This paper analyzes some major political and fiscal trends that will shape governments' approaches to equal educational opportunity for children with special needs during the 1980's. The growing conflict between the school finance reform movement--a group that desires to redesign public school curricula to include special needs programs whatever…

The utilization of state educational assessment information at local, state, and national levels for program evaluation, resource allocation, and research purposes is examined. The author creates a structure for researching, studying, and describing the outcomes of state assessment programs and illustrates each function with examples drawn from…

Describes how some schools are using funding from Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 to apply technology in the schools. Reviews specific requirements for allocating funds in targeted assistance and schoolwide program schools. (SLD)

Analyzes economic and social costs of functional illiteracy in industrialized countries, highlighting Canada and the United States. Identifies the functionally illiterate and the illiteracy-poverty cycle. Estimates the cost of Canadian illiteracy is between $4.2 and $10.7 billion. Suggests measures for preventing adult illiteracy, including…

Analyzes literacy campaigns in developing countries since early postcolonial efforts. Sees the Experimental World Literacy Programme as a turning point, reflecting lessons learned from past failures. Identifies features of successful campaigns, including political will, resource mobilization, timing, decentralized implementation, realistic…

Discussion of allocation of library acquisitions budgets, especially for monographs, focuses on the proportional use statistic (i.e., a value that compares circulation and holdings in a subject area). Topics addressed include economics; benefits that libraries provide; use of the collection by patrons; computers as aids to resource allocation;…

This research brief presents an overview of a 2004 study by G.S. Shannon and P. Bylsma entitled "Characteristics of Improved School Districts: Themes from Research" (Olympia, WA: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction). The authors reviewed more than 80 research articles that investigated the attributes of schools and districts …

At a time when college degrees are increasingly a prerequisite for middle-class wages, less than 40 percent of college students are able to demonstrate proficiency on literacy tests, barely half of college students graduate on time, and many do not graduate at all. At the same time. the price of college continues to increase quickly and…

This report presents survey data from the Survey of Federal Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions for Fiscal Year 1991. This is a survey of the 15 Federal agencies that provide virtually all of the Federal funding for science and engineering research and development (R & D) at universities and colleges. Amounts for tuition…

This report presents survey data from the Survey of Federal Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions for Fiscal Year 1992. This is a survey of the 15 federal agencies that provide virtually all of the federal funding for science and engineering research and development (R & D) at universities and colleges. Data tables list…

After summarizing the philosophy behind the financing of public schools, this document reviews the division of legal responsibility for education between the state and federal governments; outlines the state's responsibility for providing an equal educational opportunity for its residents; and summarizes the use of federal revenues, state…

ISVOR (Societa di Sviluppo e Addestramento Industriale) was incorporated in 1978 as an independent organization owned by Fiat to provide all training services. In 1988, in the area of technical training alone, ISVOR offered 534 different training programs to over 29,500 participants, in a total of approximately 348,000 man/days. Four…

Five interpretations of equity are examined as they relate to the distribution of public goods and services. The first principle, utilitarianism, maintains that individuals are free to pursue their own interests and are rewarded according to contributions. The second principle, needs, is the basis of communist societies in which each gives…

This paper partially fulfills the charge set out by New Business Item (NBI) 18, passed at the 2004 NEA Representative Assembly requiring that NEA conduct an analysis of "weighted student formula" (also known as "student-based budgeting") and how it impacts educational programs in large urban districts. The funding system known as "weighted student…

Throughout Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, school systems and individual schools are experimenting with new approaches to management that seek to run schools in ways that are right for the 21st century. Those who manage these schools must take responsibility for an arduous task due to the complexity…