The use of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to improve early childhood education program quality is based in part on assumptions that the quality of programs can be measured and that quality ratings are associated with meaningful differences in learning outcomes for children. This report reviews all of the state QRIS validation…

This article summarizes the research base on teacher effectiveness in physical education from a historical perspective and explores the implications of the recent emphasis on student performance and teacher observation systems to evaluate teachers for physical education. The problems and the potential positive effects of using student performance…

A recent report published by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) presents findings from the second-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program, a statewide educator incentive program that operated in Texas. As part of that larger study, evaluators examined educators' attitudes about performance pay.…

Amid growing signs of America's weakening position in the global economy, federal and state policymakers and major foundations have set ambitious goals for increasing postsecondary attainment in the United States. Given changing U.S. demographics, it has become clear that these national goals are attainable only with vastly improved outcomes among…

District Awards for Teacher Excellence (D.A.T.E.) is a state-funded program in Texas that provides grants to districts for the implementation of locally-designed performance pay plans. All districts in the state are eligible to receive grants, but participation is voluntary. As D.A.T.E. continues in its second year of operation with approximately…

A recent report published by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) presents findings from the second-year of a multi-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program, a statewide educator incentive program that operated in Texas. As part of this larger study, evaluators examined how participation in the TEEG…

The five sections of this report present information about the evaluation of the Right to Read Project in Illinois for the 1976-77 school year. The first section provides background information about the national Right to Read effort and a history of the project in Illinois. The second section explains the purposes of the project evaluation,…

This chapter examines lessons learned by states that are using student unit record (SUR) data to improve outcomes for community college students and recommends steps states can take to strengthen their use of SUR databases to benefit students and communities. (Contains 1 exhibit.)

Based on the author's observation of the activities of this pre-White House Conference on Library and Information Services and a synthesis of the reactions of the conference delegates, this evaluation assesses the extent to which this conference, held in Juneau on March 8-9, 1979, met its own objectives. A discussion of library and information…

In 1984, the Department of Education published the "Wall Chart," the first state-by-state national report card on educational performance. The history of the wall chart, new directions for developing state-by-state assessments, and recommendations for improving the usefulness of state rankings are discussed. (SLD)

Pay for performance is a popular public education reform, and millions of dollars are currently being targeted for pay for performance programs. These reforms are popular because economic and management theories suggest that well-designed incentive pay programs could improve teacher effectiveness. There is little evidence about the characteristics…

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

This report describes a study conducted to provide information that could be used as a basis for program decision making when adult basic education (ABE) program personnel in Washington purchase an integrated computerized learning system. During the project, the following activities were carried out: (1) programs and systems in use in ABE programs…

State educational policy-makers are showing increasing interest in using statewide educational assessment and evaluation programs (1) to evaluate student thinking skills and affective learning as well as traditional academic achievement, (2) to evaluate teachers at all stages of their careers, and (3) to assess the impact of school reform efforts.…

A study examined the costs and benefits of Indiana adult basic education (ABE). Designers of the study sought to identify those programs that are cost effective/cost efficient and to establish a viable ABE local program accountability system. Included among the major study activities were the following: formation of a steering committee, site…