This article provides a brief review of recent developments and problems in adult training of the employed and unemployed in Bulgaria. It is presented in three parts: information on legislation and the institutions; information on current problems with vocational training of the employed and unemployed; and some future measures for improving training efficiency. The findings are based on data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI), a survey on vocational training of employed at...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Unemployment, Adult Vocational Education, Foreign Countries, Vocational Education,...
Many school leaders today, not to mention many teachers, view "accountability" as a loathsome political monster. Looming over educators, insensitive to the many problems they face, it wields the carrot of rewards in one hand and the club of sanctions in the other. Some educators even blame accountability for perverting their noble purposes, twisting their sensibilities, and corrupting their integrity. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability system seeks to improve all...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Instructional Leadership, Accountability, Federal Legislation, Educational...
The importance of arts education has long been recognized. Years ago, John Dewey (1934, vii) argued that, in arts education, "learning is controlled by two great principles: one that participation is something inherently worth while, or undertaken on its own account; the other is perception of the relation of means to consequences... A third consideration [focuses on] skill and technique." Today, the arts are taught in schools as disciplines providing unique cores of understandings,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Art Education, Adolescents, Secondary School Students, Art...
Across the country, states are concentrating efforts to meet the requirements and the spirit of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The implementation provisions and timelines are demanding and challenging for all districts. NCLB is particularly daunting, however, for rural and small districts. This paper outlines the characteristics of rural schools and districts that create special problems in implementing the legislation and summarizes the major challenges of the NCLB for these districts. (Contains...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, Compliance (Legal),...
The discussion begins with an overview of the historical struggle for independence in Indigenous education and highlights the success in the provision of quality education by the community-controlled sector, and more specifically, Tranby. The right to self-determination is then contextualised against a backdrop of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody (RCIADIC) and within a framework of international legal authority. Finally the diminution of funding for Indigenous education is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Indigenous Populations, Educational Quality, Self Determination, Educational...
PL 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, was a landmark legislation at it assured "access" to public education for all children, without regard for disabling condition. In this article, the author presents a brief history of PL 94-142 and describes the significant and important changes in special education services since 1975. She discusses that the notion of equal educational opportunity for all students, including those with disabilities, is now part of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Civil Rights, Equal Education, Disabilities, Educational Opportunities, Public...
Character education, the instruction of core ethical values and cultivation of good conduct in the classroom, is increasingly being incorporated in public school curricula across the country. Over the last few years, schools in 48 states have introduced programs in character education as a means to nurture moral behavior among the youth. Public support for the addition of character education to school curricula is the strongest it has been since the 1950s, and it is bolstered by a variety of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Values Education, Standards, Educational Legislation, Federal Legislation,...
The goal of this article is to move beyond the more traditional question, "Does business have a role in public education?" A historical overview of education suggests that the involvement of the private sector is not a new phenomenon and is not likely to end in the near future. Here, the authors argue that a much more fruitful line of inquiry is to examine how the characteristics of public education and privately managed education meet (or not) the unique needs of a highly vulnerable...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Urban Youth, Public Education, Privatization, Educational Legislation,...
This article argues that, although No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is not presented as a jobs policy, the Act does function as a substitute for the creation of decently paying jobs for those who need them. Aimed particularly at the minority poor like its 1965 predecessor, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, NCLB acts as an anti-poverty program because it is based on an implicit assumption that increased educational achievement is the route out of poverty for low-income families and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Minimum Wage, Low Income Groups, Federal Legislation, Poverty, Economically...
In this essay, the author suggests that worldwide disasters are providing the means for business to accumulate profit. From the Asian tsunami of 2005 that allowed corporations to seize coveted shoreline properties for resort development to the multi-billion dollar no-bid reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the privatization of public schooling following Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast to the ways that No Child Left Behind sets public schools up to be dismantled and made...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Public Schools, Public Education, Privatization, Federal Legislation, Educational...
