Paul Jablon's "The Synergy of Inquiry" (2014) is well-timed. The 2014 deadline set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) for universal student proficiency has come and gone, and according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, "proficiency rates last year were below 50 percent for nearly every racial and ethnic group, in…

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the most significant health policy legislation since Medicare in 1965. The need to address rising health care costs and the lack of health insurance coverage is widely accepted. Health care spending is approaching 17 percent of gross domestic product and yet 45 million Americans remain…

Soldiers are returning from war to college. The number of veterans enrolled nationally is hard to find. Data from the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics identify nearly 924,000 veterans as "total education program beneficiaries" for 2011. These statistics combine many categories, including dependents and survivors. The…

Nicholas C. Donohue is the new president and CEO of the Quincy, Massachusetts-based Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the largest philanthropy in New England devoted exclusively to education. Donohue has been a classroom teacher, a university trustee, and commissioner of education for the state of New Hampshire. Most recently, he served as special…

Massachusetts' Tougas Amendment, which requires foreign students to pay the "true cost" of their education at the state's public colleges and universities threatens the image of the colleges and their ability to deliver on important aspects of their educational mission. Even at small institutions such as Greenfield Community College…

Examines, from the perspective of the plaintiffs, the 1998 Guckenberger v. Boston University case in which the plaintiffs claimed the university failed to provide reasonable accommodations for students with learning disabilities. The authors view the complex decision as a ruling against the university under the Americans with Disabilities Act,…

This article analyzes the public rhetoric during the November 2002 vote over bilingual education in Colorado and Massachusetts. We argue that the neoassimilationist views displayed in both states represent a new step in the evolution of assimilation theory and ideology--one that has adapted to both the current immigrant environment and to…

There are often insufficient protections in public schools regarding students' health records, their storage, and access to them by other school personnel. Explores some of the causes in current law for this dilemma and offers some suggestions aimed at clarifying acceptable options for school health care providers. (120 footnotes) (MLF)

In the 1996 and 1997 Massachusetts legislative sessions, several of Boston's key business leaders became active child advocates in alliance with more traditional advocates and other civic leaders, convincing public policymakers to create and fund several initiatives benefiting children. This working paper presents reflections on successful…

Interviews with state legislators from Wisconsin (D. Bezruki), Massachusetts (T. P. Kennedy), and Virginia (P. Leone) illustrate the roles that evaluation is playing in the current state budget crisis. The influence of evaluation data appears largely specific to individual programs rather than systematically applied to the budgeting process. (SLD)

Labeled a "citizen assessment," this study evaluates the effects of Massachusetts 2-1/2 during the first year after its enactment. The law limited taxes and changed laws relating to school budgets. The study focused on two areas: (1) the effect of loss of fiscal autonomy on school budgeting procedures, and (2) the changes in school…

Teacher educators and others concerned with the present-day school reform movement may profit from a consideration of the leadership styles, psychological make-up, motivation, work habits, and personal charisma of some of the reformers of the past century. This paper examines the work of Horace Mann and attempts to juxtapose elements of his…

The Massachusetts law which was a model for PL 94-142 has not served as intended. About half the decisions under the law result in a handicapped child being placed in a more restrictive situation. (Author/GC)

The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 introduced sweeping changes for public education. The planned changes are programmatic as well as fiscal: organizational modifications were introduced; administrator roles and responsibilities were redefined; particular student populations were targeted for additional academic support; and the method…

State higher education-related referenda and 1986 voter response are listed concerning compensation of state employees, facility improvement, bond issues, English as the official state language, taxes and tax policy, lotteries for financing education, state trust funds for education funding, and governing boards. (MSE)