Teacher evaluation has emerged as a major focus for reform at the highest levels of education policymaking, and for good reason. Most evaluations are based on scant evidence of actual effectiveness, produce inflated ratings, and provide teachers with little useful feedback. This paper offers policymakers and practitioners important "lessons…

This guide presents practical applications from a research study about the processes that schools use to initiate and sustain reforms. It examines the history of 10 elementary schools in high-poverty settings, including details of behavioral and attitudinal changes. Ten capacities were associated with the stages of successful reform. The…

The role of community services and continuing education in the community college must be carefully analyzed by educational leaders in the changing milieu of the 1980's. Never has close affiliation with the parent institution been more critical to the welfare of continuing education, which gains strength from being mainstreamed in terms of…

College science education is at risk of becoming mired in the "reform culture" that has long been problematic in precollege science. A single universal solution to student underpreparedness and lack of sustained interest cannot be found, but a departmental level commitment to change and reallocation of resources is necessary to achieve program…

Participants in the "Beyond the Looking Glass" Conference established a set of objectives for each of the three teacher education constituencies: practice, policy, and research. The teacher education continuum of preservice, induction, and inservice served as one dimension of a framework for structuring dialogue, discussion, and…

Rural schools in Utah responded to state and local calls for school reform by implementing Outcome Based Education (OBE) programs beginning in March 1984. Significant improvements in learning have occurred as measured by test scores. Workshops introduced rural educators to OBE which provided a philosophical and operational framework for school…

This examination of the issues of reform pertinent to adult and developmental education focuses largely on the activities and recommendations of the Learning, Assessment, Retention Consortium (LARC) of California with respect to these concerns. The first sections of the paper address the problem of underprepared college students, and the policy…

Traces origin of outdoor education to Aristotle. Expresses concern over cutbacks and "back to basics" movements that are eliminating outdoor programs. Proposes outdoor educators examine program objectives, staff, student needs, focus, and techniques to improve physiological and psychological aspects and avoid instructor traps to become stronger,…

Much of the evaluation of vocational education at the state and local levels has been conducted in response to federal legislation. Although some of the evaluative information has been useful for program improvement, much has been collected only for compliance with federal and state mandates. The educational reform movement has prompted school…

A synthesis is presented of the outcomes of the "Beyond the Looking Glass" Conference which brought together educational practitioners, policy makers, and researchers to make concrete suggestions for what should be done to improve the conditions, processes, and effects of teacher education. Three major points of agreement formed the…

Local schools and school districts lack organized information on school effectiveness to select programs and practices to meet their specific program improvement and implementation needs. Critical program features, implementation and training requirements, program costs, program-delivery systems, program impacts, and a host of other relevant…

Argues for the necessity of identifying and recruiting art education teachers who will empower their students. Stresses that persons of this sort will be teachers who know art not just artists who teach. Identifies systemic and personnel changes which are necessary for increased assimilation of the arts into schools. (KO)

The search for indicators of quality for colleges and universities was initiated during the past decade and many variants of these efforts have emerged in Europe, Australia, and on the North American continent. In the financial squeeze of the 1980s and 1990s, demands for quality and excellence in the conduct of higher education have continued to…

This monograph summarizes outcomes of a forum addressing strategies to improve special education program evaluation efforts and orient policymakers, administrators, and advocates to the benefits of program evaluation as an integral part of program improvement. The forum also addressed barriers restricting evaluation of program effectiveness…

The purpose of this publication is to help school district leaders improve the use of technology in schools through the design and implementation of a planning process. Three levels of the process are noted, including strategic planning of overall direction for program improvement, program planning of objectives and management, and curriculum…