Providing students with an education that employers view as relevant and valuable is an ever-increasing challenge for universities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework that university professors can use to examine their own program offerings against competencies deemed important by the U.S. Department of Labor. This paper focuses…

This introduction reviews the five accompanying articles and comments on the lack of a federal policy on educational research, urging educators to develop sound political strategy for advocating such a policy. (MCG)

This highly acclaimed volume in the "Defending Public Schools" series is now available in paperback from Teachers College Press. It is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policymakers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth. This…

Demonstrates how three commercial microcomputer software packages--PC-Talk III, Wordstar, and dBase III--were combined to produce an integrated library system at the U.S. Army Concepts Analysis Agency library. The retrospective conversion process is discussed, and the four modules of the system are described: acquisitions/cataloging; online…

The practices of the Overlap Group, a group of colleges that pools information to arrive at common financial-aid packages for applicants, are examined and a Justice Department inquiry is discussed. An antitrust analysis and some possible conclusions by the Justice Department or reviewing court are offered. (MSE)

Literacy and illiteracy are cultural; the need to read, to write, and to compute comes from values placed on these functions by the cultural or social group in which one lives. They are also intergenerational. This intergenerational factor should be turned around so that parents transmit literacy to children. Illiteracy is also costly to society…

Provides statistics on the United States' national debt and the budget deficit and warns of the dangers to the next generation if excessive federal borrowing does not stop now. (IW)

Takes a strong stand against the Reagan Administration's conservative agenda aimed at promoting the interests of United States business while cutting back on domestic programs. Suggests that the administration is using the deficit "crisis" it helped create to justify cutting domestic programs and is relying on inadequate and misleading…

This report provides a comprehensive picture of federal financial support for education from fiscal year 1980 through fiscal year 2003. The federal government provides support for education well beyond programs funded through the U.S. Department of Education. It discusses off-budget suport and nonfederal funds generated by federal legislation,…

Praises United States Secretary of Education William J. Bennett's 1986 elementary education report for presenting worthwhile observations on values, parents' responsibility, and teachers' professional roles. Criticizes Bennett's omission of implementation strategies, especially concerning the federal government's role in assisting minority and…

This study, which was conducted to determine how effectively the U.S. Department of Education plans for and manages its information resources in supporting its mission and administering its programs, focused on the Department's strategic information resources management (IRM) planning process. Meetings were held with program officials to ascertain…

A discussion of federal policy on research integrity and scientific misconduct chronicles the history of federal involvement in accountability in the scientific community, forms of intervention, determination of the boundaries of misconduct, and the rights of whistle blowers. Official definitions and standards are presented. (MSE)

Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, every school is subject to the controversial mandates for annual test score gains contained in the federal law. The law represents a profound change in the relationship between the federal government and state and local education agencies regarding who controls education and has direct implications for…

This paper provides an overview of U.S. Department of Education programs authorized and funded under federal law. It includes information as well on the laboratories, centers, and other facilities funded by the Department that provide important resources for education. Each entry, which gives a brief overview of a program or resource, is listed…

Economics is an applied social science whose technical formulations are embedded in a political, social, historical, and cultural matrix. It is the responsibility of educators to understand and to keep abreast of the nation's changing political economy. (IW)