Local Education Agencies Research Articles

Paraprofessionals: A Resource for Tomorrow's Teachers

There is a need for highly trained professional staff, particularly paraprofessionals, in Title I schools. If paraprofessionals are spending a significant amount of time working with Title I students in a teaching environment, it is crucial that they possess the knowledge and skills sufficient to help the students achie7e-t1-:. ,,acIre high standards expected of all students. Title I funds can be used to increase the access of paraprofessionals to services for improving their skills. Paraprofessionals should be included in professional development activities. They also need career ladder programs to help them obtain the education necessary to become certified teachers. Several states and local education agencies have established projects that can be used as examples for others wishing to implement professional career ladders. Many types of federal financial aid are available as resources for paraprofessionals seeking education degrees or teaching certificates. They include Pell grants, Direct Stafford Loans and Federal Family Education Stafford Loans, campus-based programs, teacher recruitment grants, and loan forgiveness. General eligibility requirements include being a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. permanent resident and attending school at least half-time (for certain grants) . (SM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************

A Cognitive Perspective on the Role of the Local Educational Agency in Implementing Instructional Policy: Accounting for Local Variability

Through case studies of two school districts, this article examines local variability in the implementation of state policy. In adopting a cognitive perspective on the role of the local educational agency in policy implementation, the author argues that the diVerse ideas about reforming instruction that different local policy makers come to know and understand from state reform initiatives help account for the variation in the local educational agency's response to external policy. Diverse local interpretations of reform proposals contribute to substantial local variability in policy implementation. The author suggests that local policy makers' diverse understanding of reform proposals were affected by the interaction of (a) their beliefs about reading instruction, (b) the situations in which they apprehend the reforms, and (c) the particular sources of infomation pertaining to the reforms to which they attend.

Diffusion of CDC's Guidelines to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's School Guidelines to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction were developed, in part, to assist state and local education agencies in adopting and implementing effective school-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs. This project assessed state education agency awareness of and reaction to the Guidelines, and documented efforts to disseminate the Guidelines to local schools. Key informants in 15 state education agencies were interviewed. Respondents reported a fairly high level of receptivity to the Guidelines, numerous benefits and few barriers, and high commitment. Levels of use for the Guidelines varied. Dissemination strategies such as mass mailing or teleconferences are not sufficient to influence the use and integration of Guidelines for school health. The diffusion process requires planned change over time through numerous communication channels and should be monitored at the national, state, and local levels to assess effectiveness and impact.

Learning and Technology: Implications for Culturally Responsive Instructional Activity and Models of Achievement

New forms of learning achievement are being made possible by the introduction of computers and multimedia into classroom activities. With proper planning, it is possible to improve the cultural responsiveness of instruction while addressing students' attainment of critical subject matter and curriculum standards. This article describes several instructional activities that allow students to express their own cultural heritage through the development of World Wide Web pages and video dramatizations of important historical events and personages. These activities raise the possibility of innovative performance assessments that are suited to new forms of achievement. INTRODUCTION We in the United States are in the midst of a fundamental transformation of classroom learning and schooling that is being made possible by the widespread availability of computers and other electronic technologies in the schools and elsewhere. The promised revolution in schooling through use of computers did not materialize as expected 20 years ago, yet now the rapid diffusion of powerful microcomputers and other multimedia devices in schools has begun to affect large numbers of students (Viadero, 1997). This diffusion has dramatic implications for efforts to improve the schooling outcomes of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. However, we educators have only just begun to understand how this diffusion can be harnessed in the service of improving outcomes for these students. One of the reasons for this lack of vision is that the new forms of learning being made possible through technology are creating altogether new forms of student achievement that defy the simple application of popular notions of achievement. Achievement as shown through evidence of memory for facts and concepts tied to subject-matter learning and focused solving of specific problem tasks in a subject area remain important forms of school achievement. Whereas those notions of achievement are not outmoded, there have evolved new forms of learning, facilitated through technology, that suggest expanded definitions of what might count as learning. This article explores some of the latter possibilities by describing the computer and other electronic media learning experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse elementary school students. As it demonstrates, the emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) and other forms of electronic media in the everyday life of schools is having a transformative effect on the education of children. Though many think of the electronic revolution in school learning as based primarily on computers, other multimedia electronic technologies are beginning to have a dramatic effects on classroom learning and strategies that can be used to realize the learning standards adopted by state and local education agencies. These and other new technologies have fundamental importance for multiculturalism in educational practice. ISLA VISTA'S WEB WORKERS Isla Vista Elementary School is located just north of Santa Barbara, California, in the urban nonincorporated community of Goleta, home to more than 75,000 residents. The school serves over 700 children representing more than 15 language backgrounds. More than 60% of its students are Latino; however, there is a growing awareness among the children, teachers, and families of Isla Vista of their membership in the global community. Evidence of this is found on the school's WWW home pages where, beneath a graphic showing children's hands linked around planet Earth, the moniker of the Isla Vista School reads: Home to the Children of Isla Vista and the World. There is a similar awareness on their part of the centrality of their own racial/ethnic group identity and of the linkage of this identity to everyday presentations of the self as a member of a diverse community. Freddy' exemplifies this awareness. He is a sixth-grade African American student at Isla Vista in a Spanish-English bilingual classroom taught by Mr. …

Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency’s Capacity for Ambitious Instructional Reform

In this article, the authors argue that the notion of local capacity needs to be rethought in light of the extraordinary demands for learning imposed on local educators by the current wave of instructional reforms. Confining their discussion to the local education agency (LEA), the authors argue that the LEA’s capacity to support ambitious instruction consists to a large degree of LEA leaders’ ability to learn new ideas from external policy and professional sources and to help others within the district learn these ideas. Drawing on a study of nine school districts, they identify three interrelated dimensions of this capacity—human capital, social capital, and financial resources.

School-to-Work System Development Needs: Perspectives of Local Education Agencies

The purpose of this study was to examine school-to-work system development from local education agency perspectives in order to inform state and local implementation activities. One hundred-seven district administrators responded to a statewide survey regarding school-to-work activities in regular and special education. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses were used to characterize participants' responses. Local education agencies identified the most pressing system needs as (a) enhanced partnerships with local businesses, (b) staff development, and (c) guidelines for implementation. The need for more substantive dialogue between state and local education agencies' business representatives, and the community regarding the goals of a comprehensive school-to-work system was discussed.

Family Friendliness of Community-Based Services for Children and Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders and Their Families

In systems of care, the term family friendly is used to describe services that are aligned with the needs of the families and delivered in a manner that shows professionals value and respect family involvement, empowerment, and cultural differences. The authors devised a 42-item structured observation instrument to rate the family friendliness of one component of the systems of care in Virginia for children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and their families. The instrument covers typical aspects of the meeting process, such as meeting management, case presentation, and formulation of service plans. It also allows for the collection of data on relevant characteristics of the meeting participants as well as demographic information on the children and their families. This instrument was used to rate the family friendliness of Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) meetings, the purpose of which is to develop community-based service plans for children with EBD who are referred to the team. These teams meet in local communities and typically consist of representatives from the local juvenile court, education, health, mental health, and social service agencies. The authors observed 79 case presentations at 31 FAPT meetings in 7 localities. Although there were variations within, between, and among localities, the overall rating of family friendliness across all case presentations was good (63%). Improvements in the FAPT process are needed to assure increased family friendliness in the planning of services for children with EBD and their families.

Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency's Capacity for Ambitious Instructional Reform

Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency's Capacity for Ambitious Instructional Reform

Youth risk behavior surveillance--United States, 1995.

Priority health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of mortality, morbidity, and social problems among youth and adults often are established during youth, extend into adulthood, and are interrelated. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of priority health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults: behaviors that contribute to unintentional and intentional injuries, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors, unhealthy dietary behaviors, and physical inactivity. The YRBSS includes both a national school-based survey conducted by CDC and state and local school-based surveys conducted by state and local education agencies. This report summarizes results from the national survey, 35 state surveys, and 16 local surveys conducted among high school students from February through May 1995. In the United States, 72% of all deaths among school-age youth and young adults result from four causes: motor vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Results from the 1995 YRBSS suggest that many high school students practice behaviors that may increase their likelihood of death from these four causes: 21.7% had rarely or never used a safety belt, 38.8% had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol during the 30 days preceding the survey, 20.0% had carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the survey, 51.6% had drunk alcohol during the 30 days preceding the survey, 25.3% had used marijuana during the 30 days preceding the survey, and 8.7% had attempted suicide during the 12 months preceding the survey. Substantial morbidity and social problems among school-age youth and young adults also result from unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. YRBSS results indicate that in 1995, 53.1% of high school students had experienced sexual intercourse, 45.6% of sexually active students had not used a condom at last sexual intercourse, and 2.0% had ever injected an illegal drug. Among adults, 65% of all deaths result from three causes: heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Most of the risk behaviors associated with these causes of death are initiated during adolescence. In 1995, 34.8% of high school students had smoked cigarettes during the 30 days preceding the survey, 39.5% had eaten more than two servings of foods typically high in fat content during the day preceding the survey, and only 25.4% had attended physical education class daily. YRBSS data are being used nationwide by health and education officials to improve national, state, and local policies and programs designed to reduce risks associated with the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. YRBSS data also are being used to measure progress toward achieving 21 national health objectives and one of eight National Education Goals.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1996

