In January 2012, the West Virginia Governor's Office released an influential report, "Education Efficiency Audit of West Virginia's Primary and Secondary Education System," written by Public Works (2012), a management consulting company headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Based largely on this report, the West Virginia…

After decades, the concept of "how to change the status quo of deaf education" continues to dazzle and frustrate us intellectually and academically. We want deaf and hard of hearing students to achieve academically and to thrive in the world as adults. Yet, too often, test scores and post-school outcomes remain unacceptably low. Our…

This evaluation study examined the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the statewide master plan for professional development (PD Master Plan) by investigating seven questions. With regard to effectiveness, (1) What was the level of implementation for the PD Master Plan, overall and by individual providers? (2) What were the impediments, if…

In this evaluation, as in previous years, four main aspects of the implementation of the West Virginia Board of Education's Master Plan for Statewide Professional Development were examined: (a) basic information reported by providers about the size and scope of the effort, including attendance, and adherence to the newly adopted standards for…

During the summer of 2008, the Minnesota Department of Education contracted with Hezel Associates, LLC, to conduct an external evaluation of the Q Comp implementation. The evaluation team has adopted a formative-summative approach to the investigation of Q Comp impact and sustainability. This approach has made it possible to study how Q Comp works…

This paper defines the Regular Education Initiative (REI) as encouraging both regular and special education personnel to work together more effectively to provide the best education possible for all children, by adapting the regular education environment to better accommodate the student's needs. The paper discusses the results of a statewide…

Two basic approaches to career education (CE) are available to school systems in Arkansas: a "stand-alone" approach and an "integrated" CE program. The stand-alone course, which is called career orientation (CO), is required for all junior high schools. It consists of four major units: self-awareness; career awareness;…

This state plan discusses programs and policies to be implemented from fiscal years 1993 through 1995 by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction in implementing Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The plan document begins with federally required submissions, assurances, certifications, and other administrative…

Since its creation in 1988, the sole mission of the agency PennSERVE has been to make community service the common expectation of all Pennsylvania's citizens. Using state funds, PennSERVE initiated a school service learning (SL) grant program and funded a total of 35 school and community-based SL programs between 1989 and 1991 in grades K-12, the…

An evaluation study is being conducted to determine the impact of the Washington state legislature's 3-year investment of $2.55 million to enable schools to plan and implement a school-to-work transition program (STW). The key components of the evaluation consist of a written survey of the 33 STW coordinators in the state and case study site…

An evaluation study was conducted to determine the impact of the Washington state legislature's 3-year investment of $2.55 million in a School-to-Work Transition Program (STW). The key components of the evaluation consist of a written survey of the 33 STW coordinators in the state, case study visits to 10 communities throughout the state engaged…

This guide is designed to provide information about successful administrative and instructional practices and the models used to integrate academic and vocational education in Florida schools. It is divided into seven chapters, including a summary and conclusions section. The first chapter discusses various Florida initiatives. Outlined next are…

The Framework of Work Based Foundation Skills Project was undertaken to facilitate development of Pennsylvania's new workforce investment system Team PA CareerLink by identifying and developing common definitions of the foundation skills all workers need to function effectively in any workplace. A framework of 19 work-based foundation skills and…

School-to-work programs (STW) at 10 sites throughout Washington (Bethel, Camas, Central Valley, Columbia River, Goldendale, Grand Coulee Dam, Issaquah, Metlow Valley, Sumner, and Wenatchee) were examined through the following activities: reviewing background documents, interviewing key educators, observing academic and technical classes,…

This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, Curriculum and Competencies, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. It contains 39 papers on the nature, historical development, and delivery of competency-based training (CBT) and on the Australian and international debates surrounding CBT. The following…