2010 was a pioneering year for Massachusetts public schools. State leaders recognized that while the Commonwealth leads the nation in student achievement on national measures such as NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), more needed to be done to close the persistent achievement gaps between our wealthy and poor students. Combining a…

Comments on performance contracting and some of its implications. (MF)

The principal concern of this paper is to identify those organizational, teacher, and community characteristics that are associated with varying levels of student achievement growth. (Author)

This monograph, prepared to assist Georgia elementary principals to better understand accountability and its implications for educational improvement, sets forth many of the theoretical and philosophical bases from which accountability is being considered. Leon M. Lessinger begins this 5-paper presentation by describing the need for accountability…

Describes the supervisor's changing role, especially with regard to evaluation, performance contracts, and changing teacher behavior. (SP)

Reviews a study attempting to conceptualize implementation efforts of contracted renewal in Netherlands primary schools. Bestowing contract status on schools is an important instrument for implementing public policy. Becoming a contracted party in a policy process requiring intensified accountability and a time-bound renewal framework induces…

In response both to a growing national grumbling about the need for educational accountability and to a felt need to better define and focus on district priorities, the Madison Public Schools adopted a mangement by objectives (MBO) program in 1970. It is on the basis of three years' experience with this program that this book has been written. The…

In higher education especially, the obsolescence of skills, knowledge, and competencies in teaching dictates the need for continuous staff development. Given the assumption that superior and innovative instruction that motivates student learning can shape institutional identity as well, this book provides selected readings that advocate a…

Originally conceived as a catalyst for educational reform, performance contracting by private firms will probably put itself out of business in the next few years because of its successes. School officials may continue to use it as a low risk, low cost vehicle for experimenting with innovative or untested learning programs, but its major value is…

Accountability involves holding individuals and organizations responsible for agreed-upon promises to perform. This relationship between two or more parties includes formal structures that track results to determine if the parties who have entered into an agreement live up to that agreement. From the mid-1980s, states and districts in the U.S.…

Containing articles recently published in issues of "Educational Technology" magazine, this volume in the review series centers on performance objectives in education. Topics covered in the articles include models for instructional objectives, behavioral objectives specification and uses, teacher roles and attitudes, educational accountability,…

During the first 10 years of reforms, New Zealand schools had two kinds of inspections: assurance (compliance) audits and effectiveness reviews to measure academic performance and contributing factors. In 1998, accountability reviews were introduced to judge whether schools were satisfying their charter (contract) objectives. The program is…