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In recent years, demand has increased for the development and implementation of a better overall human service delivery system for the United State's at-risk children and their families. Critics condemn the current system as being fragmented, too narrowly focused, beset with bureaucratic red tape and harmful restrictive regulations, difficult to access, and lacking in both fiscal and programming accountability. This paper highlights the major findings of selected recent national reports and studies involving the current and projected status of children and families in the United States. Identified are the major problems and obstacles that impede the effectiveness and efficiency of the current national human service delivery system. General strategies of how these problems can be overcome are discussed, as well as the role the nation's schools can play in human service delivery. It is argued that traditional concepts of schooling must change in order to accomplish this objective. Suggestions are made as to specific ways in which psychologists can contribute to the development and implementation of a more effective human service delivery system. (RJM)

School psychologists' expertise and services have been important in student identification and program eligibility for students with disabilities. During the early 1990's, several factors, conditions, and trends suggest that special education will soon undergo seminal changes and psychologists must stand ready for this transformation. This paper identifies and analyzes selected conditions, controversies, and trends--in the field of special education and U.S. society as a whole--which will profoundly influence the future of special education in the nation's schools. Student enrollment in these programs has increased dramatically and with this expansion come issues of costs, defining at-risk students, the role of the Regular Education Initiative, and other important issues. Discussed with these conditions are the attendant changes in the roles and responsibilities of school psychologists along with recommendations on how they can become most effectively involved in special education's transitional period. Psychologists can help educators sort out many of the critical issues involving the complex relationships between students identified as having traditional disabilities and those students who do not qualify for special education services but who still are considered to be at risk. (Contains 36 references.) (RJM)

It is widely accepted that in recent years the number and the proportion of at-risk, disadvantaged students have increased dramatically in the nation's schools--and that they are projected to increase even more dramatically by the year 2000. Effective communication between school personnel and parents of disadvantaged students generally is viewed as a critical ingredient for successful student programming. This paper provides a discussion and analysis of: (1) the factors and conditions which are suggested as placing increasing numbers of students at high risk for educational disadvantage (e.g., poverty, being a member of a racial/ethnic minority group, living in a single parent family, having limited English proficiency, inappropriate or ineffective curricula, etc.); (2) common barriers and obstacles which often prevent effective parental involvement in their child's educational program (e.g., false assumptions about level of parental interest and motivation); and (3) major attributes of successful school-parent programs. The roles and responsibilities of school psychologists in promoting more effective communication between school personnel and parents of disadvantaged students are discussed along with specific suggestions for increasing their level of meaningful involvement in this process. (Author)

The paper examines the current debate over the Regular Education Initiative within the field of special education. The views of both proponents and opponents are summarized. The paper then identifies five ethical issues and value conflicts which have been largely ignored by both sides and discusses them in the context of the Regular Education Initiative. Issues include: (1) advocacy dilemmas; (2) value differences related to the purposes of education; (3) eligibility criteria for special education services which appear to exclude many at-risk students in need of intervention; (4) excellence versus equity issues; and (5) the impact of educational reform upon at-risk students. It is concluded that the debate can aid in dealing with the economic, social, and educational policies, practices, and priorities which are currently obstacles in fulfilling a real commitment to children in today's society. (Author/DB)