Texas' 20 regional education service centers provide a number of programs and services supported by designated state funds, and offer other services needed by the local districts when funds and staffing are available. This report on the status of the service center program for the 1984-85 school year describes the specific services offered, the…

Papers presented at a symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Rural Sociology of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are collected in this volume. The first four papers--by Olaf Larson, Edward Moe, Daryl Hobbs, and Robert Gard--discuss the department's history, emphasizing the contributions of outstanding…

This study investigated how the Department of Education (Education) monitored state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for children age 3-21 years, the extent and nature of noncompliance, and how Education has ensured that noncompliance is resolved once identified. Researchers analyzed Education monitoring…

School leaders are finding that they are often not equipped to assume the responsibilities of their roles as principals and superintendents. Responding to the needs of educational executives are the "academies" that are funded, supported, and sometimes staffed by state education agencies. Today there is an increasing number of academy…

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…

This guide addresses distance learning programs as one approach to the alternative procedures identified by state regulations for use by Texas schools. The general introduction to procedures and regulations for use of distance learning that is provided in the first section briefly describes distance learning, eligible plan sponsors, course…

A survey of the chief state school officers asked respondents to consider 50 recommendations of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, and to determine whether the situation indicated by the recommendations described the state's current situation, or, if it did not, what their intentions were for the future. Areas covered in the…

A 3-year project was undertaken to assist states in facilitating the development of a needs assessment management system in special education with a specific focus on the needs of physical educators serving handicapped students. During the first year the project staff met with state education agency personnel responsible for the Comprehensive…

A survey of university department heads in selected social sciences and humanities departments of Canadian universities was undertaken to determine the extent to which bibliographic training formed a component of curriculum during the year 1982-1983. The questionnaire was administered to 407 department heads of whom 241 (59.2%) replied. For the…

The parental right to select a child's school involves more than the option to choose nonpublic education. This document reviews a number of policy options availaable to public education systems for providing educational choice. Options at the state level include the use of education vouchers, subsidized transfer to selected schools, and…

When establishing statewide and nationally comparable educational evaluation and assessment systems, state education agencies (SEAs) must consider factors affecting policy in at least four areas. First, the full range of purposes for establishing such a system should be clarified. It must be decided whether the system exists to provide data for…

When current fiscal data of New York State school districts are analyzed with information on pupil characteristics and staffing patterns, some policy issues are raised, including a mismatch between local district need and avaliable resources, shortchanging of New York City pupils, and a close relationship between local wealth and staff…

This report analyzes state statutes authorizing a new approach to the organization of elementary and secondary education in the public sector, the "outcome-based,""contract," or, as it is now commonly called, "charter school." Charter school statutes create an alternative legal framework for the formation of public schools by permitting a state…

To fulfill an agreement with the 1992 General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Education conducted a study during the fall and winter of 1992-93 of school divisions' implementation of their Family Life Education (FLE) programs. The program was to provide comprehensive, age-appropriate, and sequential instruction in 10 specified content areas…

This report presents the plan for the Technology Integrated Educational Delivery System (TIEDS), which was developed for the Arizona State Department of Education in response to the "State Board Policy on the Development of a Plan for Technology" and the "GAITS Report," to establish the conceptual framework for educational…