As the education reform movement increasingly focuses on teachers and teaching, educators, policy-makers, and researchers need valid and reliable measures that can be used to evaluate individual teachers, provide guidance for improving teaching performance, and support research in ways that advance instruction and classroom dialog and practice. A…

A 1983 federal appeals court decision says the Secretary of Agriculture cannot establish time and place restrictions on the sale of snack items in schools. If snack items are to be banned from schools, the School Lunch Act must be reworded. (MD)

Survey forms sent to 108 Ohio school districts asked which of 11 food-service practices they used. A statistical comparison of their responses against state figures on the profitability of food-service operations at similar districts reveals what works and what does not work. (MLF)

Schools are the victims, as bid-rigging scandals in the dairy-products industry surface in 13 states. School boards, in close cooperation with superintendents and district business managers, have the responsibility to detect bid-rigging or collusion. Offers guides for good business management and warning signs of bid-rigging. (MLF)

As of summer 2001, at least 12 states are deep-sixing junk foods in schools. Schools face an uphill battle on nutrition education. Commercials promoting junk food seem ubiquitous, and children are spending too many inactive hours watching television. Major challenges include the open-campus lunch period and cash-strapped schools using profits from…

The ranking minority congressman on the Committee on Education and Labor forecasts the future of federal funding for school food service programs under the Child Nutrition Act. (MLF)

School food-service programs, endangered by rising costs, would benefit by taking the following steps: (1) improve food quality and presentation; (2) renovate the appearance of cafeterias; (3) enlist cafeteria personnel in reforms and include profit sharing; (4) update management procedures; and (5) cut bureaucracy. (MLF)

Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that U.S. schools offer many opportunities for developing obesity-prevention strategies by providing more nutritious food, offering greater opportunities for physical activity, and providing obesity-related health services. Meals at school are available both through the U.S. Department of…

The Oxnard School District initiated a Year Round Education (YRE) program beginning in 1976. In 1984 the district maintained eleven YRE schools and four traditional schools. All the YRE schools are on a 60-20 plan with four staggered YRE tracks and a fifth track offering a traditional school year calendar. This cost analysis outlines how the…

This report presents the results of a survey of the 69 urban school districts constituting the National School Boards Association (NSBA) Council of Urban Boards of Education. It provides data designed to assist school board members and school superintendents in meeting their leadership responsibilities, and indicates significant trends in urban…

A condensation of ideas generated during the 1982 Conference on More with Less, this guide presents methods of saving money, increasing student participation, and influencing decision-makers to maintain school meal programs in the face of reduced federal support. For each topic, specific suggestions, a brief case study, and addresses of resource…