In an interview, black civil rights leader Mary Frances Berry discusses the dilemmas and opportunities facing African Americans, women, and other minorities from her perspectives as observer and Washington insider. Issues addressed include African-American leadership, transforming knowledge into policy, Afrocentrism, and tensions with other…

Explains the development of an electronic information network in Maryland called Seymour that offers bibliographic records; full-text databases; community information databases; the ability to request information and materials; local, state, and federal information; and access to the Internet. Policy issues are addressed, including user fees and…

Cites data from 214 welfare families to support the argument that tougher child-support enforcement can reduce welfare dependency. Suggests that the best way to mend the child-support system for welfare-reliant children is to create a system that takes into account the real-life situations of mothers and fathers, as well as norms regarding…

Summarizes problems and concerns expressed in this special issue devoted to child poverty. Examines child poverty under the broader context of wealth and power, presenting it in a historical perspective. Suggests that children raised in poverty experience more than the simple stress and strains of living on the margins. Discusses current problems…

Reviews types of evaluation that may be applied to school-linked services; and discusses the needs for a range of evaluative strategies for program providers, policymakers, and funders. For some programs evaluation will be primarily descriptive, whereas for others a carefully designed outcome evaluation will be possible. (SLD)

Despite limited generation of hazardous materials, two-year colleges are required to comply with federal criteria for their identification and removal. After a random facilities inspection, the College of DuPage (Illinois) established priorities for waste removal, information dissemination, staff training, inventory, storage, and organizational…

Explores elements of the design of school choice programs, defining outcomes and technical criteria. These criteria are applied to failed choice initiatives in three states and to a proposed initiative in California, the Parents' Choice in Education Amendment. Differential effects in urban and suburban schools are considered. (SLD)

Explains how careful planning can contribute to the success of controlled choice desegregation plans, using the approach developed in four Massachusetts communities. In this model, genuine collaborative planning involves every segment of the community. Surveys of parents, teachers, and principals provide necessary information for planning. (SLD)

The old era of educational assessment and reasons for its demise are described. The new era will be different and will present four challenges to the assessment community: (1) new assessment targets; (2) technical challenges of alternative assessments; (3) demystifying assessment and evaluation; and (4) reexamining assessment priorities. (SLD)

A survey of 116 elementary school and secondary school teachers in 1 school district examined the influences of different organizational and psychological factors on teachers' willingness to participate in decision making at the school level. Teachers vary in willingness to participate, but teacher-principal working relationships exert significant…

Explains why Detroit (Michigan) is abandoning plans to establish all-male urban schools and will allow girls to attend three academies originally proposed to help keep African-American males from dropping out of school. Issues of educational equity are discussed. As redesigned, the schools will emphasize African-American culture and history. (SLD)

A variety of trends in state colleges are viewed as privatization, including increased institutional responsibility for meeting costs, financial aid shortfalls that keep many students away, pressure for more institutional autonomy, recruitment of private colleges to provide some state-subsidized programs, payment of private colleges to accept…

Includes 19 access, education and training, and technical requirements that must be addressed in the development of the national information infrastructure. The requirements were prepared by national education, training, and trade associations participating in the National Coordinating Committee on Technology in Education and Training (NCC-TET). A…

If boards of education in rural areas are going to strengthen education, they need to achieve empowering leadership through written policies that create a clarity of vision, empower subordinates, and emphasize renewal. Empowering leadership allows linkages among stakeholders of education and encourages creative efforts toward improving the…

Cross-national differences in political, legislative, administrative, regulatory, and judicial systems that may present obstacles to reaching international agreements are discussed. These differences are identified from research comparing the regulation of chemical hazards in Europe and the United States. Implications for the problem of global…