This document records testimony from a hearing held to examine the benefits of charter schools for students and families. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Aaron Bean, Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education; and (2) Honorable Suzanne Bonamici, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early Childhood,…

This hearing is the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions' fifth oversight hearing on the law to fix No Child Left Behind. This hearing examines issues in the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), focusing on perspectives from education stakeholders on proposed regulations. Following opening statements by Honorable…

This report presents the text of hearings on urban education and focuses on what makes urban schools effective instruments of learning and why urban school students consistently achieve above national norms on standardized reading, writing, and mathematics tests. Specifically considered are (1) the impact of the federal government's budget cuts on…

Graduates of the service academies operated by the Army, Navy, and Air Force currently make up approximately 18 percent of the officer corps for the nation's armed services. The academies represent the military's most expensive source of new officers. The Department of Defense (DOD) pays the full cost of a student's 4-year education at the…

This annual plan identifies the key strategies and performance measures for the Department of Education (ED). The plan focuses on strategies for achieving the ED's mission, which is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence, and it discusses the department's four goals that support this mission: (1) help all…

This volume of the Department of Education's (ED) annual plan contains the program-performance plans to support efforts to reach the department's four goals. These four goals are as follows: (1) help all students reach challenging academic standards so that they are prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment;…

A study examined ways that charter schools serve children with disabilities. This report provides the results of field-based data collection with parents, teachers, administrators, and students on how well charter schools are working with students with disabilities. It presents evidence on the reasons parents are enrolling students with…

The purpose of this hearing was to present testimony on the concept of effective schools and to discuss the Effective Schools Development in Education Act of 1985, H.R. 747. This report includes statements from: (1) Dr. Robert N. Fortenberry, superintendent of the Jackson (Mississippi) Municipal Separate School District; (2) Dr. Eric Cooper,…

Charter schools are public schools that have been provided significant release from the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools and that are held accountable by a chartering authority. The ultimate hope of charter school advocates is that charter schools will be able to cut through red tape, offer innovative educational…

The purpose of this Committee Print on Effective Schools is to add substance to Congressional deliberation on legislation which addresses school improvement as a priority on the national educational agenda. The report provides the written views of some of the nation's leading educators, who have made important research contributions in the area of…

This report examines three performance-based funding (PBF) plans: (1) merit pay for teachers and/or administrators; (2) career ladders; and (3) formula-driven incentive payments to schools. The report contends that present-day problems in public schools result largely from the organizational structure of the educational enterprise. Being based on…

Reviews 1980-95 research exploring the relationship between principal leadership and student achievement. Principals exercise a measurable, but indirect, influence on school effectiveness and student achievement via vision, mission, and goals. Previously described discrepancies may be attributable to researchers' conceptual and methodological…

This report presents the manner in which a systemic approach of combining standards, assessment, and accountability into a unified set of laws and regulations has been coming onto the state scene for the past 2 decades. A complete performance-based education accountability system includes four components: standards and assessment, multiple…

During the spring of 1987, the National Conference of State Legislatures awarded the Nebraska Legislature a cost-sharing award to study local school evaluation processes. Embodied in Legislative Resolution 181, which has the purpose of studying school evaluation procedures, the study attempts to provide legislators, educators, local school…

This paper describes and justifies The Schools Reaching Out Project on the basis of research proving that urban families and communities that build stronger connections to the schools are linked to healthy child development, the academic and social success of children in school, better teaching, cost savings and improved educational services and…