The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) is the latest revision to federal special education law. There were several exciting new additions to the law that should enhance meaningful parent involvement in their child's special education program. This document provides parents and service providers general information about the…

This report provides a summary of the process parents must go through to participate in each of the nation's school choice programs, identifying problem areas in some programs. For the first time in one place, this report collects data on participation in each of the programs in current and previous years. Data are given for the number of students…

This report to the Legislature and Governor provides recommendations on the design of a workable structure for the annual evaluation of district-level performance for California Community College districts. Under contract with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, a six-member panel of the Research and Planning Group for…

This is a report of a study designed to discover the nature of interactions between teachers and students in regular-size classes (25 or more students) and small-size classes (fewer than 18 students). It also describes the efforts of one public school to maintain smaller classes. A review of the literature and observations of 11 primary classrooms…

This document is the Horry-Georgetown Technical College comprehensive assessment of missions, goals, and objectives. The assessment addressed the mission statement of the college as well as its long-term goals. The mission statement was unchanged. In regards to long-term goals for the college, the college deleted one goal that had already been…

The Research and Planning (RP) Group for the California Community Colleges (CCC) supports the Partnership for Excellence (PFE) effort to improve student success as measured by the goals, yet the RP Group sees the goals as limited in scope regarding the full work of the CCC. In addition, the RP Group is realistic about the political forces at work…

This document contains highlights from "Measuring Up 2002," a report that grades states on their higher education performance. "Measuring Up" is based on quantitative measures of performance rather than on the opinions and judgments of authors or sponsors. "Measuring Up" shows that many states have made substantial strides in preparing high school…

This paper explores the impact of policies and institutions on employment and unemployment of OECD countries in the past decades. Reduced-form unemployment equations, consistent with standard wage setting/price-setting models, are estimated using cross-country/time-series data from 21 OECD countries over the period 1982-2003. In the…

Home to several excellent universities and colleges, the Midwest has long benefited from the region's strong higher education system. However, with projected demographic changes and state support declines, institutions of higher learning face significant challenges in the years ahead. The author identifies two trends: (1) Increasing shift towards…

Rather than promote access, college admissions and financial aid processes often create a series of barriers that the poorest student must overcome to get to college. The Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California directed a three-year research initiative,…

This paper aims to provide a critical review and comparison of the following sets of standards of practice for teachers: (1) The Victorian Interim Teacher Class Standards (ITCS), especially Interim Teacher Class Standards for Beginning Teachers; (2) Professional Standards for Teachers; (3) The National Competencies for Beginning Teaching; (4) The…

As with so many guides for school improvement, the U.S. Department of Education's March 2006 Non-regulatory Guidance document entitled, "Designing Schoolwide Programs," continues to marginalize the essential role of student/learning supports. This brief report analyzes the guidance document with a specific focus on how to ensure Title I schoolwide…

This study sought to determine the causes of high or low attainment in preschool, focusing on 17 factors identified as having a significant influence on the development of children's abilities. The study focused on home factors influencing attainment among 30 high ability and 30 low ability children from preschools in Glowno, Poland.…

Nearly all the states produce one or more accountability or indicator reports containing data reported at one or more levels of the education system as well as data from other sources. To inform discussion about what data are useful and appropriate to report, comparisons were made of state accountability and indicator reports. A list of 74…

This digest discusses the assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Topics addressed include: (1) the purpose of an assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing; (2) problems associated with assessment, including the diagnostician's lack of experience with the deaf population, communication problems, tests that are normed…