Developed as a resource guide for all secretaries and clerical personnel employed in the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), this manual provides information on matters ranging from district procedures and office operations to English usage and professional growth. The manual's 21 chapters cover: (1) district history, philosophy, and…

Many universities and colleges are moving from traditional on-campus teaching to also teaching online courses to distant students. Institutions face many challenges in supporting their distant students and need a holistic view of the support that distant students require. This paper proposes ways that institutions could meet these needs of online…

The validity of inferences drawn from readiness tests used to place children in a regular or a 2-year kindergarten program was investigated. Data from nine school districts in Virginia were used in the study. The study explored technical characteristics of four commonly used readiness tests: the Brigance Kindergarten and First Grade Screen, the…

The New Orleans Public Schools' Department of Planning has been concerned with school children as pedestrians for the past five years. The safety issues include the streets, the drivers, and the children. First, the streets contribute to the hazard because many major streets traverse residential areas; many streets serve as major commuter…

This guide was developed to help local school districts review existing policies or establish new policies to address communicable diseases. Based on current scientific and medical information about the safety in allowing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected students and staff to remain at school, it contains a suggested policy for local…

Aided by a 21-member Elementary Education Study Group, the Secretary of Education has prepared the first comprehensive report on elementary education in the United States in more than three decades. The report finds America's elementary schools in pretty good shape, and states that they do their job especially well in the early grades, only…

Teachers' utilization of personal practical knowledge in effecting school reform was analyzed in a three-year project in a Toronto inner city elementary school. The major unit of study was the school, investigated through the eyes of people responsible for school policy. The study focused on the school board's Race Relations Policy and Inner-city…

Educational policy research has yet to account for the movement and manifestations of federal and state policies in local school districts. In an effort to describe and explain major consequences of policy, this study examines the policy ingression process (the movement of policy in the form of statute and regulation from the district…

The Supreme Court in 1985 first addressed the issue of balance between a student's right to privacy as stated in the Fourth Amendment and school officials' need to maintain safety. This chapter summarizes the case, explores the meaning of the court opinion, and briefly discusses other issues. The case involved a 14-year-old girl (T.L.O.) whose…

This paper discusses the effective restructuring of schools to accommodate at-risk children. Broadly, it addresses some issues of school structure and management for meeting the educational needs of this large and increasing group of students. Specifically, it defines and analyzes effectiveness within the accelerated schools model developed by…

Human rights review is a process by which agencies assure that an intrusive behavioral program is appropriate in a given case. Methods are described for local education agencies to accomplish human rights review of proposed and ongoing intrusive behavioral treatment with students who have severe behavior problems. One approach to human rights…

This paper argues that current practices in total communication classrooms have basically assigned the responsibility of communication to hearing-impaired students who must adapt to the variation in communication behaviors displayed by each of their teachers. The paper advocates use of a model communication and language policy designed to…

Great changes are occurring in the vast and extremely diverse nonmetropolitan regions of the United States as a result of economic and social shifts taking place. These are not the only issues facing state and local education policy and planning communities. Nationwide focus on the school reform and school excellence movement poses another serious…

This digest discusses the issue of school-based management (SBM), defined as a system of administration in which the school is the primary unit of educational decision making. Responsibility for certain decisions about the budget, personnel, and the curriculum is placed at the school level rather than the district level. Several aspects of SBM are…

A study was conducted at William Rainey Harper college (WRHC) in Illinois to provide basic institutional data about student performance over time. Data were obtained on performance and achievement at WRHC by following samples of 200 full-time and 200 part-time students in successive classes between 1974 and 1984. Study findings revealed: (1) the…