Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)--conducted between 1968 and 1972--are analyzed to test for the interrelationships between assets, attitudes, behaviors, and income. Discusses research findings. (KW)

Documents local variability in response to state-mandated reform in Maryland and illustrates the challenges of implementing centralized policy as an educational improvement tool. Discusses a longitudinal project exploring student and staff experience at five diverse high schools. Advises improvement-minded state-level policymakers to be more…

Sex education policy frameworks in the United Kingdom serve to regulate young people's sexual practice and promote heterosexuality. The sexual practices and standards of one social class are privileged over those of others. (SK)

The new governors of five states (Alabama, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina), all of whom are expected to influence state higher education policy, are profiled. Information includes election result summaries, proposed initiatives and policy directions concerning college and university financing and student aid, and challenges faced…

Discusses the foundation for the Commission's conclusion that the nation's future is tied to the need for continuous learning across all levels and groups of people. Asserts that business, labor, government, higher education, and philanthropy must forge partnerships to reform America's postsecondary educational and training systems. (VWC)

Discusses the development of national policies for the use of communication technology in education, in both developing nations and industrialized countries. Considers what technology is convenient for the learner; national constraints on technology choice; what makes curricular sense; costs; and what works for small states. (Contains 16…

Analyzes survey data from randomly selected schools to investigate Oregon educators' attitudes toward mandated reforms, forces shaping these attitudes, and resultant changes in educational practices. Teachers' attitudes toward systemic reform over a 5-year period may be characterized as ambivalent and their behaviors as compliant. Workload was a…

Examines Detroit's economic development policy-making culture and assesses its impact on the formation of the community development corporation (CDC) network that dominated Empowerment Zone (EZ) planning in the initial stages. Analyzes the importance of distrust between City Hall, business interests, and community residents in consolidating CDC…

The teacher education profession needs to become more politically active. Because policy initiatives affect teacher education in very significant ways, it is important for teacher education professionals to mobilize the profession by providing expertise and leadership in the field. Recommendations for informing legislators and policymakers are…

Analyzes S. Bauer's article on the use of achievement tests to judge school quality to demonstrate the importance of logic, philosophy (especially conceptual analysis), and insights based on anecdotal evidence for educational research and policy making. Emphasizes the place for logical reasoning and anecdotal evidence in the empirical enterprise…

In decentralized districts like Houston's, principals and superintendents, formerly serving as managers responsible for executing policy directives, are assuming ceremonial and policy-making roles. Superintendents use their symbolic "headship" to build community at banquets, lead crisis-intervention efforts, and motivate underachieving…

Examines the increasing demands on social workers to provide services to children in state care and the need for policy and service delivery changes in this area. Suggests changes in government and agency initiatives to improve staffing levels, renewed training, and adequate support for social work services to children in state care. (JPB)

Describes the process used by one public library to update their policy on children's Internet use. Topics include forming a committee with as many stakeholders as possible; community involvement and support; balancing library values and community needs; and giving parents the responsibility to choose filtered Internet access or open access. (LRW)

Offers a synthesis of media, communications, cultural studies and sociology literature on globalisation that suggests that there is multi-directional causality between media and culture in the process. Suggests that academic theorizing and social policy-making in which global media (particularly television) and local culture are characterized as…

Examines British policy for work-based learning in areas: (1) pre-1994 implementation of a national framework of qualifications; (2) the review of National Vocational Qualifications by Dearing and Beaumont; and (3) debate over work-based learning policy in the election campaign of 1996-97. (SK)