In response to calls for policies to strengthen families, this article examines policy roles for family professionals. The roles examined here include research for family policy, family evaluation research, family impact analysis, and family policy advocacy. A new role, family policy alternatives education, is illustrated with a case study.…

Suggests that the school reform movement related to the World-Class Schools initiative is not beneficial for selected students. Coupling this initiative with the Goals 2000 standards will only increase the chasm between the have and the have-not students. School-linked student support services will be needed for the have-nots. (SLD)

Explores the use of nominal group process to identify and rank problems faced by students in an inner-city school. Results showed that students identified concrete behavioral problems, such as pregnancy and disruptive behavior, whereas faculty and administrators identified more abstract problems, such as low self-esteem. (RJM)

The report by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, "Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children," presents a comprehensive strategy for child well-being. Parent education and universal health coverage are but two aspects of an approach that considers the needs of all families. (SLD)

The student-per-computer ratio identifies school districts with the greatest need for educational technology. Figures compare 12-year student-per-computer trends in K-12 public schools and rank the states with the greatest need. Results indicate that California, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have districts in the greatest need…

Social workers (n=395) were surveyed concerning their role in assisting older parents of developmentally disabled individuals with permanency planning. Practitioners, administrators, and educators similarly perceived ease in counseling aging families, but also noted their need for additional resources and specialized training. Recommendations…

Describes the development, framework, and curriculum of the new degree program called Media Documentation at the Fachhochschule Hamburg (Germany). Highlights include changes in the job market for information professionals, determination and estimation of need, combining practice and theory, and cooperation with commercial organizations and…

A survey of 102 urban school districts in large cities indicates that school districts have responded to the requirements of the Stewart B. McKinney Act for the education of homeless children to varying degrees. However, 69 percent of districts described the problem of homeless students as nonexistent or small. (SLD)

Examines adolescents' health-care needs and the barriers that keep young people from receiving services. Explores the role of school-based health services in adolescents' health care and discusses access to care, adolescent demographics and health-risk factors, services and program philosophy, service utilization, and the continuum of care. (RJM)

Through a review of literature, information-seeking characteristics of multiethnic groups are identified. Discusses barriers to communication in libraries, program development for patrons for whom English is a second language, needs assessments, outreach, training, and recruitment. (AEF)

This paper examines the extent to which special needs children are integrated in Manitoba; what the main concerns of the classroom teacher, the special educator, and the child are; and relevant teacher training activities. The possibility of a comprehensive service delivery system is seen as threatened by impending cut-backs in provincial funding.…

Authors, publishers, libraries, and individual consumers have different, sometimes conflicting, needs for scientific and technical information that are met in varying degrees by different publishing media. A number of print and nonprint formats (full-text journals, synopsis journals, microform, CD-ROM, online, etc.) are compared, and combinations…

Defects of Britain's 1981 Education Act concerning students with special educational needs are identified, including time requirements for assessments and the unique role of the local education authority regarding need statements. Comments are offered on legislative amendments, a consultation paper ("Special Educational Needs: Access to the…

Conducted needs assessment with adolescents (n=599), mothers (n=43), and family life educators (n=106) regarding issues of sexuality, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and sexuality education. Results revealed that mothers and educators shared many similar ideas about timing and content of sexuality education. Suggests ways to strengthen…

A literature review describes evaluation activities in mental health services in financial, programmatic/clinical, and new constituency areas. Expanding reimbursement for alternative mental health services is offered as a way of developing a formal structure to ensure better utilization of evaluation results. (SLD)