This chapter describes a model for continuous improvement that guides the work of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools, or NCSU. NCSU is a research and development center funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, the research arm of the United States Department of Education. At the core of the Center's work is an innovative…

This paper argues that the dynamic model of educational effectiveness can be used to establish stronger links between educational effectiveness research (EER) and school improvement. It provides research evidence to support the validity of the model. Thus, the importance of using the dynamic model to establish an evidence-based and theory-driven…

An overview of the first five years of the Louisiana School Effectiveness Study is presented. Major findings from Phase II are offered. School, local, and state recommendations are made. (Author/MT)

An outline of the characteristics of exemplary schools is presented in a discussion of the effective schools movement. Research on the implementation process of a pilot program explores a plan for school improvement. A view of effective school research and school improvement from a political perspective is offered. (DF)

The Urban Initiative of the New Jersey Department of Education commits large numbers of its staff to a variety of efforts to improve schooling in the State's urban areas. It also represents an effort to develop a programmatic response that is rooted in research to the problems of urban education. In broad outline, the initiative is a…

Describes the efforts of the staff of one urban high school in Mississippi to develop and implement a school improvement program based on a school effectiveness model. (FL)

In a survey of educational researchers, school and district administrators, and policymakers, 1,818 respondents rated educational practices and policies according to their influence on learning and assessability. Classroom practices, design and delivery of curriculum, and schoolwide practices were rated as more influential than federal, state, and…

The Effective Schools Project is a test of a general method for improving organizational effectiveness. The method--Program Development Evaluation (PDE)--calls for researcher-practitioner collaboration in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs to increase school effectiveness. Two Baltimore City junior high schools are working with…

The Tennessee Technological University Rural Education Research and Service Consortium (RERSC) was established in 1984 to facilitate research and service activities of the College of Education faculty in selected rural schools, to provide assistance to faculty desiring to engage in such research and service, and to launch a major research thrust…

The mission of the Mid-continental Regional Education Laboratory (McREL) is to improve practice and increase academic performance in the schools of the seven-state mountain-plains region. McREL's principal approach to the dissemination and utilization of the effective schools research has been training teachers to use research. Based on the…

The Tennessee Technological University Rural Education Research and Service Consortium (RERSC) was founded in 1984 to facilitate research and service activities of the College of Education faculty in selected rural schools, provide assistance to faculty desiring to engage in such research/service, and launch a major research thrust consistent with…

This document is a compilation of separate papers concerning the planned 1990 recompetition for the nine Regional Educational Laboratories, sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education, as follows: (1) "Report of the Laboratory Review Panel on the 1987 Review of Laboratories"…

Although the research base on teaching, learning, and effective schools has expanded, the results of that research have been implemented only to a limited degree, either in the classroom or in the training of teachers. One of the accusations that have frequently been made against teacher education is that it does not use a theoretical,…

The University of Phoenix has developed a comprehensive outcomes and impact assessment program to assess the effects of a university education on students, particularly adult students. The program is integrated with the existing process assessment systems. Process assessments, which the university refers to as the Academic Quality Management…

Incarcerated youth should be afforded the opportunity to develop the advanced academic and vocational skills needed to be competitive in today's labor market. Correctional facility administrators regard education as the most important component of the rehabilitation process. Correctional facilities must therefore make education and training high…