Adult education has a rich history in Iowa of providing services that assist adults in improving their skills, achieving their educational goals, and transitioning to further education or employment. Instruction is designed for adults functioning at the lowest levels of basic skills and/or needing English language instruction to advance their…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

Career Technology Education (CTE) provides high school and community college students an opportunity to pursue a sequential technical and academic program of study leading to advancement in a career field. High school CTE programs of study give students the opportunity to transition smoothly into further education or postsecondary education and to…

The purpose of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program is to improve the quality of early learning and development and close the achievement gap for children with high needs. The RTT-ELC grant competition focuses on improving early learning and development for young children by supporting States' efforts to increase the…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal association representing the technology leadership in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is SETDA's ninth annual report on select educational technology activities. This year's report includes…

The College Outcomes Evaluation Program, a New Jersey assessment plan, is intended to serve as an official blueprint for improving state higher education. It outlines specific goals for gauging quality but gives institutions leeway to carry them out. (MLW)

Reporting the results of statewide assessment looms as a problem as more states pass from the planning to implementation phase in their assessment programs. When energies are focused on the purpose of the assessment, formulating objectives, and instrument construction, reporting takes a back seat because it happens last. There are some general…

This report entails background information and a proposed model for assessment of personnel responsible for curriculum development and management in Vocational-Technical education in Alabama (the result of a state/federal-funded project entitled "Vocational Education Curriculum Operation--Management Plan" or VO-ED COMP). Four approaches…

This booklet is an inventory of selected state plans and programs in career education. It is not intended to be a complete and comprehensive guide; rather, it is designed to be illustrative, to be expanded and elaborated upon as needed. The authors focus on each state separately, discussing philosophy and programs. Appendixes I and II categorize a…

This report documents the Hawaii Writing Assessment, which was undertaken to identify the writing strengths and weaknesses of Hawaii's public school children in kindergarten through grade twelve and to provide a basis for improvement in curriculum and instruction. The two sections of the report contain an overview of the assessment effort and…

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the…

In the midst of national education reform and in line with efforts to describe national standards for school mathematics, Texas is taking an aggressive role in reforming mathematics in the public schools. Ways that Texas schools, the Texas Education Agency, and the State Board of Education are addressing the dramatically changing needs of…

This guide defines a methodology for program monitoring and discusses positive results achieved in Pennsylvania by implementing Instrument-based Program Monitoring (IPM) in the field of child day care services. IPM uses checklists or special questionnaires to structure monitoring interviews and site visits. This method differs substantially from…

In mid-July of 1976, more than 70 education policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers representing more than 35 states gathered in Denver to exchange information about the implementation and impact of competency-based education (CBE) in the public schools. This proceedings is a record of those four days. During the conference these…

Details the history of California's experience with large-scale writing assessment. Describes the introduction, development, and scoring of the California Assessment Program, later renamed the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Discusses controversies over removal of certain writing prompts and objections to CLAS. Notes that funding for…