This digest of a full-length report provides a review of state level budgeting for higher education in terms of the underlying interplay of human and external forces coupled with factors that are present in the budgeting process itself. The environmental context includes historical, political, economic, and demographic factors. These factors…

The state role in educational funding as a major educational policy issue is discussed in this digest. The school finance system debate has been stimulated by property tax issues, changing demographic and economic conditions, emphasis on qualitative improvement, and school restructuring. Implications for local administrators include increased…

Given the global significance of Soviet-U.S. relations, elementary and secondary school students should learn about the Soviet Union, but most students graduate from high school with little knowledge and many misconceptions about this country. It is important to teach about the Soviet Union because of: (1) its emphasis in the U.S. media; (2) its…

Studying local and national population distribution, as well as economic and social patterns, is becoming crucial for educators who serve rapidly changing communities. School officials should take into consideration the tremendous diversity in cultures, economic and family situations, and educational levels existing within an ethnic group. Several…

This digest describes parent involvement in their children's education from the perspective of migrant parents and educators and offers strategies to enhance the experience of schooling for migrant students and their families. Teachers often perceive parent involvement as preparing children for school, attending school events, and fulfilling…

During 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported findings about elementary and secondary school students' knowledge of U.S. history, geography, and civics. In 1988, the Joint Council on Economic Education reported findings from its national study of high school students' knowledge of economics. The designers and…

This digest reviews scientific and methodological problems in special education research related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The first section of the digest discusses the various definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status. The problems with current race classification and the difficulties in determining the…

This ERIC digest examines states' goals of rural literacy programs and the types of programs that have proven effective in the past. It includes several definitions of literacy applied by effective rural literacy programs. It also examines the conditions that support or limit widespread influence of effective programs in rural areas. The level of…

Concepts in consumer education can be arranged into a taxonomy of three primary categories: decision making, resource management, and citizen participation. Consumer programs have these goals: (1) producing competent buyers and users of goods and services; (2) producing competent financial managers; (3) producing an understanding of the economy;…

This digest presents summary information on the characteristics and needs of children with learning disabilities (LD). The federal definition of learning disabilities is given and the existences of differences at the state level noted. Next viewpoints on various issues are briefly considered including the special educational needs of students with…

This ERIC digest describes the lives of migrant families, migrant students' education, and migrant parents' involvement in their children's education. Migrant families tend to travel along well-established geographic routes which can be identified as the East Coast Stream, the Mid-Continent Stream, and the Western Stream. In 1986, the average…

This digest discusses ways in which high schools and community colleges can cooperate in order to support more successful student transitions. The digest describes five types of collaborations that achieve this goal: (1) K-16 partnerships; (2) dual credit programs; (3) tech prep programs; (4) middle college high schools; and (5) distance learning…

Immigrant students in secondary schools face a number of obstacles as they make the transition to schooling in the United States. In addition to adjusting to a new country and school system, they must also learn academic content in a new language. Because these students come from a variety of ethnic, educational, and economic backgrounds,…

Drawing information from federal statistical sources, this digest summarizes recent changes in rural demographic and economic conditions relevant to rural school systems. Since the early 1990s, the U.S. economy has been strong, and rural areas have been growing at the same rate or faster than the nation's economic pace. Benefiting from the steady…

Worker displacement is more closely related to structural features associated with firms than to the characteristics of the individuals who lost their jobs. Despite economic growth, large numbers of displaced workers continue to experience difficulty in making labor market adjustments. Programs to retrain and reemploy displaced workers exist at…