On the morning of September 1, 1960, Herb Klein and Pierre Salinger met in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., to discuss the details of what would be the first televised presidential debate. Klein was press secretary for Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon and Salinger was press secretary for Democratic candidate Senator John…

Against the backdrop of urban school politics, in which mayors play increasingly powerful and pivotal roles, the current study examines the origins and implications of mayoral control of charter school authorization and accountability in Indianapolis (see Henig & Rich, 2004; Wong & Shen, 2007). In contrast to analyses of mayoral takeovers…

Congress is considering a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws more than a decade after the enactment of strict immigration measures. Lawmakers should take this opportunity to reaffirm the nation's historic commitment to family unity by addressing the discrete provisions that currently undermine it. Current U.S. immigration laws…

On December 10, 2009, Dr. Melissa Reeves, chair of the PREPaRE workgroup, presented oral and written testimony on behalf of NASP (National Association of School Psychologists) at a hearing of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. This subcommittee is chaired by…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. The reports include bill numbers and legislative Web site…

Early in 1933, shortly after the election of President Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. Senate Banking and Currency Committee began receiving hundreds of letters from concerned Americans. They were closely watching the committee's efforts to find and fix the causes of the Great Depression that had consumed the nation for more than three years. This…

This research investigated the availability of information on higher education institutions through the web sites of 40 higher education institutions; 10 each from Doctoral/Research, Master's, Baccalaureate, and Community Colleges drawn from 40 different states. This descriptive study answered two research questions: (1) How accessible is…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Senate Help Committee Passes Legislation to Rewrite No Child Left Behind; (2) Remediation Exasperation: New York…

The role and impact of taxes in the lives of Americans makes basic tax education an imperative for all Americans. Not only will that knowledge be valuable to the taxpayer, it will also be valuable to the Government that imposes a variety of taxes. Specifically, it is our position that the lack of basic understanding of taxes is unwarranted, long…

"Teachers Teaching Teachers" ("T3") focuses on coaches' roles in the professional development of teachers. Each issue also explores the challenges and rewards that teacher leaders encounter. This issue includes: (1) Standing Up, Speaking Out: Teacher Voices Lift to Influence National Policy (Anthony Armstrong); (2) Tool: Develop a Relationship…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. Current actions are found in Legislative Reports that are released on a timely basis during the months that SREB state legislatures are in session, usually from January through July. These reports follow education…

Introduction: This paper presents the results of an experiment in using participatory research methods in a classroom among ten students taking an advanced master's level course in library and information science. The project goals were motivated by the course content, an advanced course in research using official government documents. Method: Ten…

In his comment on our literature review of data on the performance of sub-Saharan Africans on Raven's Progressive Matrices, Lynn (this issue) criticized our selection of samples of primary and secondary school students. On the basis of the samples he deemed representative, Lynn concluded that the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans stands at 67…

Public attitudes about juvenile crime play a significant role in fashioning juvenile justice policy; variations in the wording of public opinion surveys can produce very different responses and can result in inaccurate and unreliable assessments of public sentiment. Surveys that ask about policy alternatives in vague terms are especially…

There is a shortage of second/foreign language (S/FL) teachers in many parts of the world and the attrition rates are startling. The present study, grounded in social cognitive theory, investigates Canadian and US teachers' (N = 1065) sense of efficacy in teaching languages as it relates to teacher attrition. Findings indicate that S/FL teachers…