Describes a pilot study conducted by the special Phi Delta Kappa commission to determine why people gained or lost confidence in education and schools. Results indicate attitudes are major factors influencing confidence in public schools. Suggests working on attitude improvement and developing programs and efforts based on periodic needs-sensing…

To determine the public perception of schools and school leaders, this study questioned people with knowledge of and opinions about their local schools, allowing open-ended responses to a question about confidence in their schools: "What are the sources of your confidence in this school (or school district)?" Although data are incomplete and…

Educators are faced with policy development issues that will allow children with AIDS to be educated, provide AIDS education in the schools, and educate groups whose lack of information may cause difficulties for educators trying to implement these policies. This paper provides guidelines for development of a HIV/AIDS policy. The premises of…

This study sought to determine characteristics of schools and districts that enjoy the public's strong confidence and to explore how these characteristics are created and retained. A screening procedure produced useable data from 181 "high-confidence" public schools, 30 private schools, and 45 school districts. As part of a preliminary…