The merits of a marketplace model for public education have been among the most prominent themes in education policy discussions over the last two decades. Advocates of market approaches to education reform contend that creating a market in educational services will foster competition among providers and thus spur delivery of better services at the same or lower cost than providing them through traditional public schools. It is clear that the policy preferences of the past 25 years have...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Privatization, Public Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Federal Legislation,...
This paper examines recent reforms in the Irish further education and training (FET) sector in response to government commitments to move towards a lifelong learning society. The context is set by tracing development of the Irish FET sector. An outline of legislative change and measures that have been put in place to reform the Irish system in accordance with European developments on learner mobility is provided. The basic architecture of the Irish national framework of qualifications is set...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Lifelong Learning, Quality Control, Educational Change, Educational...
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has ushered in an era of increased accountability and assumed universal proficiency at a time when there is significant variability in children's abilities as they enter kindergarten. Despite NCLB's emphasis on the use of evidence-based practices to improve students' achievement, it explicitly recommends grade retention as an intervention for low performing students, resulting in increased numbers of retained students in the past decade. Not only has the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Intervention, Grade Repetition, Federal Legislation, Academic Achievement,...
With the mandate of "No Child Left Behind," high-stakes achievement testing is firmly in place in every state. The few studies that have explored the effectiveness of high-stakes testing using NAEP scores have yielded mixed results. This study considered state demographic characteristics for each NAEP testing period in reading, writing, mathematics, and science from 1992 through 2002, in an effort to examine the relation of high-stakes testing policies to achievement and changes in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Academic Achievement, High Stakes Tests, Standardized Tests,...
Identification of a language minority learner for placement in a program for English Language Learners (ELLs), and the length of the support program, may have a significant effect on the student's academic achievement. Widespread anecdotal evidence suggests that criteria used to make placement decisions vary widely across the U.S. This study systematically examines related federal laws and guidance, as well as published entry and exit criteria for ELL programs for the 10 states and 10 districts...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Identification, Language Minorities, Placement, Second Language Learning, English...
This study examined the relationship between high-stakes testing pressure and student achievement across 25 states. Standardized portfolios were created for each study state. Each portfolio contained a range of documents that told the "story" of accountability implementation and impact in that state. Using the "law of comparative judgments," over 300 graduate-level education students reviewed one pair of portfolios and made independent evaluations as to which of the two...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Portfolios (Background Materials), Reading Achievement, Academic Achievement, High...
Last year's Australian sedition laws were the latest and most controversial installment in a raft of legislation since the war on terror was announced five years ago. In this article, the author argues that, while some security measures were necessary, the recent laws have far exceeded the modest scale of the threats that confront Australians. He explores some of the strategies that might be employed to protect academic freedom.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Freedom, Change Strategies, Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Policy...
Based on the authors' reflections on experience working at the Open University, approaches to making online learning accessible to disabled students are considered. The considerations are applicable to all concerned with online learning and indeed anyone seeking to trade, disseminate information and mediate services online. In reflecting on the Open University experience of making online material accessible, pedagogic, organisational and cultural issues are highlighted and it is argued that it...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Open Universities, Electronic Learning, Disabilities, Internet, Special Needs...
One of the provisions of the law for special education in Cyprus is for children considered as having special needs to be educated in "special units". The purpose of this study is to investigate and observe the way that "special units" function in the educational environment in Cyprus, paying particular attention to one unit in which five children categorized as having special needs study. In particular, this paper studies the ways in which the different stakeholders...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Foreign Countries, Educational Environment, Educational Legislation,...
With the passing of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act into law alongside the move away from academic selection for post-primary pupils by 2008 and a far reaching review of the curriculum, education in Northern Ireland is about to face its most radical change in fifty years. Issues relating to Inclusive Education are now pressing and in addressing such change, it is recognized that pre-service programmes must be reviewed to ensure that student teachers are equipped to teach...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Educational Needs, Inclusive Schools,...
