This organizational vignette is the first in a multi-part series highlighting community service providers. This particular issue focuses on Mass Bay Employment Services (MBES) located in Boston, Massachusetts, that works with people with serious mental illness and has moved from a non-employment oriented day program to one that has employment as…

This paper describes the outcomes of a study that explored the significance of the Severity of Illness Rating Scale (SIRS) as a tool for utilization review and program evaluation. The SIRS was first introduced in March 1993 and soon became the centerpiece for the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center's Utilization Review Plan. Since its…

Data from the base-year (kindergarten) collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) were used to describe the use of entrance or placement tests prior to kindergarten by schools in the United States that offer kindergarten classes. Also examined were the different ways that schools use the…

This study reviewed scores on measures required to determine students' eligibility for a newly expanded gifted and talented program for grades 3-5. Teachers had recommended 162 students to the program in the 1998-1999 school year, and of these, 100 met requirements for the program based on an ability test. The researchers conducted analyses of…

As part of the Master Plan data gathering process, Florida's Postsecondary Education Planning Commission requested that the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC) develop estimates of Associate of Art (AA) graduation rate and student transfer rate from the Community College System (CCS) to the State University System (SUS). The SBCC developed a…

This issue of the NCEDL Spotlight Series newsletter presents findings of a nationwide survey of state policies and definitions related to school readiness. Findings indicated that efforts to minimize the misuse of readiness assessment tools may have had some impact at the state level, with respondents showing an increased awareness of recommended…

With support from the John Templeton Foundation, the authors held a Summit on Acceleration at The University of Iowa in May 2003. They invited distinguished scholars and educators from around the country to help them formulate a national report on acceleration. This first volume of the Templeton Report on acceleration trumpets an alarm to the…

This study reports enrollments in general science, biology, chemistry, and physics in public high schools, the additional science offerings, the number of teachers serving these pupils, class size, grade placement of science subjects, time allotments for recitation and laboratory, and troublesome problems related to the teaching of science. The…

Teaching from a global perspective is important because the lives of people around the world are increasingly interconnected through politics, economics, technology, and the environment. Global education teaches students to understand and appreciate people from different cultural backgrounds; view events from a variety of perspectives; recognize…

Three key words--relevance, centrality, and innovation--are explored in this article. Four-year institutions and high schools may well envy the ease with which community colleges and technical institutes seem to meet the relevance criterion demanded of them. Occupational education should be the central function of post-secondary schools.…

This study was designed to identify areas of strength and weakness in occupational information and vocational guidance preservice counselor education curriculum. Counselors and counselor educators were interviewed concerning extent of coverage actually and ideally devoted to 22 content areas. Both groups thought more emphasis should be given to…

Research supported by the U.S. Vocational Rehabilitation Administration Research and Demonstration Grant 957 and the West Virginia Rehabilitation Division.

A case study of a profoundly retarded child is presented to illustrate the problems of placing profoundly handicapped children in public schools. Attention is directed to the frustrations of experienced school personnel and the major issues faced in special education, including identification of related services and the distinction of medical…

Black children are currently underrepresented in the less stigmatized and more prestigious special education classes for learning disabled students. Learning disabilities classification procedures discriminate against Black children. Ohio's placement formula is critiqued, and parents are urged to become politically active on their children's…