This report describes common and unique approaches that Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest Region states have adopted in developing and implementing their quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs). A QRIS is a method for assessing, improving, and communicating the quality of early childhood education and care providers. The study…

In 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded funds to the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University to conduct an external evaluation of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. ATE, a federally mandated program designed to increase the number and quality of skilled technicians in the U.S. workforce, has funded over 346…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities are an increasing presence in schools in the United States. Title I and Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act require that these students meet the same academic grade-level standards and participate in content assessments as their fluent-English speaking peers without…

In October 2010, WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) won an i3 "Validation" grant to scale up and validate the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) model in three core secondary content area classes: U.S. history, biology, and English language arts. SLI's proposal stated two goals. Goal 1: To transform academic literacy teaching and…

This report summarizes the results of research conducted in the Benton Harbor Area Schools (Michigan) during 1985 and 1986, to measure the sustained impact of the School Development Program (SDP), which aimed to increase school effectiveness. The study sample included a total of 313 students in kindergarten through grade five who attended 14…

This study gathered information and perceptions regarding the School Development Program's (SDP) history, structure and procedures within the Benton Harbor Area School District (Michigan). The study sample included 46 people. SDP was created to be part of a comprehensive desegregation/educational improvement program for the district. Using a field…

After explaining performance assessment, the article describes a Michigan staff development workshop to teach educators performance assessment, explains program content and methods for teaching program assessment, illustrates how performance assessment was taught to students, and presents recommendations for effective implementation of performance…

Volume II contains six appendices to Volume I, including short summaries of the 18 schools that were studied. Appendices included in this report are: (1) Evaluation Methodology; (2) Promising Reform Strategies; (3) Descriptions of the Research-Based Methods or Strategies Being Used; (4) Short Summaries of 18 Comprehensive School Reform…

Comprehensive school reform calls for a "whole-school" and coordinated approach to improve schools. The strategy differs from piecemeal and fragmented efforts that also in the past have seemed only to lead to short-lived changes. To stimulate whole-school reform across the country, Congress appropriated funds in FY1998 for the U.S.…

This description of career education activities in Coloma, Michigan, was prepared as part of a study conducted to identify evaluated, exemplary career education activities which represent the best of the current career education programs and practices referred to in Public Law 93-380. (See CE 018 212 for the final report of this study.) This…