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This paper is concerned with the influence of the policy of local education authorities upon educational attainment. We suggest that the influence of local policy has been neglected in the sociology of education and hypothesize that policy variables are likely to be of major importance as determinants of attainment. Evidence drawn from correlations of policy, provision and social-class variables with each other and with various measures of attainment tends to validate this suggestion, and indicates that two `policy- models' of local authority activity may be appropriate: viz, the elite-orientated authority model, in which resources are differentially concentrated on a sponsored elite with consequent high attainment of this elite; and the egalitarian authority model where resources are more evenly spread throughout the school system with consequent `inferior' attainment of an elitist kind, but where the evidence suggests there is higher overall attainment of the total school system product. It would also appear that the determinant of the policy set pursued by an LEA. is the social class background of the area it covers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Policy Statements approved by the Delegate Assembly in the U.S. The Organization and Administration for Special Education policy statement is prepared by the CEC Policies Commission and is originally derived from a paper by Ernest Willenberg. Such statements suggest some of the major principles on which a special education administrative organization should be based. Special education shares with regular education the basic responsibility of public educational systems to fulfill their right to education for every child.

The article focuses on the proposed policy statements by the Council for Exceptional Children on the organization and administration of special education in the U.S. It informs that the statements were developed from a paper by Ernest Willenberg, in collaboration with Evelyn Deno, Paul Voelker, Paul Mckinnon and Willard Abraham. The statements were first published in the February 1971 issue of "Exceptional Children." The article outlines the major policies on which a special education administrative organization should be based.

This paper reviews several programs for children with special needs, from historical perspectives, current involvements, and one particular orientation, called the ‘child development model.’ With respect to programs based on the child development model, it is recommended that each state consider planning toward the eventual organization of a child development agency, responsible for all children with special needs, irrespective of their characteristics, educational attainments, and prognoses. Further, it is recommended that, to the degree programs encourage and support the maintenance of children in community environments, they should be rewarded in both specific and general ways; and for purposes of better guaranteeing human rights and due process, citizen advisory and other advocacy groups should be organized throughout a state and given such support as would be needed to make these groups active and responsive grass roots partners in policy and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passage of legislation concerning the development of adequate educational programs for the gifted and handicapped children has been supported by The Council for Exceptional Children acting in unison with various organizations. This paper presents (a) a brief review of CEC's past efforts to improve federal legislative provisions; (b) organizational policy statements that were adopted in order to increase CEC's effectiveness as an instrument for the encouragement of legislation for handicapped children; and (c) a look into the future of special education based on current trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the summery to a paper that was delivered in the fifty-first and fifty-second annual meeting of the American Sociological Society. The paper discusses the relationship between authoritarianism and the religious behavior of Catholics and Protestants, focusing on three issues. First, the comparative incidence of authoritarianism among members of each faith, second, the relationship between authoritarianism and frequency of church attendance and third, attitudes about the church's role in censorship, education, marriage, politics, science and sex, among those classified as high, intermediate and low in authoritarianism.

Two recent amendments to The National Defense Education Act of 1958 enlarged its scope to include the education of exceptional children. The new Title XI allows colleges and universities to plan institutes in critical subjects for teachers of exceptional children. The amended Title ill provides for instructional materials to be used for all school children, including the exceptional. This paper briefly presents the Titles' provisions and indicates those who would be eligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]