We know that students cannot learn if they are not in school, and that students with economic challenges miss school more frequently than other students. What obstacles create this attendance gap, and how can school districts provide the supports to improve attendance for these students? The authors of this article, who work with the Texas…

In a time of resource challenges, many educators see the cost of expanding learning time as a barrier. However, with at least 1,000 schools across the United States currently expanding learning time, data show that schools can implement the approach cost effectively. Expanded learning time schools manage three levers that both build quality…

Describes how North Carolina educators cooperated to build a system of teacher-performance appraisal. To build the program, educators derived basic teaching functions from literature and observed teachers to gather performance data. Training is now provided to districts, and information about effective teaching is disseminated throughout the…

Describes school improvement programs established by universities, state agencies, and school districts. All are based on effective schools' research. (Author/JM)

Connecticut has two statewide student assessment programs. The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress uses sampling procedures to examine state program effectiveness periodically in 11 mandated subject areas. The Connecticut Mastery Tests annually monitor mathematics and language arts progress for every fourth-, sixth-, and eighth- grade…

Research has shown that preschool education is a sound investment--academically, socially, and economically. Offers some options for integrating the existing patchwork of U.S. public and private programs into a uniform system that provides a high-quality early education to all young children. (Contains 13 references.) (MLF)

Examines the Oregon program in which each school district establishes and measures its own set of competency standards. (Author/IRT)

The data from this study indicate that the national policy of exploiting the young child's capacity to learn exerted a powerful influence on state educational policy. (Author)

Briefly describes a Nebraska program in which materials were developed through the cooperation of university professors, teachers, state department of education participants, Native Americans, and others. (JM)

In Florida, a legislatively mandated funding program supports statewide staff development efforts, which are primarily school-based. (Author)

Discusses evaluation issues that developed during implementation of the nation's first statewide career ladder program in Tennessee. After three years of development major issues have centered around communication, confidentiality, paperwork, career development, multidata source systems, and the evaluation cycle. (CJH)

Pennsylvania's Content Area Reading Program uses a network of 50 trained instructors to help teachers improve students' content area reading skills. This article covers program content, instructor recruitment and training, variations in program presentation, factors underlying program success, and steps in planning inservice programs in content…

Summarizes the research on school effectiveness and identifies state policy implications followed by a discussion of current state education policies and their relationship to school effectiveness research. (MLF)

Peer evaluators and multiple data sources are effective elements of Tennessee's career ladder system, but the assessment of teaching remains far from simple. (Author/TE)

Describes the teacher-developed California Assessment Program (CAP) writing measure, designed to support California's reform curriculum and based on matrix sampling techniques. This program will be supplemented by literature and mathematics assessments. The greatest challenge is designing an assessment to match the state's new history and social…