In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such…

This report describes the procedures of a systemwide testing program established by the Ottawa, Ontario, education board to evaluate high school student performance in selected courses. The project was initiated in response to a directive from trustees, who were concerned about variation of academic standards among students in relation to…

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is discussed as an emerging and effective model of home-school collaboration and shared problem solving. A case study is presented to demonstrate how practitioners can use CBC to deliver high quality consultation and intervention services to students, teachers, and parents in a real world setting. An…

This report describes how successful statewide programs of educational standards and assessment are established and briefly discusses causes of program failure. Four key stages characterize effective program establishment: (1) planning, (2) development, (3) implementation, and (4) monitoring. Planning involves interaction among all parties, for…

This sourcebook describes methods of dealing with dropouts in Oregon school districts. "At-risk youth" and "dropout" are defined and survey results of 98 percent of superintendents concerning program offerings are summarized. Data suggest that medium-size districts require greatest assistance. Despite increases in single-parent…

Research findings and examples of inschool suspension programs in Oregon are combined in this bulletin. An introduction defines "at-risk" students as those having behavioral or attendance problems. Unlike traditional out-of-school suspension, alternative programs attempt to keep at-risk students at school. Chapter 1 surveys three…

To illustrate the theoretical dynamics involved in analysis of the process of "metasensing," this paper investigates the language of 22 elementary school principals and their strategic actions during school improvement programs. The study's grounded theory approach frames the principals'"epistemology of practice"--thereby…

Included in this summary analysis of three journal articles and two documents on teacher evaluation are reports that touch on difficulties facing school officials in developing a teacher evaluation system and suggestions for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of an evaluation system. The first article, by Susan S. Stodolsky, challenges…

The role of the elementary school principal is critical in determining school effectiveness. This study analyzes the thinking and language of 22 "effective change" elementary school principals to discover common patterns in decisionmaking processes. The method of grounded theory delineates implicit theories principals use to make…