This policy study critically compares two different efforts to implement an accountability system in the New York City public schools. In 1971, the New York City Board of Education contracted with the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which created a lengthy accountability plan for the district. Fitful maneuvers to execute the ETS plan fizzled…

The charter-school movement radically changes the existing system, deeming it unrescuable. The superficial conceptual rationale for creating these complex new settings will engender implementation processes that practically guarantee charters' failure. Matters are not helped by enthusiastic proponents who egregiously underestimate the consequences…

From a National Steering Group perspective, this article reviews the recent history of the national framework for teacher appraisal in England and discusses six lessons to be drawn from a project that tested the new system. Appraisal is still associated with controversy and poor industrial relations, arouses suspicion, is politically complicated,…

Whatever the school size, the total fees for the International Baccalaureate (IB) are between three and nine times greater than British-style A-level examination fees. There are also indirect administrative, staffing, equipment, and inservice training costs involved. A survey of 18 international schools claims that sound financial management can…

Conflicts often are symptoms, not causes, of organizational problems. As school budgets shrink, the budget process becomes a battlefield. A systematic approach to revising the budget process involves clarifying the school vision, identifying leadership, clarifying participants' roles, organizing processes, exploring history, implementing change,…

This document is a transcript of hearings on evaluation of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Focus of the hearing was on mismanagement and misappropriation of CETA contract funds, especially in the last days of the Carter administration. Testimony was given by various present and former officials of the Department of Labor,…

States have had to budget increasing amounts for mandated pupil-transportation services as their state transportation aid has been slashed dramatically. Among school districts, cooperation and coordination through shared services (consortia) have resulted in safer, more reliable, and more efficient transportation. Implementation advice is…

Prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO), this document is a report to Congress on the major factors inhibiting expansion of the School Breakfast Program. Based on information gathered at federal, state, and local district levels the following were identified by the GAO as the major factors retarding expansion of the program: (1) many…

This document discusses the principles that guide the development of the contingent funding methods and the implementation criteria for the Partnership for Excellence Program, as well as significant issues and questions for the system to resolve. The first principle states that the level and pace of progress toward the Partnership goals are not…