This overview of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests is designed to help schools implement the Massachusetts"Curriculum Frameworks." For this fourth administration of the MCAS tests in 2001, the design of the tests remains essentially the same, but there are some changes highlighted in this overview. The first…

Inclusive assessment and accountability for all students with disabilities has been a significant focus of educators for the past six years. Yet only 35 states reported 1999-2000 test results for students with disabilities on some of their state assessments. Although the areas of assessment and accountability are just one focus of IDEA 1997 and…

This guidebook was developed by California's Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) to assist school districts in applying for and obtaining "grant" funds for the new construction and modernization of schools under the provisions of the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (Senate Bill 50). It is intended to be an overview…

In state assessment programs in which performance has no real immediate consequence for the individual examinee, the issue of examinee motivation arises. Some examinees may respond to questions in ways that do not reflect their real knowledge of the test domain. In this study, a new approach was developed to identify students who have responded to…

Assessment and evaluation can be important tools in improving the effectiveness and quality of programs, especially criminal justice programs, if they are integrated into the plans and designs of strategies instead of being added later. An evaluation systems approach to program development is needed to ensure that effectiveness and efficiency are…

The state of Georgia has developed a community based alternative to institutionalization of the retarded. (Author/DB)

Report on steps which USOE has taken to implement President Nixon's directive. (Editor)

Briefly describes a proposal to create a statewide educational system open to all state residents regardless of educational background, residence or age. (AK)

A State-by-State survey of environmental education programs that includes information on legislation and funding, and that provides a list of departments to contact. (JF)

A statewide project in South Dakota has screened the vision of 2,578 elderly persons in 90 nursing homes, finding 13 percent legally blind and referring 32 percent for services either from agencies for the blind or from physicians or optometrists. (KW)

The authors suggest that the Rules and Regulations of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for the development and implementation of child identification systems present severe policy problems for state planners. (Author/CL)

Described are the career background and responsibilities of Bob Shephard, Associate Director of the National Sea Grant College program, Head of the Human Resources Division and Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations' Marine Advisory Service. (DS)

Describes the operation of the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, which coordinates planning for educational computing in Minnesota and delivers certain computing services to the institutions that lack the means to provide these services on their own. (Author/IRT)

The Governor's School of North Carolina (West) offers a six-week summer program designed to develop creativity in gifted high school students. (SBH)