Outcomes of educational programs for at-risk youth in Arizona are described in this report for the fiscal year 1990-91. Based on 3 years of experience and data from 55 districts and schools with at-risk programs, the report determines the impact of various strategies, presents holistic and discrete intervention models, and discusses policy issues…

Findings of a study that examined parental reactions to the implementation of Minnesota's statewide open-enrollment program are presented in this paper. Data were derived from telephone interviews conducted with 162 parents at the end of the 1989-90 school year. A three-way multivariate research design with eight dependent variables was used to…

This bulletin describes types of prepayment and savings plans for financing college education, outlines advantages and disadvantages of these programs, and highlights issues that state and institutional planners and policymakers should consider. A description of existing tuition prepayment plans looks at state plans that typically permit investors…

This guide provides information on the following topics: services available to help businesses recruit, train, and hire qualified workers; publicly funded programs that provide these services; and where businesses can get more information and help to take advantage of these services. The guide describes many training and employment programs funded…

The North Carolina End-of-Grade Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher-level skills, the thinking and problem-solving strategies that enable people to access, sort, and digest information. The end-of-grade tests, which are aligned with the state's "Standard Course of Study," were designed to be administered at the end of…

This publication supports revision of the certification and standards for Missouri Adult Vocational Education Supervisors (AVESs). Section I discusses the need for revising the current State Board of Education approved certification requirements. Section II sets forth the relationship between proposed revisions and their application by…

This guide contains 55 articles written by adult basic education (ABE) practitioners in Pennsylvania suggesting ways to improve teaching and program administration in the field. The guide is organized into four parts: (1) working together for program improvement, (2) teaching and learning, (3) developing as a professional and (4) appendixes (high…

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has commissioned studies of state academic standards in five core subjects. This is the third of these studies, concentrating on geography, the core subject that has been the most neglected in the U.S. academic curriculum. Standards documents were solicited from all the states, and were submitted by 38 states and…

In 1988, the State Legislature created the New Mexico Cooperative Program to develop and expand cooperative education (co-op) programs. The Commission on Higher Education (CHE) was designated to help institutions establish and expand programs and collect information. For reporting purposes, CHE required that, in order to be considered co-op, work…

Kentucky's systemic reform initiative has been heralded as one of the more comprehensive and well-sustained reforms in recent history. To evaluate the course of this reform, the challenges associated with researching and evaluating a statewide systemic reform effort are detailed here. By using a description of the politics of evaluating systemic…

Large gains in scores have been observed over the first years of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS) program. The extent to which these gains in scores indicate that student learning improved was evaluated. Previous studies have suggested that KIRIS score gains might be appreciably inflated, something that might result…

This report provides information regarding identification and education of gifted children in Ohio, based on data obtained from school districts on June 15, 1990. The report presents data on the number of gifted children who were identified, who received services in state-funded units, who received services in locally funded units, and who did not…

This annual report on gifted education programs in Arkansas outlines the status of recommendations made in prior reports and urges action on new recommendations, such as acquiring additional staff positions and ensuring that enrollment in gifted programs reflects the ethnic and economic makeup of the total school population. Appendices contain:…

This guide summarizes information and procedures from recent research on staff development and provides examples of staff development practices in Georgia school systems. Section 1 describes a new vision for staff development, with a focus on student development as a strategy for organizational change. Section 2 looks at the expanding role of the…

Parent enabling policies that have been initiated in five states are described in this report. In addition to the strong link between parental involvement and improvements in their children's educational performance, further evidence suggests that differences in child-rearing styles also affect child development and academic achievement. Policy…