The purpose of this empirical study was to determine if there was a measurable difference on the content and organization portion of a narrative writing test by a sample of students taught by teachers who received professional development (PD) as compared to students whose teachers did not have this training and thus their students did not receive this level of instruction. The PD trained teachers how to provide instruction to students in using the criteria contained within the New Jersey...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Behavior, Writing Achievement, Writing Tests, Writing (Composition), Teacher...
Despite its flaws, the USCO created the conditions for an unprecedented national statement on school safety. This study asks: How do states conceptualize school safety? While critics have denounced the dizzying assortment of states' persistently dangerous criteria, we argue that these differences have been grossly exaggerated. We contend that states' shared orientations toward school safety can be described using a risk assessment perspective. This article introduces a framework that distills...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Violence, School Safety, School Choice, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation,...
This study was an investigation of the educational needs of tuk-tuk drivers when using English to communicate with tourists in Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya, an old capital of Thailand. The samples included 30 tuk-tuk drivers at five famous places where tourists require tuk-tuk drivers' services in Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya, for example at the train station, the bus station, a bus stop in front of the Ayutthaya district office, Hua-Ror and the Chao-Phrom market. Six participants were drawn from each...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Needs, Informal Education, Tourism, Lifelong Learning, Foreign Countries,...
This article explores the relationship between service-learning and the scientifically-based research clause of the No Child Left Behind Act. It reviews the state of the service-learning literature base with regard to academic achievement, and provides specific strategies in which service-learning can be used under the guise of No Child Left Behind, including pairing service-learning with other school reform efforts and using service-learning strategically. (Contains 2 tables.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Educational Change, Educational Legislation, Service Learning,...
This research examines the impact of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act on elementary science education within a Midwestern state possessing strong national education measures. Elementary teachers (N = 164) responded to an online survey, which included both closed-ended and open-ended questions pertaining to science instruction and changes made in science instruction since the implementation of NCLB. More than half of these teachers indicated they have cut time from science instruction since...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary School Science, Federal Legislation, Science Education, Educational...
Over the past decade, the Gurian Institute has trained more than forty thousand teachers in more than two thousand schools and districts, both coed and single-sex. The institute's trainers have worked with public and private schools, Montessori schools, and a variety of charter and independent schools in fifteen countries; it has therefore been able to see what is working and not working around the globe. In this essay, the authors feature some of the schools and communities that have utilized...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Environment, Program Effectiveness, Educational History, Federal...
The Americans With Disabilities Act (the "ADA"), enacted by Congress in 1990, was greeted with great celebration by persons with disabilities, their families, and advocates. The idea was broadminded and straightforward: Congress intended that the ADA protect those with disabilities (including those who were simply perceived as having a disability) against discrimination because of their disabilities in access to jobs, education, commerce, entertainment and other benefits of public...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Autism, Courts, Disabilities, Depression (Psychology), Federal Legislation,...
The classical philosophical distinction between positive and negative rights poses the question about where education stands and draws an invaluable opportunity to explore the implications of this distinction in the context of modern Greek educational reality. This paper discusses education as touching the sphere of both right categories, by incorporating simultaneously a) prerequisites of state financing obligations (positive dimension), and b) patterns of people's free choice with respect to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Planning, Student Placement, Educational Finance, Financial Support,...
Determining the most appropriate intervention to address student problem behavior may be a difficult dilemma encountered by school psychologists during consultation activities with special education teachers. IDEA (1997) promotes the least restrictive environment and the least intrusive interventions that can be effective. The intrusiveness of assessment and interventions applied to a problem behavior should involve a positive correlation with the severity of problem behavior with more severe...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Behavior, Intervention, School Psychologists, Behavior Disorders,...
This paper briefly introduces Early Intervention (EI) issues in five countries including Zimbabwe, Poland, People's Republic of China (PRC), India, and the United States of America (USA). In the overview section the national background, including religious, socio-economic development, and political systems, its policies, laws and acts, are delineated, since all of these factors combine together to impact the EI development in each specific country. Next, different approaches used in these five...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Economic Development, Early Intervention, Foreign Countries, Comparative Analysis,...
