This paper is part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002. It discusses the role that states' constitutional mandates play in education finance. It examines why, when one of the few constitutionally shared responsibilities of all 50 states is the provision of education,…

This document comprises the 12 issues for 2002 of the Child Support Report, which explores problems related to child support enforcement, reports on federal and state government child support enforcement initiatives, and summarizes research related to child support. Featured regularly are editorials and information on events of interest and…

This booklet is designed to help Minnesota parents of young children with disabilities to find services to assist them and to help their children learn and grow. It begins by stressing the importance of parent advocacy for children with disabilities. Following sections address: (1) federal requirements for early intervention for children with…

To assess the current connections between the Unemployment Insurance (UI) and One-Stop (OS) systems, case studies were conducted of eight states and eight local areas. Findings indicated the major factor that influenced UI's role in the OS design was whether the state took initial claims by telephone or in-person; UI played differing roles in…

This study evaluated equal educational opportunities available to Maine's language minority students, using information from four 1997 fact-finding meetings that included representatives from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, local school superintendents, English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and professionals,…

This lesson guide argues that the focus of the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom should include all of the following: learning English, acquiring workplace skills, and developing a cross-cultural awareness. The renewed emphasis on employment-related ESL has created a growing interest in the competencies of the SCANS (Secretary's…

This report to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child contains observations of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) concerning the application of the Convention by Guatemala. The report's introductory summary asserts that the end of armed conflict in Guatemala and the establishment of a peace process coupled with other…

This report to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child contains observations of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) concerning the application of the Convention by Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The report's introductory summary asserts that although the DRC has ratified the Convention and other international…

The proportion of California's limited English speaking students is increasing rapidly. Language minority students represent more than one-third of all students in California public schools. The most central educational outcome for these students is English proficiency. Research varies on how long it takes for students to become English…

This handbook provides a guide to assist African American parents of children with learning disabilities to become advocates for their children and raise awareness about learning differences. An introductory section notes the disproportionate risk of African American boys for being labeled mentally retarded and placed in special education. The…

Coordination between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-related programs and Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA)'s one-stop centers increased since spring 2000, when WIA was first implemented. Nearly all states reported some coordination between the programs at either the state or the local level. Most often, coordination took one…

A gap in standardized achievement-test scores among different groups of students has existed since the inception of standardized testing. The gap between white and African-American schoolchildren was the primary impetus behind much of the social policy devoted to desegregating schools in the second half of the past century. Through a combination…

The Council of the Great City Schools prepared this report to summarize findings and recommendations that the organization's Strategic Support Teams made during visits to the Richmond Public Schools in the Fall 2003. These teams were requested by the Richmond schools' superintendent and funded by the U.S. Department of Education to review school…

Funding for youth employment and training has been scaled back during the past few decades. In addition, funding for workforce development services is spread among multiple programs and agencies, resulting in a fragmented funding environment. To address this issue, the youth provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) aimed to move this…

This year's Brown Center Report examines several issues that are important to No Child Left Behind and ongoing efforts to improve American schools. The first section of the report analyzes the latest data on student achievement and asks how the nation's students are doing in reading and mathematics. Achievement in rural schools receives a closer…