal government, states, and localities. An issue of intense interest to education policymakers is what influences the level and composition of state and local spending. This publication contains…

Few studies have reported whether disability laws and regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have been implemented among American Indian tribes or whether tribes even view these laws as potentially valuable or culturally relevant. The American Indian Disability Legislation Project aims to develop methods of adopting…

In 1995, Arkansas enacted two new bills that changed the way in which schools were financed. Act 916 required all school districts to levy a 25-mill tax based on an assessment ratio of 20 percent of use value on all property for maintenance and operation. The act also revised biennial appropriations for the State Department of Education,…