There is a widening college access gap in the United States. The ever-rising cost of higher education, coupled with diminished government financial support and growing income inequality, have put college out of reach for many at a critical juncture when postsecondary education is essential for enhancing career prospects. The situation has been…

Programs for adolescents with severe behavior disorders (BD) in Illinois are examined in terms of existing psychoeducational models of BD programs. Research is reviewed on the definition and etiology of BD, and the historical and theoretical background of educational treatment for this group is offered (including a description of several models…

Some observations are presented on a social indicators approach to statewide educational assessment. The context of the observations is the Oregon Department of Education model for educational planning. Much of what is said can also be applied to educational planning and program evaluation at the federal level or in large school systems. For the…

The objectives of this paper are threefold. First, a model is proposed for unifying massive amounts of conceptual and numerical information flowing from the measures of the accountability movement in Ohio and the materials that are publicly available to educators. Second, this model is translated into useable forms of information that help…

A state sponsored pilot project designed to provide special education services to rural South Dakota has attempted to overcome high teacher turnover due to lack of community resources, inappropriate preservice preparation, and poor relationships with administrators and peers. The model emphasizes retraining rural special educators as special…

The goal of the Michigan plan for school staff development is to clearly describe a comprehensive approach to staff development. The plan relies on two basic assumptions. The first is that local school staff should be involved in the planning process. The second is that the state has a unique and specific role to play in facilitating quality…

This study empirically investigated the potential negative effect of item response theory (IRT) model-data misfit on the degree of invariance of: (1) IRT item parameter estimates (item difficulty and discrimination); and (2) IRT person ability parameter estimates. A large-scale statewide assessment program test database was used, for which the…

This study was designed to determine the degree of use, level of client satisfaction of professional development and educational services, and to identify suggestions for improving services. Results from a mixed methodology approach indicated moderate to high levels of satisfaction in two program areas and moderate to high levels of…

Why focus on art instead of on some other discipline to approach intercultural understanding? This paper argues that because art is about the spirit, the self, the soul, the things that people think are important, it should be the key choice. To lay the foundation for this argument, the paper addresses art as communication of core values and…

As the 21st century approaches, the question about what the appropriate means and ends in education should be has become embedded within a larger societal concern for fostering greater equity and excellence. This paper raises a set of historical and contemporary issues related to understanding educational reform and school improvement within the…

This talk has been prepared as a model for presenters when seeking the support and involvement of organizations and volunteers for the California Search and Serve program. The paper has been designed to permit easy additions and changes for localization and for meeting the specific requirements of the audience. In its present form, the talk is…

This paper supports Ray Helfer's proposed model of child protection services (EC 600 595) and expands on the model from the perspective of the state's service role. It describes implementation of the model in Oregon, current problems, possibilities for change, and strategies for the future. (JDD)

This functional model for managing large-scale program evaluations was developed and validated in connection with the assessment of Tennessee's Nutrition Education and Training Program. Management of such a large-scale assessment requires the development of a structure for the organization; distribution and recovery of large quantities of…

To determine the relationship of characteristics of the consulting teacher model to measures of school achievement, special education for 1,628 children in 42 Vermont sites was examined through a stepwise multiple regression analysis of 17 variables descriptive of service, teaching, community, and school achievement. Service variables included…

In 1979-80, the Arkansas minimum competency tests were administered to a sample of 5,000 students in grades 3, 6, and 8. To determine how well test objectives matched the curriculum, their teachers estimated how many of the four items per objective a randomly selected student would answer correctly. Because chi square test comparisons of teacher…