Describes Electronic Software Delivery System (ESDS), which allows teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District to access and preview software stored at a central location. Hardware used in the system is explained, and security of programs stored on the system is emphasized as the key to its success. (LRW)

Educators are undermining their profession by borrowing metaphors from business, medicine, and the military to define it. The technologically based language of the 1985 "Report of the California Commission on the Teaching Profession" delimits and subverts less product-oriented ways of thinking that might transform our educational system.…

School districts should identify those whom new textbooks will affect--including teachers, students, administrators, and support personnel--and determine the needs of each, then negotiate a legally binding service guarantee with the textbook publisher to ensure that services and materials will be provided to meet the determined needs. (PGD)

Describes the legislated role for educational reform that the state of South Carolina has developed with its Education Improvement Act of 1984. (MD)

The article reviews developments on the collaboration between private sector and career education for handicapped and gifted students. Among the initiatives noted are internship programs to increase the career awareness of gifted/talented students, and summer career exploration opportunities for handicapped youth, juvenile offenders, and…

The current paper summarizes the problem of K-12 students' comprehension of text. In an effort to improve reader understanding the publishing industry has adopted numerous research-based recommendations to facilitate learning by including visual elements that supplement text: graphic organizers; pictures; graphics; and digital audio and video…

In 1970 New Zealand had a small output of just 15 titles in children's literature. But much has happened over the last 30 years to ensure that New Zealand literature for children has an established footing: authors known and unknown have been encouraged to write, and publishers have been encouraged to seek the highest production standards. This…

Science textbook publishers, engaged in their own struggle for survival, are catering to creationists. (Author/JM)

Education of teachers in Canada has done little to provide them with background from which to initiate Canadian studies. There exists a lack of awareness of information sources available to help locate Canadian learning resources. "Canadian Materials" is a quarterly review of periodicals and learning materials in all media formats. (SB)

Projects a general description of a 1985 Social Studies Textbook that is based on what text publishers are designing at this time; advocates that educators express their needs to publishers before the judgments are final. (MAT)

First of a series of articles reporting on a project sponsored by the Association of American Publishers to improve relations between publishers and elementary and secondary school purchasing authorities. (MLF)

Since business leaders have become increasingly involved in setting education reform agendas, understanding their motives would be helpful. Using five interest-group theories and longitudinal data, this article examines the formation, agenda setting, and maintenance of an organization of business leaders. Moderate support was found for each…

Discusses how the world of children's literature has changed during the author's 42-year career as an author and illustrator. (SR)

Describes the Children's Book Project in Tanzania (a promising program of the Canadian Organization for Development through Education), which has, with limited outlay, created a children's publishing industry in Tanzania (consisting of children's books written by local authors) that fills a dire need for books. (SR)

Impact fees are one-time charges assessed to residential developers that help pay for new roads, libraries, school buildings, and other infrastructure needed for growing populations. The fees' highly political nature has pitted school officials against developers, with mixed results. Utah, South Carolina, Florida, and Colorado initiatives are…