This brief arises from two distinct yet related activities currently underway within the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). First, IDOE is preparing to review the state early learning standards. The idea for this brief arose initially in that context as a means of considering how to intentionally design and use early learning standards to…

A critical state-level indicator of progress in public education is student achievement annual performance and change over time. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has been very active in tracking and reporting on student achievement results and using state assessment scores and other data to analyze achievement trends. A central…

In the summer of 2011, the Tennessee Department of Education contracted with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to provide a four-day training for all evaluators across the state. NIET trained more than 5,000 evaluators intensively in the state model (districts using alternative instruments delivered their own training).…

Project Horizon, Utah's statute to reduce the economic and social cost of recidivism, shifted funding for correctional education to the state education agency. Parolees who participated in Project Horizon had an 18-20 percent lower recidivism rate than nonparticipants and found post-release jobs 89 percent of the time. (JOW)

In 1991, the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) developed guidelines for presenting age appropriate, comprehensive sexuality education. This publication reports on a 1993 study, using these guidelines as a framework to assess sexuality education curricula and guidelines in the United States. A survey instrument was…

The Education Law Center (ELC) sought an independent review of special education funding in New Jersey as part of a larger group of studies intended to critique the cost study conducted by Augenblick and Palaich and Associates (APA) and the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and inform the ongoing public debate. In doing so, ELC recognized…

The history of school district reorganization in New York State over the past 150 years is examined. Basic research tools included a survey of present and former district superintendents, contacts with former State Education Department personnel, and reports from other leading figures and past participants. Sections are included on: the historical…

The Florida State Advisory Council on Vocational and Technical Education, in preparing its annual evaluation report, found that the State's total program of vocational and technical education has continued to grow at a rapid rate in number of programs and number of persons served. The three goal areas of the evaluation were: (1) focus on the…

This study of the importance of second language and international studies in Illinois in relation to the interests of the state covers the following topics: the importance of second language and international studies, characteristics of effective programs in second language and international studies, the status of those studies in Illinois, and…

The standards set in teacher-certification requirements, and the effectiveness of the administration of certification, have been intimately related to the advancement of public education. The major portions of previous reports from the Office of Education were devoted to the presentation of the detailed requirements for obtaining the different…

A study assessed the governance and administration of vocational and technical education in Utah. To gather data for the study, a team of four vocational educators experienced in vocational governance and administration spent one week in Utah. During that time, the members of the team attended a presentation of testimony on governance before a…