This study examines how a PD program to promote teachers' shift toward a student-adaptive pedagogy impacts students' multiplicative reasoning. We describe the underpinnings of this pedagogy and main components of the PD program. Then, we present key features of participants, data collection/analysis methods, and the written assessment used to…

This study expands previous research on stress in the superintendency by addressing the links between the superintendents' levels of stress, early trauma, coping responses, and superintendent health. The study focuses on the intersection of sex and gender in these relationships. A nationwide random sample of superintendents resulted in a working…

With Response to Intervention (RTI) increasingly used for identification for special education services, interventions are systematically being implemented and evaluated to improve achievement for students with disabilities. This descriptive study provides baseline data on RTI interventions and tiered instruction from 15 school districts (5 large,…

For over 30 years, educators have recommended that mathematics specialists be placed in schools to provide teachers with the resources they need to assist their students. To assess whether these recommendations have been realized, a survey was used to gather data from large school districts, the 50 states, and District of Columbia. The outcome of…

This study examines why 51 schools declined an invitation to participate in a state-funded educator incentive initiative, the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program. Using data from an ongoing evaluation of the TEEG program conducted by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) under contract with Texas Education Agency, this…

This study examined how teachers perceived their professional development needs and how to best meet those needs in the context of systemic reform (the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990), noting plans for professional development created by teachers themselves. A stratified random sample of schools from five geographic locations in Kentucky…

Issues in economies of scale and optimal school size are discussed in this paper, which seeks to explain the curvilinear nature of the educational cost curve as a function of "transaction costs" and to establish "optimal size" as a relative concept. Based on the argument that educational consolidation has facilitated diseconomies of scale, the…

To construct a descriptive analysis of national school system size categories suitable to facilitate cross-provincial comparisons in future research, data concerning the number of students, schools, teachers, and school and central office administrators as reported in 1986-87, excluding Quebec, were obtained from Statistics Canada. Enrollment and…

Americans tend to value bigger as better. Conventional wisdom over the years has dictated that "too small" schools and school districts could not provide sufficient educational opportunities. Since 1930, the number of school districts has shrunk from 128,000 to less than 16,000. As districts consolidate, parents feel distant from schools and…

Based on the assumption that a strong teacher contract can restrict the latitude of school administrators, this study tested the following hypothesis: School principals who participate fully in board-teacher collective bargaining as negotiators or active consultants will perceive themselves to have greater on-the-job discretion than principals who…

Although the field of statistics is receiving increasing recognition in the media and everyday life, concern continues about the quality of statistical education and statistical analysis and the application of statistical methods. This paper focuses on three areas of concern: (1) the quality of data, especially missing data; (2) the interpretation…

This study analyzed the relationship between district characteristics and the likelihood that first-year teachers would be offered specific staff-development programs or would be consulted about their staff-development needs. The population comprised 434 first-year secondary and 1200 elementary teachers from Illinois. Eight hundred thirty-four…

Disappointment in public education seems to have inspired an increased interest in private education. Data provided by the Center for Education Statistics, the National Catholic Educational Association, and the Bureau of the Census Current Population Survey were studied to assess the trend from 1976 to 1985 concerning the number of schools,…

The fear of violence among students and teachers is straining the learning environment in many schools. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated school district characteristics in relation to the level of principals' expressed needs for school-violence prevention programs. The district characteristics included finance, size,…

This paper examines accountability outcomes of Tennessee school districts, comparing rural versus urban districts and litigant versus nonlitigant districts from a 1993 fiscal equity lawsuit. School districts were assigned a measure of rurality using the Cleland Rurality Index, and comparisons were made among the 29 low-rurality districts, 66…