Visits in the Spring of 1972 to five school districts (Norfolk, Virginia; Texarkana, Arkansas; Gary, Indiana; Gilroy, California; and Grand Rapids, Michigan) that had implemented educational performance contracting programs during the 1970-71 school year are reported. Changes in the content and methods of instruction, measurement and evaluation,…

The components of an educational program, designed to ensure the attainment of specific objectives, are described. Program objectives included the introduction of a new individualized instructional system operating within the same constraints experienced by public school staff, insurance that each child in the program would receive his fair share…

This paper reports an evaluation of a performance contract in reading with 2,500 seventh-grade students. Seventy-five percent of the students were to increase their reading speed five times over their beginning level with ten percent more comprehension after three months of instruction. Results indicated that only thirteen percent of the students…

This volume presents conclusions and implications derived from five cities' experience with performance contracting in education: Norfolk, Virginia; Texarkana, Arkansas (with Liberty-Eylau, Texas); Gary, Indiana, Gilroy, California; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The five case studies cover eight programs in 15 schools. While each study is treated in…

The adaptation and use of Programmed Instruction (PI) in adult basic education (ABE) are focused upon. Objectives of this paper are to cite evidence that PI is being used successfully in correctional institutions, to suggest reasons for this success, and to show that PI works best in the context of a broader learning system where individually…

Aspects of design and procedures used in the evaluation of a performance contract are discussed, and the project and findings are briefly summarized. The Virginia performance contract in reading was carried out in seven school districts. Evaluation of the project showed that although instructional changes that utilized desirable individualized…

In September 1970, Behavioral Research Laboratories of California (BRL) assumed jurisdiction over the entire curriculum at the Banneker School in Gary, Indiana. The elementary school resembles most well-maintained, well-supported surburban schools, with the one exception that the student body and most of the faculty are black. The program as…

The evaluated project is an approach to the individualization of instruction in reading and mathematics in the junior high school. Among the instructional approaches used were diagnostic/prescriptive teaching, games and simulations, as well as traditional teaching procedures. Project goals included raising student achievement, improving attitudes,…

This report describes Learning Unlimited, an alternative education program at North Central High School in Washington Township, Indianapolis, Indiana, as a model upon which other alternative education programs might be based. The program was established to keep potential high school dropouts in school, and to provide a new kind of educational…

The program described and evaluated in this report is a nongraded (third and fourth grades) individualized learning situation in which students had available as educational stimuli the resources of three teachers and the combined materials of three classrooms. The program also contained provision for "blocks of time" during which various subjects…