In the past few years many states in the U.S. have moved toward full implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. In doing so, schools have adopted "research-based" early reading models to implement Reading First, a salient component of NCLB. Through structured observations and interviews, the study team examined the implementation of ten early reading models with the goal of understanding how various models were implemented and what enhanced and impeded...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Reading, Federal Legislation, Program Implementation, Professional Development,...
In response to ongoing court battles regarding the adequacy and equity of Arkansas' education system, the state's lawmakers have effected school reforms in many areas over the past few years, including nearly a 30 percent increase in educational expenditures from 2003-04 to 2004-05. The authors distributed a confidential survey to all 254 school district superintendents in Arkansas to gauge the results of the recent school reforms and to see what challenges superintendents still face in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Superintendents, Administrator Attitudes, Educational Change, Surveys, Teacher...
This paper explores what lessons we can learn from the experiences of states that instituted NCLB-like accountability systems prior to 2001 (here called first-generation accountability systems). We looked at the experiences of three smaller states (Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina), four larger ones (California, Florida, New York, Texas), and two large districts (Chicago and Philadelphia). We analyzed evaluative reports and policy documents as well as interviews with state officials and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Accountability, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, School Effectiveness,...
This study explores and begins baseline documentation of state policies governing teachers' voluntary removal of endorsement areas from their licenses. Through a survey of state licensure officers we find that most states allow teachers to remove endorsements, though the specifics of how this can be done vary from state to state. The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act may help motivate teachers to remove endorsements. By defining teacher qualifications...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Teacher Qualifications, Educational Improvement, Federal...
Among the two most prominent school reform measures currently being implemented in The United States are school choice and test-based accountability. Until recently, the two policy initiatives remained relatively distinct from one another. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), a mutualism between choice and accountability emerged whereby school choice complements test-based accountability. In the first portion of this study we present a conceptual overview of school...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Choice, Accountability, Educational Change, Federal Legislation, Educational...
This article chronicles the evolution of legislation for Texas open-enrollment charter schools to their implementation by demonstrating how these schools have (or have not) used their freedom from state-mandated requirements to develop innovative learning environments as well as to bring innovative curricula into the classroom. The investigative focus was on an analysis of Texas open-enrollment charter school legislation, from 1995 (74th legislative session) to the 77th legislative session in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Needs, Charter Schools, Disadvantaged Youth, Teacher Persistence, Labor...
Educators and researchers are being called to participate in language and literacy policy making (Roller & Long, 2001). In order to do so, however, there needs to be an understanding of how policy is made. Although policymaking often appears to be an irrational process, there are theories that exist to explain the influences and mechanisms that work to shape policies. In what follows, I adapt Theodoulou and Cahn's (1995) typology on policymaking in order to discuss how policy is made. These...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Legislation, Reading, Federal Legislation, Educational Policy, Policy...
This manuscript offers a general examination of special education in Ontario from its inception to the current system, including references to developments outside the province that have impacted its development. A brief summary of the historical milestones of special education is followed by a look at recent special education legislation. Details are presented on how special education functions including, how it is funded and the assessment and placement processes involved. This is followed by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Special Education, Foreign Countries, Educational History, Educational Legislation,...
Because of recent legislative mandates, students with disabilities have unprecedented opportunities to attend institutions of higher education. Access to instruction and assessment is provided through the use of reasonable accommodations. However, such accommodations are legally and procedurally complex. This article addresses the legal and procedural evidence required to receive testing accommodations. In addition, we discuss procedures for supporting student needs by applying the principles...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Testing Accommodations, Access to Education, Higher Education, Disabilities,...
This article reviews the growing numbers of returning military personnel attending higher education based on emerging national trends, including the new GI Educational Bill, amendments to the ADA, and the rising unemployment rate. The trauma of war and the high survival rate have resulted in a high percentage of veterans returning from the Global War on Terror (GWT) who will experience a wide range of health issues as a result of their exposure to combat trauma and blast injuries. Many of these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Military Personnel, Injuries,...
