This first issue in P/PV's "In Brief" series focuses on the Amachi program, which partners faith-based organizations with public agencies and nonprofit service providers to identify the children of prisoners and match them with caring adult volunteers. "Amachi In Brief" touches on the program's development and recruiting…

The Comparable Wage Index (CWI) is a measure of the systematic, regional variations in the salaries of college graduates who are not educators. It can be used by researchers to adjust district-level finance data at different levels in order to make better comparisons across geographic areas. The CWI was developed by Dr. Lori L. Taylor at the Bush…

The traditional role of a college or university finance committee is to oversee an institution's financial operations, ensure that a viable long-range fiscal plan is in place, and recommend financial policies to the governing board. The finance committee may assume additional responsibilities in response to changing needs and expectations of the…

The report details development and validation of a test designed to assess the ability to comprehend and summarize, in English, recorded conversations spoken in Taiwanese. The language and topics of the exam are representative of conversations that federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies may need to monitor in this language. The report is…

This publication presents library contact information and statistics for Alabama public libraries for fiscal year 1996 (October 1, 1995-September 30, 1996). The library directory is arranged by type of library: public libraries, single-county public library systems, multi-county public library systems, and multitype library systems. Entries…

Establishing a British national strategy to tackle youth drug use would seem an obvious first step in solving the drug problem. Some ideas for remedying the drug problem among young people are presented in this conference report. Drug abuse among children and adolescents throws up some complex issues and the obstacles to any coordinated,…

This feature issue focuses on strategies to support parents who have cognitive limitations to be successful in raising their children. Articles include: (1) "Encounters with Entropy: Marge's Journey from System to System" (John Franz and Pat Miles) that tells a fictional story of a mother with disabilities to illustrate the tendency of human…

The introduction of mentoring approaches into local career guidance strategies could represent an important method of helping disengaged young people achieve a new sense of direction. The aim of Britain's Mentoring Action Project (MAP) initiative has been to create the opportunity to explore the potential for one-to-one mentoring in career…

This report contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year 1996. The data were collected through the State Library Agencies (STLA) Survey, the product of a cooperative effort between the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, the United States National Commission on Libraries and…

This paper outlines the changing assessment requirements of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) in regard to undergraduate and graduate education. It notes that although the NCA initiative on assessment has been in place since 1989, institutions are at various stages in their development and implementation of assessment…

This document contains the text of the "Albert Einstein Distinguished Educators Fellowship Act of 1994" (S. 2104) along with related analysis. The bill establishes a Department of Energy (DOE) fellowship program for math and science teachers that provides them opportunities to work at DOE labs in order to enhance coordination and…

The program Effective Schooling in Rural Africa was developed by the Basic Education Cluster of the World Bank in response to concerns about poor quality schooling in rural Africa. This report draws on a multi-agency working group meeting held in June 2000 and on subsequent work to outline some key elements of the information base for quality…

This document provides information on tasks, tips, and tools derived from a federally funded project that provided training and technical assistance to local early intervention interagency teams. The project's purpose was to facilitate the establishment of local collaborative teams to work on challenges associated with putting in place a long-term…

This directory compiles information on Montana agencies, schools, colleges, and programs concerned with American Indian education. The first section covers educational agencies, associations, and resources. A brief annotated bibliography describes 10 books for educators. Contact information is provided for the Board of Public Education, the…

This digest describes the post-school outcomes of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in education, employment, and social relationships. It also presents several school-based strategies to improve the post-school outcomes for students with EBD, including: (1) social skills training that involves both direct instruction and…