The U.S. Congress is close to completing the first extensive revision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) since P.L. 94–142 was enacted. This article provides an overview of the major substantive amendments to IDEA currently being proposed by the 104th Congress in the U.S. Senate, including changes in state and local educational agency eligibility; least restrictive environment; private school placement; evaluations, reevaluations, and Individualized Education Programs; discipline procedures; mediation; attorneys' fees; funding obligations of noneducational agencies; comprehensive system of personnel development; professional standards; general education initiatives; flexibility in use of funds; and the discretionary authorities that fund research, personnel preparation, programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities, and other activities. In addition, the article identifies possible scenarios and forecasts the most likely outcome for IDEA reauthorization as it makes its way through the U.S. Congress.

Accountability in Human Services Collaboratives--For What? and To Whom?

Accountability in Human Services Collaboratives--For What? and To Whom?

Combatting program fragmentation: Local systems of vocational education and job training

As the number of local institutions that train individuals for employment has grown, policymakers have become concerned about possible duplication and wasteful competition. Potential solutions to this perceived problem typically revolve around strategies for encouraging greater coordination among local education and training agencies. Yet little is known about either the extent of duplication in local communities or about interactions among institutions. To begin to fill this gap, we conducted comparative case studies of eight communities. We found little service overlap or competition. Instead, using a variety of mechanisms, local institutions have established clear divisions of labor and have linked themselves in well-defined, though largely informal, systems. The present study concludes with a discussion of how state and federal policy might facilitate the creation and maintenance of effective local systems of work-related education and training.

Children in Special Education

Twenty-five years ago educational services for children with disabilities were frequently fragmented, underfunded, highly segregated, and unreliable. Public schools were often ill prepared and unwilling to provide special and necessary services to children with disabilities. Over the past two decades, efforts to provide an appropriate education for children with disabilities in America—through a series of state statutes, federal court cases, and federal laws—have led to the development of a large special education system to address the needs of these children. This journal issue focuses on the development of that special education system and examines its components, its strengths and weaknesses, and the areas in which improvement is needed. This Child Indicators article examines some of the key federal statistics on the provision of special education services for children with disabilities. Statistics have played a part in shaping special education policy. A highlight of congressional hearings in the 1970s was the finding that 2.5 million children with disabilities in this country were not receiving an education appropriate to their needs, while almost 2 million others were receiving no education at all. 1 As described by Martin and Martin in this journal issue, congressional response to such statistical evidence of underservice of the disabled included passage of Public Law 94‐142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, which required that all students with disabilities receive a free public education appropriately tailored to their individual needs. A key element of this statute and its successors was that federal funding be provided to states for special education services based on state reports of the number of students with disabilities receiving special education and related services. This and other aspects of federal legislation have fostered the development of a data collection system to monitor the provision of special education services to disabled students by local and state educational agencies.

Rebuilding lives: A bridge between welfare and work.

Abstract In 1989 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania established a welfare to work program called Job Link. The primary goal of Job Link is to partner private industry with local education agencies to develop training programs that meet the needs of business for trained entry‐level employees. The programs are holistically designed to help welfare recipients become self‐sufficient and productive, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty. This paper highlights several examples of how Job Link impacts welfare recipients and helps them to move into the labor force.

Tech Prep + School-to-Work = Career Pathways

Our school-to-work program could only be as strong as the partnerships between the area education agency, local education agencies, students, parents, community colleges, and businesses. What could we do to ensure that result?

Adult Education and Local Economic Development in Australia

Adult education has not been considered to have had a strong connection with local economic development. Changing economic circumstances for Australia, however, have forced a reconsideration of the relationship of education more broadly to work and economic matters. In so doing it has become apparent that local adult education agencies have had a more intimate connection with this area than has previously been realised. This has become more apparent as the importance of local involvement in the decision making over local economic matters has become more critical. Training for employment, small business development, enterprise education, awareness programs, the encouragement of entrepreneurialism are all aspects of econontic development impacted upon by adult education and described in this paper.

Youth risk behavior surveillance--United States, 1993.

Priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of mortality, morbidity, and social problems among youth and adults often are established during youth, extend into adulthood, and are interrelated. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of priority health risk behaviors among youth and youth adults: behaviors that contribute to unintentional and intentional injuries, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors, dietary behaviors, and physical activity. The YRBSS includes a national, school-based survey conducted by CDC and state and local school-based surveys conducted by state and local education agencies. This report summarizes results from the national survey, 24 state surveys, and nine local surveys conducted among high school students during February through May 1993. In the United States, 72% of all deaths among school-age youth and young adults are from four causes: motor vehicle crashes, other intentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Results from the 1993 YRBSS suggest many high school students practice behaviors that may increase their likelihood of death from these four causes: 19.1% rarely or never use a safety belt, 35.3% had ridden during the 30 days preceding the survey with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, 22.1% had carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the survey, 80.9% ever drank alcohol, 32.8% ever used marijuana, and 8.6% had attempted suicide during the 12 months preceding the survey. Substantial morbidity and social problems among adolescents also result from unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV infection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Extended School Year Services

The central purpose of this study was to determine the impact of Armstrong v. Kline (1978) and other critical court cases on the provision of extended school year (ESY) services to children with disabilities within local education agencies (LEAs). LEAs from the 5th and 10th Federal Judicial Circuits responded to the Extended School Year Survey, providing information regarding local ESY programming. A prediction model was developed suggesting that LEA student enrollment and Federal Judicial Circuit membership accounted for the greatest amount of variance in the provision of ESY services at the local level. Additional information concerning eligibility criteria, disability categories most likely eligible for services, regression/recoupment, and percentage of children by disability category ruled eligible for ESY is presented.

Desegregating Gifted Education: A Need Unmet

Few educators would disagree that the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision represents the most significant U.S. Supreme Court ruling on equal educational opportunity. Indeed, as Russo, Ford, and Harris (1993) maintain, it is the very cornerstone of all subsequent legal developments ensuring the rights of disenfranchised groups in the past 40 years. In the absence of any specific controlling Supreme Court precedent or mandatory federal legislation entitlements, however, one can only extrapolate the implications of Brown for gifted education. Abundant data suggest that gifted programs are the most segregated educational programs in this nation, and that concerted efforts must be made to ensure that minority students, economically disadvantaged students, underachievers, and other nontraditional students receive the education to which they are entitled. Recent years have seen increased attention and efforts devoted to identifying and placing minority students in gifted education programs. This response reflects an insistence in the professional and scholarly literature that minority children, particularly African American children, are severely underrepresented in gifted programs (Alamprese & Erlanger, 1988; Ford & Harris, 1991; Richert, 1987; U.S. Department of Education, 1993), but overrepresented or overenrolled in special education programs for the learning disabled, behaviorally disordered, and mentally retarded (Chinn & Selma, 1987; Kunjufu, 1993; Patton, 1992). The most far-reaching legislation affecting gifted education thus far has been the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act of 1988, the passage of which marked the culmination of the efforts of many dedicated gifted education proponents. The Javits Act provides both financial assistance to state and local educational agencies charged with developing and maintaining gifted programs, and it gives highest priority to the identification of gifted racial minority, economically disadvantaged, limited-English-proficient, and disabled students. Despite the altruistic prescience of this legislation, a disconcerting underrepresentation of nontraditional students persists in gifted programs. For example, in 1993, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) noted that African American males were disproportionately placed in special education programs, more so than any other racial or ethnic group. Earlier, Alamprese and Erlanger (1988) reported that African American males were three times more liable than White American males to be placed in classes for the mentally retarded, and one-half less likely to appear in gifted programs. Taking a national perspective, they also reported that whereas approximately 16% of the U.S. school population was African American, African Americans comprised only 8% of gifted programs. Several reasons help explain the dearth of African Americans in public school programs for the gifted. Among these are: abstract and disparate definitions of giftedness, inequitable practices of identifying gifted students, educators' lack of understanding about cultural differences in learning styles and achievement aspirations, inadequate preparation of teachers to recognize giftedness among students from diverse cultural backgrounds, the lack of encouragement given to African American parents to become involved in the processes related to identification and selection of students for gifted education, definitions of underachievement that are particularly disparaging to African American students, and a paucity of funding and funding sources for efforts aimed at making the gifted education population look more like America. This article begins by focusing on the issues surrounding the underrepresentation of African American students in gifted education programs, positing various explanations for this phenomenon. It further suggests ways to address the problem--that is, how to desegregate gifted programs and otherwise redress inequities in this area of education. …

Case Studies of the Application of Categorical and Noncategorical Special Education

The purposes of this article are (a) to present the results of a federally funded study conducted by the Research Triangle Institute concerning the application of categor- ical and noncategorical special education in both state and local education agencies and (b) to illustrate how the case study as a rigorous research strategy (Yin, 1989, 1994) was applied to this policy issue in special education. These purposes are complementary, one focusing on the primary quaiitative methods and procedures of the study, the other focusing on the findings and conclusions relative to a current issue in the delivery of special education and related services. Thus, although the format of this article follows that of the traditional research study, we discuss not only the findings relevant to the implementation of categorical and noncategorical special education, but also the advantages and limitations of case study methodology, which increasingly is being used to study policy issues in special education.