A number of reports in the US have highlighted the country's need for improved second language skills for both national security and economic competitiveness. The Language Flagship program, launched in 2002, aims to raise expectations regarding language proficiency levels at the post-secondary level and to address structural gaps in the curricula…

Value-added methods refer to efforts to estimate the relative contributions of specific teachers, schools, or programs to student test performance. In recent years, these methods have attracted considerable attention because of their potential applicability for educational accountability, teacher pay-for-performance systems, school and teacher…

An emerging body of research suggests that a set of broad "21st century skills"--such as adaptability, complex communication skills, and the ability to solve non-routine problems--are valuable across a wide range of jobs in the national economy. However, the role of K-12 education in helping students learn these skills is a subject of current…

This study subdivides chronologically into two portions. The first deals with the conception of the reform and the circumstances leading up to the publication of the scope of the reform, the institutional infrastructure, and the processes of innovation. These subtopics correspond to the division into objectives, means, and processes. The scope of…

Evaluability assessment is a descriptive and analytic process intended to produce a reasoned basis for proceeding with an evaluation of use to both management and policymakers. It was jointly developed by the members of the program evaluation group of the Urban Institute between 1968 and 1978. The approach begins by obtaining management's…

What types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding? What do science educators, teachers, teacher leaders, science specialists, professional development staff, curriculum designers, and school administrators need to know to create and support such experiences? "Ready, Set, Science!" guides the way with an…

This monograph on Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program models for practitioners in community-based government employment and training programs describes a model for classroom job training, the Opportunities Industrial Centers (OIC) model. The content is presented in five sections. The introductory section discusses motivations…

This report focuses on preventing potentially disabling conditions from developing into disabilities and on minimizing the effects of such conditions on a person's productivity and quality of life. It describes disability as a social and public health issue and not just a physical condition. The report begins with an executive summary, an…

This monograph on Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program models for practitioners who are implementing or redesigning public service employment programs explores three major approaches to public service employment: countercyclical, employability development, and structural targeting. The content is presented in six sections. The…

An introduction to the "hows" of research and development (R&D) funding decisions made by the U. S. Federal government, this book contains four chapters written by separate authors. The first chapter examines the Federal role, purpose, and practices in funding R&D concluding that Federal funding of R&D is designed primarily…

This collection of nine papers addresses theory and research in higher education. The papers include: (1) "Student Learning at Metropolitan Universities" (George D. Kuh and others); (2) "Applications of Generalizability Theory in Higher Education Assessment Research" (Gary R. Pike); (3) Policy Models and Policy Instruments in…

This volume presents a summary of the methods, findings and recommendations for federal policy of the National Day Care Study (NDCS), a 4-year study of the effects of regulatable day care center characteristics on the quality and cost of day care for preschoolers. Chapter I describes current day care services and the history of federal involvement…

Educational finance policies have such a critical influence on every educational service and program, on the national economy, on the welfare of individuals, and even on the welfare of the nation itself, that educational finance cannot be studied adequately in isolation from our total social system. Therefore, the authors have used the systems…

There are great parallels between the School-to-Work Opportunities Act and the legislation which produced transition services for individuals with disabilities. The rationale is clearly the same: a real recognition and concern exists about the difficult transition that faces all high school graduates as they prepare to live on their own, assume…

The study documents what happened in 10 rural communities when a federal educational funding program (Experimental Schools) in 1972 provided 5-year grants for demonstration projects designed both to improve the school system and, through the schools, to address a variety of community needs. The study employs two strategies to document the ways in…