Exhaustively researched and analyzed, this report examines the progress states made between March 2003 and March 2004 on 40 requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It also explores the issues and challenges remaining; looks at some of the policy approaches states are using to meet requirements; and offers recommendations and actions…

In this Education Policy Brief, Indiana University's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy and Indiana Institute on Disability and Community tackle major policy questions regarding publicly-funded prekindergarten programs: Why should Indiana invest in prekindergarten? Who should be served? What should prekindergarten look like in Indiana? And…

In designing and implementing the pilot program of serving principal training, the author of this paper learned the experience from what E. Bridges and P. Hallinger did but didn't imitate fully, rather, created several new strategies because Chinese principals faced different situation from their American counterparts. The pilot program introduced…

Between 2001 and 2005, the state of Maine shifted the focus of its statewide high school improvement efforts to include an explicit focus on adolescent literacy. One trigger for that change in focus was a 5-school adolescent literacy initiative previously launched in a rural county under the federal Northeast and Islands Regional Educational…

Comprehensive school reform efforts are an increasingly visible part of the educational landscape. Policymakers, educators, and researchers are eager to assess the effectiveness of these models, especially regarding their utility in the most troubled settings. This paper reports results from one such reform, the Talent Development Middle School…

Provides public and system policy recommendations to state and local elected officials, governing bodies, and administrators responsible for the changes needed to create an integrated, comprehensive workforce development system that will sustain California's economic growth. Public policy recommendations include: workforce development services…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article analyzes two National Institute of Education programs--the Research and Development Utilization Program and the Experimental Schools Program--and finds that a key reason for nonutilization of research is the "policy vacuum" in which research is conducted.…

Provides an overview and a context leading to Florida's efforts to implement an evaluation-driven research and associated quality assurance system for its juvenile justice education policies and practices. The Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program described began implementing Florida's evaluation research and quality assurance system in…

Describes two stages of the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's pre-, post-, and longitudinal evaluation research and reports on the pilot studies used to explore how to design statewide research on pre- and post-assessment scores and community reintegration outcomes. Findings suggest that higher performing programs produce greater…

Discusses the evaluation of juvenile justice education through Florida's Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program as it involves the integration of multiple data sources. Examines the methodological, political, and bureaucratic obstacles encountered in the development of this evaluation system. (SLD)

The Portland (Oregon) School District is exploring, developing, and applying new computer systems and software for computer use. The framework for this work is a comprehensive districtwide plan for computer-related technology in the 1990s. (SI)

This article presents a conceptual model for analyzing the process of implementing policies for school-to-work transition of individuals with disabilities. The model identifies explicit and implicit directives, describes policies and practices, contrasts practices with policy directives, assesses quality of local implementation, and identifies…

Suggests some consequences of program equity for educational policy and practice. Stakes go up because program equity demands support for high minimum performance outcomes and coordination of implementation decisions and actions across a fragmented education system. Teacher networks are one way to link top-down and bottom-up change strategies…

Analyzes the controversy surrounding the 1985 Minnesota Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act (PEO). Although equity and feasibility concerns arose, a closer examination of the PEO debate's language and tactics reveals a more fundamental struggle over authority and a defense of professional control that is incompatible with school choice goals. (51…

Principals of site-based managed schools face numerous special-education program implementation challenges, such as appropriate committee compositions, inconsistent service delivery decisions across schools, interschool isolation, deflection of advocates, and policy guidance problems. Principals are ill-trained for inclusion and special-education…