State summative assessments play an important role in measuring student learning and guiding educational improvement efforts, despite their limitations. But there is growing momentum in individual states and nationally to rethink these assessments with an eye toward reducing time spent on testing and increasing the tests' instructional relevance.…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation spawned a plethora of standardized testing services for all the high stakes testing required by the law. We argue that one-size-fits all assessments disadvantage students who are English Language Learners, in the USA, as well as students with limited economic resources, special needs, and not reading on…

Federal education policy will soon undergo a major revision, with significant consequences for the state's own policy and practices. This report seeks to help federal and state policymakers consider this restructuring and one of its core questions: How should schools and school districts be held accountable for the academic progress of their…

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) initiated the Growth Model Pilot Project (GMPP) in November 2005 with the goal of approving up to ten states to incorporate growth models in school adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations under the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA"). After extensive reviews, nine states…

Supplemental Educational Services (SES), a component of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, provides free tutoring to economically disadvantaged children who are attending Title I schools in their 2nd or more years of school improvement. This research evaluated SES in Tennessee to determine the: (a) impacts on student achievement, and (b)…

Describes important federal legislation impacting on child health. Examines problems in translating federal legislation into effective care for children. Working within the existing federal legislation framework, describes the components of a model health care system. Also discusses health care for pregnant women. (CMG)

The State of Washington commissioned research into various issues involving services to school dropouts under the terms of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Data suggested that each service delivery area (SDA) had its own set of internal dynamics (economic, cultural, demographic variables) that resulted in a characteristic pattern of…

The requirements for vocational assessment of special needs students in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act are not well served by the traditional kinds of vocational assessment often practiced. Instead, vocational assessment for the purposes of responding to the mandate of the Act should be defined within the context of answering service…

This manual provides an overview and instructions for the application of vocational assessment to secondary special needs students, especially in Illinois. The manual is organized in six sections. The introductory section describes the provisions of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act in regard to student assessment and includes…

The RMC models for Title I program evaluations involve too large an expenditure of effort in relation to the information needs of the federal government. Too little is being done to ensure the usefulness of the models at state and local levels. (MH)

This guide is intended to assist Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program policymakers, planners, and program operators develop JTPA programs and activities. Discussed first are JTPA participant eligibility criteria and ways of assuring that competing groups can receive services in an equitable manner that is consistent with the intent of JTPA.…

This monograph presents a paradigm for identifying giftedness among all groups of young people. Section 1 presents a review and critique of traditional identification approaches and highlights the limitations that tests may have for identifying talent potential among groups currently underrepresented in gifted programs. Section 2 examines the…

One of a series on Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program models, this monograph provides professionals employed in CETA programs with information on how job recruiting and searches take place to help them improve their job placement and development skills. The content is in four sections. The first section briefly covers the…