The 49 member colleges in the Illinois Community College System provide annual reports on improvements in productivity to the state community college board. This document summarizes the improvements reported by the colleges for fiscal year (FY) 1997. Following a brief introduction, the first section reviews special focus issues for FY 1997 related…

The Bronx Education Endowment Fund (BEEF), established in 1985, provides mini-grants of up to $100 to fund simple projects aimed at educational improvement. During the first two years of the program, 18 mini-grants were awarded to 16 teachers, one student, and one parent organization. A large number of both regular and special education students,…

This annotated bibliography reviews 12 publications dealing with substitute teaching, including an article listing at least five ways principals can avoid problems with substitute teachers, a guidebook providing detailed advice for substitute teachers, an article suggesting community people with special knowledge be called in as an alternative to…

The background of teaching science in secondary schools in Papua New Guinea is described in order to familiarize readers with the situation at Goroka Teachers' College (GTC) in the early 1980s where it was necessary to attempt to increase educational standards in science. Goroka Teachers' College was the main source of science teachers for…

This report provides the reader with a summary of the rationale, design strategies, and major accomplishments of the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI). Drawing upon both the data collected directly in Appalachia by Inverness Research Associates, as well as knowledge gained by working with many other rural initiatives, this summary…

Promoting student access to the general education curriculum remains a focus of the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This article examines educational practices that promote such access for students with mild mental retardation, overviews issues pertaining to the implementation of supplementary aids and…

Individuals with learning disabilities are attending postsecondary institutions in rapidly growing numbers. However, they often encounter a variety of difficulties on campus, both in and out of the college classroom. One potentially fruitful avenue for improving the quality of the college experience for students with learning disabilities is to…

Educationalists experience difficulties with the construction of competence maps that describe final attainment levels of educational programs. Web-based support was developed with three supportive aids: A construction kit, a phenomenarium, and an information bank. Each supportive aid was expected to improve perceived process and product quality…

Between 1968 and 1973 the Taiwanese government undertook the most extensive expansion on record of the public junior high school system in Taiwan. This study analyzes the effects of the 1968 education reform and subsequent high school expansion on gender disparities in employment generally, as well in different sectors and classes of employment.…

Accountability and performance incentive plans in education are compromised by goal distortion, gaming, and corruption. Education policy makers who design such plans have paid insufficient attention to similar experiences in other fields. This paper describes institutions in health care, job training and welfare administration, and in the private…

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

These proceedings contain three reports of improvement programs designed to help students to succeed in large urban school systems. In the first report, the "Achievement Goals Program" (AGP) is described as a highly structured, objective based instructional program in reading and mathematics carried out for the purpose of reducing racial…

Schools that become part of the "Making Middle Grades Work" network are expected to use the middle grades comprehensive improvement framework to show progress in changing school and classroom practices in ways that advance student achievement. True school reform is not a quick process. It is a continuous effort to make purposeful and planned…

Literature linking self-concept and achievement, and evaluation research on educational programs to improve self-concept are analyzed in terms of several self-concept theories. Evidence for a causal connection between self-concept and achievement is negative. Researchers have failed to explore other theoretical approaches to educational change.…

Introduction: The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) recognized that certification and recertification must be based on an assessment of performance in practice as well as an examination of medical knowledge. Physician self-assessment of practice performance is proposed as one method that certification boards may use to evaluate competence…