After a decade of dormancy there is suddenly a great interest among educators and policy-makers in public school finance, spawned by: successful court decisions in several states overturning existing state public school finance formulas; a popular book alleging more severe educational segregation than in 1954; congressional proposals for school…

The 1990 Report of the Task Force on School Health examines the current status of Maryland's school health programs and proposes 16 recommendations designed to implement a comprehensive school health (CSH) program to meet the needs of all students. The report describes the Task Force, which was appointed in 1989. After presenting a background on…

School-based management is a reinvention and countermovement to a broader historical trend to centralize and standardize American education. The present study represents one component of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's project to investigate how schools in 12 member nations can most effectively respond to recent…

A number of Federal education reform initiatives, either enacted or under consideration by the Congress, provide schools with regulatory flexibility. In response to two Congressional committees, this study had the following objectives: (1) describe state regulatory flexibility efforts; (2) describe how schools used flexibility to attempt…

This paper explores educational financial flexibility with a focus on the specific issues surrounding local flexibility in North Carolina school districts. Strategies that states have used to increase local financial flexibility include waivers, reduction of budget categories, block grants, and school-based budgeting. The North Carolina system of…

The school district decentralization process is described in this guidebook, which focuses on the administrator's role in implementation. Three chapters are organized around the three phases of decentralization--exploration, trial, and commitment. Each phase is examined in terms of the real-life experiences of administrators and other…

On October 2, 1989, the Texas Supreme Court, in the "Edgewood v. Kirby" decision, found the current school-finance system unconstitutional. The evolution of this decision, through its early origins, the establishment of the current structure (1949-81), House Bill 72 (1984), and Senate Bill 1019 (1989), is described. Also described are…

This state plan for education of gifted/talented students in Texas offers a rationale and goal, and defines the roles of the Texas Education Agency and the regional education service centers in supporting local district services for gifted students. The plan also contains suggested guidelines for use by local district personnel in the development…

This memorandum addresses the responsibility of State Education Agencies (SEAs) for insuring that local educational agencies do not violate students' civil rights. The SEA's duty is said to arise from two sources. First, in most if not all States, State law mandates that State education officials supervise and regulate the conduct of local school…

Most states have already implemented policies to recruit, select, and retain better teachers. The majority of these policies raise standards for entry or recertification. Another approach provides incentives to attract qualified college graduates into teaching. Offering scholarships in exchange for five-year teaching commitments and offering…

Knowledge of foreign languages is one of the factors facilitating cultural, economic, technical, and scientific cooperation among the Member States of the European Community. For this reason it is important that there be an awareness of the situation about the teaching and learning of modern languages in schools of the Member States. The…

The educational systems among the European Community nations vary considerably and this variety, which is the result of historic and cultural factors, constitutes a great wealth which should be preserved. It is also in the interest of everyone to draw benefit from the experiences and projects of partner countries within the Community. Educational…

This report on urban education in New Jersey describes major problems and presents recommendations for solving them. The report is based on a telephone survey of members of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) from 29 school districts identified as urban aid districts, and the recommendations were generated at roundtable discussions and two…

This document reports a model for restructuring secondary vocational education in Minnesota, incorporating state-specified student exit outcomes with local additions. Following an executive summary, part 1 of the document explains the principles that guided the restructuring (integration of basic and higher-order thinking skills into the…

Wisconsin has a local options competency-testing policy for public schools: participating districts receive state assistance, but are subject to regulations on test development and use. This paper examines influences on school district program adoption, focusing on local support for any testing program and superintendents' attitudes toward state…