A major controversy arose in 1987 in a midwestern school district, after a middle school teacher assigned the novel "Go Ask Alice" to her seventh-grade class. This book describes the district's attempt to answer two basic questions: What should students read? and Who should decide what students read? The book controversy is first…

This report presents the results of a qualitative research study at three small independent colleges/universities on how literature-based strategic planning models compare with actual practices. Four critical aspects of strategic planning were identified: first, dealing with the future; second, understanding the organization's external…

Multiculturalism has become a major framework for analyzing intergroup relations in the United States, but the meanings of the term have become less and less clear. The 26 essays in this collection map the terrain of multiculturalism in its varied dimensions and discuss its future. The scholars represented, link the complex cultural questions of…

"Confronting the New Politics of Child and Family Policy in the United States" is an 18-month project designed to help states, local governments, and the voluntary sector as they respond to the social policy debates and changes precipitated by the 104th Congress. The project's main vehicle will be a series of reports, based on a series…

A discussion of the choice of official languages in Nigeria first gives an overview of the current language situation in Nigeria, particularly of indigenous language usage, sketches the history of English, French, and Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin (ANP) both before and after independence, outlines the main proposals for language planning, and draws some…

The baby boom generation faces added uncertainty on their investments and perhaps lower realized rates of return on all components of their retirement savings, primarily because of their large number. Effects will be felt in the Social Security system and by pension plans and private investors. Individuals, employers, pension fund managers, and…

This paper examines the determinants of systemic education reform in the American states. Socioeconomic, political, and cultural variables are all found to affect the level of systemic education policy in each state. Unlike many studies of policy determinants, urbanization is negatively associated with this particular policy. The political factors…

A 1991 study conducted by the Ohio Legislative Office of Education Oversight examined the Career Education program funded through the Ohio Department of Education. During the 2 years studied, the Career Education program was funded for $11.5 million in 60 local programs serving 365 school districts in grades K-12. (Career education is not a course…

This report presents an examination of the use of a participative model in the strategic planning process at a publicly-supported, comprehensive institution in the middle Atlantic region of the United States. Specific attention is given to the process of developing the vision statement, an undertaking of approximately 15 months preceding Board of…

This paper reports on the implementation of an Integrated Assessment and Strategic Planning (IASP) process to comply with accountability requirements at the community college of New Mexico State University at Alamogordo. The IASP model adapted an existing compliance matrix and applied it to the business college program in 1995 to assess and…

To help determine the appropriateness of Illinois Board of Higher Education policies related to the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree, a study was conducted over the State Higher Education Executive Officers listserv to determine current state-level policies and practices. Six policy questions were posted to the listserv related to minimum…

This report presents case studies of five American Indian tribes that employed the Tribal Disability Actualization Process for considering disability legislative and policy issues. The first section reviews the history of the relationship between Indian nations and the United States, and addresses the demography of disability among American…

This report evaluated economic incentives for employer participation in a comprehensive school-to-work (STW) initiative. In general, the business, economic, and educational literature emphasizes quantifying the fiscal benefits of employer-sponsored training, although only qualitative outcomes are available for some programs. The literature…

In fall 1996, the British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills and Training released a strategic plan calling for the development of block transfer agreements between institutions to eliminate the time-consuming process of course-by-course credit assessment. Currently, institutions conduct independent evaluations of elements of an incoming…

In January 1994, the Chicago Urban League (Illinois) brought together 11 of Chicago's leading scholars and community leaders for a discussion of the intersection of race and poverty. Nearly 300 people attended the symposium. The tone of the opening panel,"Racial/Ethnic Community Structures and the Making of Public Policy," was set by…