In recent years, increasing numbers of professional development programs have dealt with assessment literacy for teachers and/or administrators. Is assessment literacy merely a fashionable focus for today's professional developers or, in contrast, should it be regarded as a significant area of professional development interest for many years to…

Outlines Hawaii's plan for reading improvement that concentrates its efforts in four interrelated areas: instructional programs, inservice training, curriculum management and parent involvement. (Editor/RK)

This "toolkit" is intended to provide educators, administrators, and family members with an overview of assessment accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities and to be used as a staff development tool. The toolkit is organized into five parts. An introductory section provides an overview of the toolkit. A 15-minute videotape…

The purpose of this monograph is to stimulate reflective inquiry by educators into their work as policy makers, program designers, and evaluators of inservice education programs. Its context is a series of case studies of evaluations performed in Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Four essays are presented. The first…

Developed and coordinated by the Bureau of Reading Education of the New York State Education Department, Project Alert is a statewide inservice program to facilitate instituting or improving the diagnostic-prescriptive approach to reading instruction. As part of this program, a reading resource kit was prepared by the bureau to give structure and…

Ever since technology became a major component in education, schools have been charged with teaching and integrating technology to enhance learning and ensure technology literacy. However, there is still no consistent definition, process, or assessment in place, leading to concerns about accountability. Because technology standards are seemingly…

The use of standardized tests within the Chicago (Illinois) Public School System and elsewhere is discussed in the context of school reform efforts. Standardized tests have been criticized as: being too general to assess all valued outcomes; being too general to fit with local curricula; and directing instruction only to test objectives. Recent…

The results of a survey on the characteristics of effective inservice education practices are described and presented. Conducted by the Task Force on Quality Practices in Inservice Education of the National Inservice Network (NIN), the survey is intended to provide planners with illustrations of development, implementation, and evaluation…

The document is the final report of a State-funded elementary career education project conducted by Tigard School District (Oregon) whose purpose was to develop career awareness and positive work attitudes. The project planning, development, and implementation were the responsibility of a team of selected staff members, who developed materials and…

The Yap Classroom Assessment Project is an attempt to introduce new methods of assessment, with an emphasis on performance assessment, into the practices of teachers in the Pacific, integrating the strengths of Yapese culture with children's education. The project, developed by the Pacific Region Educational Laboratory (PREL), concentrates on…

It is apparent that the circumstances and environments that surround getting an education in this generation are more complex than in any other generation. One cannot point to any one set of circumstances, curricula, or personnel and make valid generalizations about education, educators, and students. With the so called "knowledge explosion," more…

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) study on teacher education is divided into four sections; (1) placing the problem of the ongoing need for teachers in perspective; (2) policy recommendations to the IBHE on relevant aspects of teacher education; (3) the rationale for recommendations made to the IBHE; (4) ideas and programs that could…

A program implemented in a school district in central New Jersey was designed to: (1) create at least four magnet school options for elementary school children; (2) reduce the suspension rate at the elementary level; (3) reduce the student referral rate for special education; (4) decrease the number of students requiring basic skills services; and…

This paper lists practices recommended by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood concerning personnel competence in early intervention and early childhood special education programs for infants and young children with special needs and their families. An introductory section discusses components of preservice personnel…

A study designed to assess health education in public schools in California, Nevada, and Utah is reported. Results are compared to those of the School Health Education Study (SHES) which was conducted twenty years ago. Information is provided on the needs, goals, programs, participants, and materials of school health education in large, small, and…