Summarizes an Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges study concerning state officials' perceptions of citizen governing boards and academic governance in public institutions. Findings and recommendations are outlined in five areas: preparing for the future; serving the public interest; navigating a new political environment;…

Washington State's Initiative 200, on the ballot this November, would bar state and local governments from "discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting." Observers see the initiative as another attack on affirmative action.…

Examines U.S. public schools' changing demographics and their effects on barriers to equal opportunity for racial and ethnic minorities. Disabilities of poverty, inadequate income, denied access to shared American values, and collective discrimination obstruct these groups' high educational attainment. Equity plans and monitoring must eliminate…

In the U.S. Congress, attention to scientific fraud and misconduct has involved extensive use of oversight authority. Because scientists and universities have failed to respond promptly to calls for self-regulation, Congress has imposed formal regulations and favors increased scrutiny of research and a reassessment of university-government-science…

Significant political and sociological changes have occurred in Spain in the last two decades which have considerably affected higher education. Currently, Spain's higher education has to cope with new challenges in order to place the system at a desired level of quality. The main changes that have occurred and the current challenges in Spain's…

Addresses the political and policy environment that has shaped the educational agenda for rising U.S. state accountability systems, highlighting these policies' effects on the limited-English-proficient learner. The hope for language-minority students lies in pressures on school officials to narrow the white/minority achievement gap. (Contains 64…

This paper describes two attempts to introduce grammar teaching into New Zealand schools. The first case study describes the work of the 6th and 7th form English Syllabus Committee in the 1980s which proposed the uniquely New Zealand solution of using examples from Maori as well as from English to demonstrate grammatical points. The response to…

Alexis Pogorelskin, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth and chair of the History Department, recounts her experience in 2004 after making a controversial comment in her History of the Holocaust and 20th Century Russia class. Her comment was in reference to President Bush making no mention in the 2000 campaign about the…

Discusses the dominance of the narrative form in President Reagan's rhetoric and how his use of narrative form--characterized by a story-based truth, an emphasis on morality, and a grounding in common sense--affects political judgment, differentiating the perspective of his supporters and his opponents. Considers the power and limitations of…

Describes the impact in Colorado of the shift from categorical federal aid to block grants under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. Covers Colorado education's demographic, socioeconomic, and political context; variations in program impact among school districts; the shift's effects on redistribution of federal aid; and selected…

Reviews the history of change in attitudes toward the use of languages other than English in the United States. Examines legal and policy responses to meet educational needs of children with limited or no English proficiency and discusses arguments for and against bilingual education. (Author/MJL)

Described are two longitudinal studies, one British, the other American, which examined the influences of varied socializing agents--e.g., family, school, peer groups--on voting behavior. The studies emphasized the hitherto unappreciated importance of the political, social, and economic climate of society and its changes on socialization. (CS)

Papers from the National Conference on Trusteeship discuss: recent board- president imbroglios; Rutgers legal headaches; governing boards and legal policy changes; 5 percent of operating income set aside to build operating reserve; and how the South Dakota State Board involved campuses in decisions. (Author/MLW)

Pincus argues that vocational education has been developed in response to the rising educational aspirations of the working class. He claims that vocational training provides a poor payoff under the present economic system, and that the promotion of vocational programs raises unrealistic expectations in students. (Author/SK)

Nine brief essays address Spanish enrollments in Spanish courses in colleges and universities, discussing such issues as staffing imbalances, coping with unexpected rising or declining enrollments, enrollment implications in a small college, social and political influences on study of Spanish, enrollment management, and the changing motivations of…