All principal preparation and professional development programs operate within a local, state, and national policy and financing context that influences their structure, shapes their priorities, and, in some cases, dictates their existence. Financing and policy directly affect how much professional development for principals takes place, what…

Analyzes UNESCO's policy initiatives over the past 50 years in recognition of International Literacy Year (1990). Targets adult education, functional literacy, and lifelong learning as policy initiative milestones. Stresses the intrinsic value of literacy and universal access to education. Observes that the egalitarian distribution of knowledge…

Examines a policy providing for the differential distribution of educational resources in urban Toronto, Canada. Although this policy addressed systemic social inequality through schooling by placing increased resources in the hands of innercity school staff, it also reaffirmed a normative relationship between mass compulsory schooling and the…

This report presents results from research into the effects of early childhood programs on their participants, particularly low-income and at-risk children. The studies described offer evidence on the long-term effects of high quality early childhood programs. Such programs can have long-lasting positive effects on children and their families,…

This article contends that a new concept of education finance has emerged in response to substantial alterations in the U.S. education policy environment. The major distinction between modern and old is that the latter was principally concerned with arrangements of inputs in K-12 schooling. The former, modern-era education finance, is concerned…

This article deals with the current situation of revenues, expenditures and school finance. The authors discuss elaborating conceptions of resources, clarifying why funding is often wasted, and why the translation of funding into effective resources is not straightforward. They discuss their approach of converting revenues to results in a simple…

This chapter focuses on the substantial gaps in school enrollments and cognitive achievement between boys and girls in rural Pakistan and between a relatively prosperous district (Faisalabad, Punjab) and a poor district (Badin, Sind). An important policy question is whether the allocation of educational expenditures to target disadvantaged groups…

The literature on resource allocation principles was reviewed to develop a credible and workable conceptual framework for reviewing the resource allocation mechanisms that are currently used by state vocational education and training (VET) systems in Australia. Two basic approaches to resource allocation were identified: the passive approach,…

This paper describes selected policy alternatives for the federal government in considering possible revisions to the funding provisions contained in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Following an introductory section, Section 2 examines demographic and fiscal trends that point to increased pressure on the nation's overall system of…

At the request of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement, the Panel to Evaluate the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was established in 1985 by the National Academy of Sciences. This report culminates an extensive two-year study of NCES and reflects the panel's broad view of the center's…

This guide is essentially designed as a teaching aid for those who would inform planners, officials of educational ministries, school administrators, principals, and teachers about educational outcome measurements. In outline and graphic form, the guide presents topics for discussion in a seminar dealing with uses of outcome measurements. An…

Two proposed legislative measures are discussed in this document. The first is "The Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1972). This would (1) require that no state or locality could deny equal educational opportunity to any person on account of race, color, or national origin; (2) establish criteria for determining what constitutes a denial of…

Because of world-wide economic problems, less developed countries have less money to spend for education and are more interested in the correlation between greater education and development goals. Research on the relationships between education and productivity in the agricultural, modern, and urban sectors and education and income distribution…

This annual report provides a comparative financial status of the the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) at fiscal year end June 30, 2005 versus fiscal year end June 30, 2004. AASCU continues to maintain its financial condition while providing programs and services desired by its members. Membership support remains…

Society should be particularly concerned about the long-term consequences of excluding (suspending or expelling) primary age children from school for behavior problems. Competition between schools has left behind less-marketable children who can contribute little to a school's performance indicators. Concomitant cutbacks in school and social…