States should take an active and direct role in education reform: supporting school reform efforts, providing technical assistance, defining and controlling educational content, and assessing the outcomes of education. (MLF)

This bulletin explores the roles that various stakeholders have in systemic reform and offers some recommendations for action. Data were derived from a review of research on systemic education reform and interviews with four Oregon administrators. Chapter 1 provides a sampling of the diverse groups that are calling for reform and offers some of…

Most states are either working on or have adopted statewide standards. A significant number of states plan to link their standards to rigorous new assessments and accountability measures. Districts engaged in standards-based reform must routinely analyze data on student achievement. Sidebars list sources and describe a survey of district programs.…

This guide is designed to help South Carolina's school administrators implement the school improvement process mandated by the state legislature. The first chapter introduces the educational philosophy produced by the research on effective schools. Six indicators of effective schools (positive school climate, instructional leadership of the…

This final report describes activities of a project which addresses issues concerning assessment in higher education through forums, papers, and development and dissemination of resources on activities in the states. In particular the project sought to explore how state initiatives to improve undergraduate education through assessment can be…

This paper suggests that contemporary educational historians have failed to appreciate the extent to which the institutional response to industrialism was actively induced by the financial hegemony of the new corporate elite and simultaneously advanced by the emerging authority of the central state. Further, it argues that progressive era higher…

Written under the joint auspices of the Educational Excellence Network of Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) and the National Conference of State Legislatures, this book contains nine chapters, by leading educators, divided into five sections that explore the major issues in education reform. Following a foreword by John Martin and an introduction…

Issues concerning declining college enrollments of black students are addressed, with attention to: the need for both access and quality, trends affecting college enrollment, and targets for state action. It is argued that black student access to higher education will be a hollow achievement unless it is access to a quality education. At virtually…

New Jersey has proposed state and local programs to help solve educational problems in the areas of the teaching profession, student performance, and educational leadership. To continue a supply of talented teachers, the state has developed initiatives such as a minimum salary increase, a recruitment program for top high school graduates, reformed…