Ultimately, Hispanic Americans will choose whether they wish to become part of the larger American society, or remain separate from it, but public policy can and does influence that choice. Chapters 1 and 2 show how public policy in the form of two federal laws, the Bilingual Education Act and the Voting Rights Act, encouraged Hispanics to reject…

The project described in this paper was designed to test specific ways of improving the dissemination of school finance information in two big city school districts (St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri), in order to enable them to compete more effectively for State aid. Part I presents the political and fiscal environment in which Kansas City and…

Common variables that can be isolated to explain mergers of academic units within universities were investigated, along with variables associated with the potential and actual benefits of the mergers as perceived by faculty and administrators. Central tendencies were used to compute the similarities and differences in the external and internal…

Present educational problems and future challenges for education in Latin American countries are addressed. Descriptions are given of weaknesses and strengths in primary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education. It is noted that illiteracy is a grave problem pervading both educational and social systems, and that there is a lack…

The historical background and the current status of Swahili in Kenya and Tanzania, where it is designated as the national language, and in Uganda, where it has assumed a less prominent role, are described. Major factors contributing to the selection of national languages in the region are presented. The ways both linguistic and sociopolitical…

Influences in the classroom of English as a second language (ESL) are briefly reviewed as a preface to a discussion of the past, present, and future of ESL instruction in Canada. Ten influences on ESL's past are examined in terms of their effects on ESL teachers: international, national, social, political, economic, commercial, media,…

The idea of regional cooperation on university tuition issues and the related economic and political factors are discussed in the context of Murray State University's experience with declining enrollment due to its comparatively high tuition and proximity to other states. (MSE)

This study of evaluation utilization identified organizational, political, and practical arrangements facilitating the wide use of "The Interim Report Evaluation" in policymaking for California's Early Childhood Education Program. In a program fraught by tensions, where evaluations had been political tools, this evaluation was special.…

Children are among the poorest of Maine's residents. Nearly 1 in 5 children under the age of 18, 19.3%, lived in families below the federal poverty line in the early 1990s. Most of these poor children lived in working families. The working poor are often missing from policy debates, but their numbers are likely to increase with welfare reform…

This document reports on the efforts of big cities to confront the new politics of child and family policies in the United States. A 35-member Roundtable was convened in 1995 to analyze the initial impacts of the new federal legislation and assess consequences for urban children. Part I contains some brief remarks about the plight of big cities…

The progress of postapartheid curriculum in South Africa's universities is examined, beginning with examination of the apartheid legacy in higher education and proceeding to the politics of changes in national educational policy. It is concluded that, despite efforts to change policy at the national level, universities have done little to…

Evaluation of French immersion programs' effectiveness in Canadian schools should include considering accessibility to the program, its organizational setting, teachers' behavior in bilingual classes, and principals' leadership role. French immersion must be understood in a context that recognizes it as a complete bilingual education linking…

Discusses the European Social Fund's influence on unemployed women's vocational training. The United Kingdom prioritizes some training applications (traditional male manual skills) over others (training for advancement in traditional female jobs and crucial new technological skills). Occupational gendering and regendering keeps women in…

Demonstrates the presence of a minority group elite in the contemporary bilingual education movement. The bilingual education program elite insists that students of limited English proficiency be taught exclusively in bilingual education programs and only by certified bilingual teachers even though bilingual education has not been demonstrated to…

Explores implications of defining the primary problems of African Americans as those faced by males, questioning whether this approach places African-American men and women in conflict. Considers how social problems are constructed. Image formation and manipulation of social issues may contribute to the perception of African-American women as…