In New Zealand the most important institutions that are responsible for the delivery of vocational education and training programs are the government owned and operated tertiary education institutions known as polytechnics. The New Zealand polytechnics deliver programs at the certificate, diploma and degree level. During the course of the 1990s,…

In this paper, the author discusses the federal role in education, which raises fundamental questions about how federal programs affect the schools. He suggests principles for a new federal role and shows how government policies have made schools more formal and complex; engineered political pressures that distorted schools' operations and…

University education is believed to be one of the most controversial public policies in Hong Kong. Numerous changes have also occurred in the university education sector since the 1990s when the rapid expansion of university places was put into force. The most notable changes may include the institutionalization of quality assurance mechanisms,…

This article arises out of a research project that sought to assess the development of regulation within the public sector. It examines the forms and impact of the regulatory systems that now operate within the public sector focusing on the further education sector. The research project developed out of an awareness that the increase in various…

Digitization of information and the Internet have profoundly expanded the capacity for openness. This report details the benefits of openness in three areas--open standards, open-source software, and open innovation--and examines the major issues in the debate over whether openness should be encouraged or not. The report explains each of these…

The General Accounting Office was asked by the House Committee on Education and Labor to review state implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant to determine the problems states encounter as they integrate the block grant and the other federal child care programs for low-income families into their child care delivery programs and…

Government support of microenterprise/entrepreneurship in Ireland was examined through structured interviews with 81 of 120 microentrepreneurs (68% response rate) identified as clients of local enterprise support agencies and/or completers of enterprise training and structured interviews with representatives of 25 local, voluntary, and private…

Transition projects have emerged to address Head Start fade-out effects, that is, the disappearance of gains made by Head Start program children by the third grade. The Nebraska Transition Project is one of 31 across the United States providing Head Start-like services to families with children in public elementary school, kindergarten through…

This analysis of economic conditions in the United States challenges the view, emphasized during the 1994 Congressional elections, that restraining government social spending and reforming welfare should be the country's top domestic policy priority. It is argued instead that the major domestic priority should be to address an economic environment…

In 1990, President Bush and the nation's governors adopted six National Education Goals for the year 2000, calling for improvements in school readiness, high school graduation rates, curriculum mastery, math and science achievement, adult literacy and skills, and drug abuse and violence levels. Congress faces two overarching issues--identifying…

This report describes the process, participants, and recommendations for change evolving from a workshop centered on a review of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) practices relating to the federal Carl Perkins Act. A workshop summary discusses the background, process, and outcomes of the workshop. Highlights are provided from the…

Case studies of three states were conducted to examine different approaches to the development of policies concerning early intervention, family support, and interagency provisions under Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The study utilized a qualitative methodology aimed at discovering grounded theory (theory generated…

The key dimensions of issues related to the integration of successive waves of immigrants are outlined. It is argued that a federal immigrant policy is needed, in which the Federal Government would assume some of the cost burden of public services to immigrants that states and localities now shoulder by themselves. Requiring the Federal Government…

It is time to revise the Chapter 1 program to prepare disadvantaged children to meet the challenges of the National Education Goals. The Chapter 1 program must be aligned with larger reforms to develop higher standards for student performance and greater accountability. The gap in achievement between disadvantaged and other students means that…

This report reviews projects funded during 1989 within the Children with Severe Disabilities (CWSD) component of the Australian Government Special Education Program. The review examined four aspects: (1) identification of those currently receiving services through CWSD funds; (2) description of the type of programs being funded; (3) the role of…