The 1983 publication of "A Nation at Risk" began a new reevaluation of American schooling. The issues raised in that and several more recent reports are summarized and discussed in this preface to the ERIC volume, "Trends and Issues in Education, 1986." This paper offers observations and reflections on the issues presented in that volume and…

Fifteen papers commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education's School Finance Project are contained in this volume. The papers examine the changing dimensions of the federal-state partnership in education. The volume is organized into four sections. The first section is devoted to state educational policy concerns, including various state…

Using ethnographic research design, this study documents educational/social consequences of international migration on children of migrant farmworkers traveling between home bases in Villa Mendoza and Acuitzeramo, Mexico, and French Camp, California. The study reviews conditions faced in school (racial isolation, language minority status,…

The underrepresentation of Mexican Americans in Texas higher education is a major challenge facing the state's leaders. In Texas the growing Mexican American population will constitute the majority of the labor force in 20 to 30 years. The only way to insure a healthy and productive economy for Texas in the future is to invest now in the education…

This 1984 survey was conducted to obtain data on the characteristics of public school students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 3,510 school districts selected to participate were statistically sampled from approximately 16,000 U.S. school districts, and the schools within the selected districts were subsampled: (1) all special…

Nearly 150 exemplary programs and policies at colleges and associations that promote sex equity in postsecondary education are described that are also adaptable to other settings. Thirteen short essays on the basics of change are also presented. The sex equity programs included those directed to students and staff, those designed to improve the…

A group of three conference papers, all addressing the subject of effective programs to decrease the number of school dropouts, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Systemic Approaches to Reducing Dropouts" (Michael Timpane), asserts that dropping out is a symptom of failures in the social, economic, and educational systems.…

South Carolina's State plan for achieving equity and equal opportunity in public colleges and universities, beginning July 1, 1986, is presented. The purposes of the plan are to provide policies, goals, and strategies for continuing efforts to eliminate racial discrimination in the State's public higher education system, and to provide estimates…

In July 1985 the Supreme Court ruled in Aguilar v. Felton that public school employees could no longer provide instruction, including Chapter 1 services, on religious school premises, previously the most common service delivery model used. This study addresses the following questions: (1) what portion of the decline in services to nonpublic school…

"A Nation at Risk" and other recent reports have focused public attention on excellence in education. During the same period, the federal government has cut aid to education by almost 20 percent and consolidated federal funding into block grant programs, which some critics have claimed are less efficient than programs before…

The object of this report is to review recent developments in compulsory schooling, to raise what appear to be the critical educational problems alreading facing, or beginning to emerge in, the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and to suggest some of the considerations that might influence policy…

Policy issues and their implications in the introduction of computer technology in the Northwest and Pacific schools are examined. Eight issues, focused on instructional uses of computer technology, are covered. (1) Establishing an overall state education agency (SEA) position will set the tone for statewide development of instructional…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this study considers issues of minority access and persistence in Arizona's universities. Themes abstracted from personal interviews with minority students, faculty, and staff and minority and nonminority…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this report describes a study evaluating the effort by Arizona's universities to recruit and graduate minority students. Current outcomes and recent trends are noted along with the general strengths and…

There were no United States Supreme Court decisions in 1987 on either public or private school finance. Cases discussed in this chapter fall under three major topics: (1) public funds for private schools; (2) sources and allocations of public school funds; and (3) school tax issues. Federal appellate court cases included decisions on the…