This report describes and assesses ad hoc multiagency conferences with varying hospital and community agency participants, each conference devoted to a single hospitalized child suspected of having been abused. Analysis of questionnaires sent to 22 conference participants found most participants reported the case-specific conferences to have been…

The history of child protection in the United States is marked by an unresolved tension between rescuing young children from abusive homes and strengthening the care their families can provide. The structure of the typical child protective effort is described against this backdrop. Deciding when intervention is necessary and mobilizing community…

Describes a probable path for the development of accreditation resources and processes necessary to respond to change in educational delivery systems, especially the rapid growth of distance education, with an appropriate system of quality assurance. Lists issues that must be addressed to allow accrediting associations to evaluate distance…

Data comparing disabled black and white Americans from one state revealed that a disproportionate number of blacks received inadequate services or were not accepted for service after applying. Among applicants accepted, more black cases were closed without rehabilitation, and among those with successful placements, blacks were more likely to…

This paper considers the nature of effective partnerships both between clients and child protection agencies in the United Kingdom, and among agencies in the child protection field. The need for clear definitions of "partnership" is emphasized. A framework for interagency collaboration is offered. (Author/DB)

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's strong movement to strengthen accreditation appears to have generated the same kinds of criticism and condemnation as before the redesign. However, results of interviews with 32 teacher education and NCATE leaders show overwhelming support for NCATE. Schools, colleges, and departments…

Reviews the extent to which states have developed comprehensive environmental education programs. Discusses environmental education curriculum requirements, guidelines/frameworks, and curriculum guides; teacher training; environmental education specialists and other staff positions within state agencies; administrative, policy-generating, and…

Every youth organization must create an agency culture that promotes positive values and relationships. Using social work theory, the article proposes a Model for Common Humanity, offering nine principles that can guide the fostering of an agency milieu: needs dialogue; purpose, values, and expectations; adaptation; mutuality; building consensus;…

Contains data on state library agencies, including these agencies' governance, staffing, income and expenditures, electronic services, and services to libraries. Data are from the State Library Agencies Survey. (Author/SLD)

A study of 293 professional trainees found that transfer increases as support for the following increases: autonomy, low workload, creativity, and resources. The relationship between person-environment fit and transfer of training suggests that training is more effective when new behaviors fit the work environment. (Contains 41 references.) (SK)

Higher education institutions in Brazil are seriously behind in the use of distance education largely because of the highly centralized control by the Ministry of Education. Hybridization, or the combination of face-to-face and distance learning techniques, is not motivated by pedagogical choice, but rather the only legally permitted approach in…

Demonstrated through telephone interviews of 507 adults that estimates of agency services awareness in typical needs-assessment studies are probably inflated by a response bias labeled "agency awareness overclaiming," a respondent reporting an awareness of service agencies that do not exist or with which the respondent is not really familiar. (SLD)

Determined general and specific processes of program approval and program review found in 50 states and 8 foreign countries. Defines models that depict these procedures and discusses strengths and weaknesses of each. Suggests alternatives to current practices by U.S. state agencies. (SLD)

Describes the results of a survey of government agencies that was undertaken by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science for the Federal Depository Library Program to study the change from dissemination of print formats to electronic formats. A copy of the questionnaire used is included. (LRW)

This paper considers the way social partnerships tend to be represented as either horizontal localised networks or neo-liberal policy instruments. Building on two empirical studies of partnerships, we argue that partnerships cannot be understood in either/or ways but are negotiated at the interface between central agencies and local networks. They…