This paper is prompted by the Joint Statement issued from the Education Summit, and addresses the need to change testing policy from reliance on standardized, multiple-choice testing to the use of more authentic methods of assessing educational performance and progress. The governors are warned against increasing the use of standardized tests and…

Nine components of Westchester County's Family Day Care System in White Plains, New York, are outlined in some detail. Westchester County, comprising 450 square miles of cities, suburbs, towns, and villages, borders on the Bronx, and, while very affluent, has the second largest number of homeless persons in the nation, and an ethnically and…

A description is given of the Mentor Teacher-Internship Program, which is funded by New York State and operates under state guidance. The focus of the program is on building a mutually rewarding relationship between the mentor and novice teacher. Steps through which mentor-intern dyads can progress on their way toward an effective, optimal…

This report describes how Title IV-A of the Social Security Act is being used to aid homeless families with children. The report reviews the history of the Emergency Assistance program (EA) and the special needs component of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC-Special Needs), discusses current policy and practice, examines…

This report offers an evaluation of the Hawaii Chapter 1 Program for school years 1985-86 and 1986-87. The reading and mathematics programs served 14,158 students in 1985-86 and 14,280 in 1986-87. Data regarding reading indicated that mean normal curve equivalent (NCE) gains greater than zero were found in all districts and grade levels for both…

The Maryland Accountability Testing Program Annual Report is a reference document for the public that includes a survey of current test results and the progress being made by Maryland public school students in grades 3, 5, and 8. The California Achievement Tests are the standardized achievement tests used to provide the information required by…

This state plan identifies New Jersey Department of Education activities for assisting local school districts in designing educational programs to meet the needs of intellectually and academically gifted students. The plan begins with an identification of needs in the area of gifted education, focusing on the need for multiple measures for student…

Prepared by volunteers representing a wide range of interests and experience and including students with disabilities, this guide provides basic information about support services available to students with disabilities at public and private postsecondary education institutions in the State of Washington. The guide may also serve as a resource for…

This study investigated the role of literacy associations in the education of adults in Wyoming at the turn of the century. Information was gathered through extensive analysis of published and unpublished documents, especially primary resources in several archives and libraries, and from newspapers of the period. Evidence suggests that literary…

The development of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education's Tests of Essential Learning Skills (TELS) program objectives is described. A conceptual framework is presented that incorporates reading skills into the social studies curriculum. Instructional strategies designed to assist in the development of reading skills in the content areas…

This report summarizes the New York State Community Schools Pilot Project. All 14 elementary Pilot Schools have advisory and/or steering committees, a full-time coordinator, and strategies for ongoing needs assessment in place. All schools also have successful extended-day programs, but response to weekend programs has been mixed, and only seven…

This paper reports on several projects conducted in Georgia over the past 2 years that move the development of respite care services toward the goal of becoming a "cooperative, collaborative, and coordinated" effort. An overview of respite care in Georgia is provided as well as a summary of strategies used to provide such care. Emerging…

This report is a summary of art programs research; an analysis of national, state, and local (Mount Vernon, Washington) art education is outlined. The analysis is constructed from: materials entered into the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) system in the 1980s; the 1987 State of Arts Education in Washington Schools survey; and…

This paper describes Michigan's strategy for defining and assessing employability skills. A statewide task force, appointed by the Governor, defined an initial list of academic, personal management, and teamwork skills. The skills from this list were more specifically defined for a questionnaire that was mailed to a random sample of over 7,500…

Public school choice is an area of educational reform that has received attention from state and federal policymakers. Common applications of choice programs include alternative schools; open enrollment/intradistrict choice; and statewide/interdistrict choice. The following areas in public school choice are covered in this report: perceived…