England's "Draft Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs" presents a five-stage assessment procedure. The five stages range from the class or subject teacher identifying a student's needs and consulting the Special Educational Needs coordinator, to the local education authority making a…

Practices in needs assessment are reviewed since 1981, the year the federal government changed the role it plays in promoting needs assessment in the public sector. The review is based on reports published to 1993 and indicates that needs assessment is flourishing in a variety of settings. (SLD)

The president of the American Educational Research Association and professor of education and art at Stanford University explains the value of discipline-based art education, recommends that teachers reflect on their schools and initiate the changes needed to improve school culture, and suggests that educational research must become more…

The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students has passed resolutions calling for reforms intended to improve the lives of graduate students, including increasing health care and making faculty and institutions accountable for better advising. Although the association is not dominated by union activists, the issue of collective…

The National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, appointed by Congress to conduct a comprehensive review of college costs and prices, warns that colleges and universities must contain prices and demystify their financial operations or face a public backlash that could trigger government cost controls. Its report calls for five specific…

Summarizes research findings on campus racial climate according to a four-dimensional model: (1) an institutions' historical legacy of inclusion/exclusion of various racial/ethnic groups; (2) structural diversity, or numerical representations of various racial/ethnic groups; (3) psychological climate (perceptions, attitudes among groups); and (4)…

The statement of the American Association of University Professors' Special Committee on Distance Education and Intellectual Property addresses the rights and responsibilities of faculty, institutions, and third parties in the current volatile, highly entrepreneurial environment of distance education. A statement on copyrights is included. (MSE)

Describes a multi-year, collaborative research and professional-development project at Boston College known as "Seeking Social Justice." The project provides a "proof of possibility" for other faculty groups trying to infuse social justice into preservice teacher education despite profound differences in politics, disciplines,…

Presents a strategy for completing a library media center policy review, from evaluating existing policies through submitting policies to the school board for approval. Special attention is paid to issues related to the use of new technologies in middle and high school library media centers, including student/faculty technology use, circulation,…

State legislatures' 1998 sessions have produced an array of new laws and programs intended to improve access to college: by overhauling higher education systems, particularly two-year colleges; creating or expanding scholarship programs; increasing appropriations substantially so public colleges can hold down tuition; and helping students avoid…

Presents information from a 1996 meeting by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Adolescent and School Health and the American Nurses Association's National Center for School Health Nursing. Participants reviewed progress since 1994 on seven critical needs, updated priority actions, determined strategies for achieving…

Summarizes the relationship of President Franklin Roosevelt to Congress and its role in creating New Deal legislation. Presents a lesson plan using primary documents that allows students to explore congressional responsibility for enabling the Great Depression and for legislation to deal with its consequences. Includes copies of the documents.…

Current approaches used by private colleges and universities to manage trustee conflicts of interest are analyzed, and recommendations are made for developing appropriate trustee conflict-of-interest policies. Many of these institutions have not expressly adopted adequate policies that procedurally and substantively address the problem, despite…

Contends that the corporate literature on customer service is significantly applicable to academic libraries, and chronicles the development, implementation, and evaluation of a customer pledge at the Wright State University Libraries in Dayton, Ohio. The text of the fall 1995 version of the service pledge is appended. (BEW)

In serving students, financial aid officers must address issues outside the scope of the financial aid program, including admissions, academic policy, institutional bureaucracy, student consumer education, and pricing. These require policy decisions and resource allocations the financial aid administrator cannot make alone. Cooperation and support…