Discusses the growth of the assessment movement, reviews the different measures of student performance being requested by state agencies, and describes institutional responses to state mandates. Offers guidelines for implementing an effective assessment program. (DMM)

This paper describes the model and process developed by the Connecticut education department to assist schools in improving their effectiveness. The report offers an operational definition of the term "effectiveness" and summarizes the research that provides the conceptual base for the model. The characteristics selected from this…

The current success and acceptability of the Design for School Excellence (DSE) in the Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Schools is due largely to the seriousness in which the Board of Education and the Superintendent communicated with school employees and the entire community in planning the final outcome of this program. From the original suggestion of a…

In 1985 and 1986, 24 and 37 schools respectively, were publicly recognized as merit schools under the Design for School Excellence (DSE) program of the Cincinnati (Ohio) Public School system. The increase in merit schools was not accompanied by a large increase in the number of awards made on individual indicators. Rather, the new merit schools…

This document summarizes the literature on the causes of dropping out, reviews national dropout prevention initiatives, proposes a set of principles to guide dropout prevention programs, and recommends a framework of policies for the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Public Schools. The dropout literature indicates that dropping out is a developmental…

The Tennessee Technological University Rural Education Research and Service Consortium (RERSC) was established in 1984 to facilitate research and service activities of the College of Education faculty in selected rural schools, to provide assistance to faculty desiring to engage in such research and service, and to launch a major research thrust…

The general meaning of research data drawn from study of school improvement programs creates the opportunity for sound theory building. By emphasizing the principal's role in policy development, this paper analyzes the characteristics of large-scale educational innovation projects and their explanatory foundations. Belgium's comprehensive Renewed…

The Tennessee Technological University Rural Education Research and Service Consortium (RERSC) was founded in 1984 to facilitate research and service activities of the College of Education faculty in selected rural schools, provide assistance to faculty desiring to engage in such research/service, and launch a major research thrust consistent with…

Three research questions are addressed in this paper: (1) What does school improvement mean in relation to the context of a research project? (2) Given particular developments in European society and the nature of primary research data, what should schools be like in the year 2001? (3) What steps are being taken in research and development to…

Although the research base on teaching, learning, and effective schools has expanded, the results of that research have been implemented only to a limited degree, either in the classroom or in the training of teachers. One of the accusations that have frequently been made against teacher education is that it does not use a theoretical,…