Over the past 60 years, veterans with disabilities have been a catalyst in the development of services for students with disabilities in higher education. Current converging factors, including anticipated large numbers of veterans with disabilities enrolling in postsecondary education, Office for Civil Rights directives, and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008 (ADAAA) may once again place veterans in the center of evolution in Disability Services (DS). This...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, Civil Rights, Disabilities, Veterans, Special Needs...
The government of Thailand has historically provided a limited number of educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities but has recently demonstrated movement toward a more comprehensive educational system. The educational policy has not only begun to expand the incorporation of services for children with disabilities but has also introduced efforts to include children with disabilities in regular education classrooms. This paper examines the development of the education system in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Foreign Countries, Educational Opportunities, Educational Policy,...
This paper discusses the implementation of Nunavut compulsory school attendance policy as part of the Nunavut Education Act (2002). Using a bottom-up approach to policy implementation in the literature and the author's six years teaching experience in Nunavut, the paper argues that the compulsory school attendance policy may not achieve its objectives unless the District Education Authority (DEA) of each community is allowed the flexibility to adapt the policy to its local context. Because each...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Attendance Patterns, Compulsory Education, School Policy, Educational Legislation,...
Adopting a post-structuralist and critical perspective, the author situates The Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act, 2002, often referred to as the New College Charter, and its developing Ministerial bodies regarding curricula at the colleges, in discourses of standardization, neoliberalism and globalization. Of concern is the shifting accountability for curricula development and reviews from the state to the local level amidst growing infatuation with market discourses. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Global Approach, Governance, Foreign Countries, Curriculum Development, Political...
Since the early 1990s, the advocacy of teachers and other queer allies have sought to alter the curriculum and educational policies of British Columbia's schools so that queer youth are no longer harassed, bullied, ridiculed or discriminated against by the system, teachers, and other students. Court decisions and Human Rights Tribunals have recently imposed more inclusive policy responses by government and school districts respectively. This article considers to what extent such legal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Homosexuality, Sex Fairness, Sex Stereotypes,...
Adolescent pregnancy has occurred throughout America's history. Only in recent years has it been deemed an urgent crisis, as more young adolescent mothers give birth outside of marriage. At-risk circumstances associated with adolescent pregnancy include medical and health complications, less schooling and higher dropout rates, lower career aspirations, and a life encircled by poverty. While legislation for career and technical education has focused attention on special needs populations, the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Dropout Rate, Pregnancy, Early Adolescents, Technical Education, Adolescents, Career...
Although there is extensive research pertaining to Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), it is primarily framed around the U.S. federal definition of Hispanic Serving Institutions established by Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965. This law identifies HSI as institutions that have a Hispanic student population of at least 25 percent and "at least 50 percent of their Latino students are low-income individuals and that those institutions have nonprofit status" (as cited in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Aid, Hispanic American Students, Educational Policy, Financial Support,...
This paper stresses the importance of enacting positive transformation in language policy and planning in the United States as delineated by the idea of radical localism and supported by a critical pedagogy of place. Initially, I ask the following questions: Does NCLB impact opportunities for English language learners to take part in their communities and transform their surroundings as well as their overall education? Given the U.S. history in language policy issues, how should language policy...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Language of Instruction, Language Planning, Public Policy, Second Language Learning,...
The 25th Annual Report to Congress has been designed to showcase the data collected from states and the national studies that make up the Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP) National Assessment of the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. To this end, OSEP proposed questions about the characteristics of children and students receiving services under Parts B and C, the settings in which they receive services, their transition from Part C to Part B and from school to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, State Programs, Profiles,...
This article presents a Wisconsin post-secondary guide to disability documentation. The guide will assist organizations to determine their role in understanding needed documentation for students with disabilities transitioning from PK-12 to Wisconsin postsecondary education. This Guide provides the following: (1) Summary of Applicable Laws; (2) Guiding Principles for Disability Documentation; (3) Elements of Proper Documentation of the Disability; (4) Resources; (5) Websites; and (6) Examples...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Accommodations (Disabilities), Educational Legislation, State Legislation,...